BARELY TOUCHED BY COVID – THE COMMUNITIES FACING A MAKE OR BREAK 2021 SEASON
They are desperate to trade again and while last year the return of tourists brought the fear of coronavirus as well as vital business, hope is now more apparent in some parts of Wales, as Roberts Harries found out
ON A beautiful sunny morning in Ceredigion, you could be forgiven for thinking that everything is normal.
All you can see is the blues of the ocean and the sky and the gold of the sand, and all you can hear is the fussing and the joyful laughter of tourists.
For a second, it’s the dawn of summer 2019 and the world doesn’t know what coronavirus is.
Reality only bites when you turn away from the shore and then you see it.
Coronavirus is all around us, or at least, even in a part of the world with an infection rate of just over four new cases per week per 100,000 population, its ramifications are: queues outside shops, people in masks, closed roads, and signs which warn you to keep your distance from others and remind you to wash your hands.
In the summer of 2020, after a period of national lockdown, the people of New Quay were torn between a desperation to trade and a will to keep their community safe from a virus which tore through Europe and the rest of the world and resulted in a catastrophic loss of life, along with people suffering the ongoing effects, and all the huge economic impacts.
For the most part, Ceredigion has avoided the worst that a global pandemic has thrown up, in terms of the physical impact at least. Last year, the local council was commended when the county recorded the lowest rates in the whole of Wales. There has been the odd spike – blamed on social gatherings in the Cardigan area which sent rates through the roof – but by and large the county has been looked at enviously by other parts of Wales.
Despite that, 2020 still brought with it a large bundle of fear and uncertainty, a sense of not knowing how grave this catastrophe would be. Some fear still lingers in 2021, of course, but one thing you can smell as you walk around this wonderful coastal town, as well as the sea air, is optimism. This is different now. New Quay is ready.
The low infection numbers across the county – three new cases were confirmed in the seven days up to April 11 – and an immunisation programme which has seen more than 37,000 people (more than half the population) receive a first dose of a vaccination, together with almost 11,000 who have received a second dose, has created a different atmosphere, a different outlook, and a hope that just wasn’t there last summer.
Simon Church owns and runs the Bluebell Deli and Bistro with his wife Nerys. It’s a prime spot, opposite the sea, but the view is wasted with no customers to wow.
He, like everyone in his industry, has had to close since December 19 – that’s 17 weeks and counting – although he has recently started selling takeaways.
“It’s going pretty well but it’s been a desperate time to be honest,” said Simon, who also owns the Mariners chip shop next door.
“The furlough scheme has been an unbelievable help – if it wasn’t for that, everybody would be finished.”
It must be difficult for any person running a hospitality business in Wales to turn on the TV and see the news from across the English border. There, of course, the spring weather – chilly as it can be – is being lapped up. People are eating and drinking and, most importantly, they are spending money. What’s more, they’re doing it with smiles on their faces.
That must sting, particularly when one compares the Covid-19 rates in this part of Wales with some spots in England.
“We’re getting calls from people in England trying to book a table outside for food and drinks when they come down to New Quay,” said Simon. “We have to tell them that we can’t do that yet, we’re two weeks behind in Wales.
“At least we have a date now [next Monday, April 26] and it will be great to get people back outside but to be honest most of our money is made from customers sitting inside.
“That’s our main trade because inside we can sit 50 people upstairs;
outside we only have five benches.”
With the hope indoor hospitality may be allowed to breathe again before the end of May, Simon said any further delays would result in struggles for many with businesses that relied on the pounds and the pence of the summer tourists, given that a lot of traders here actually lose money over the winter months – not just in the Covid-age, but in general.
But despite chomping at the bit to get customers back inside his bistro, there is no gung-ho approach here: Simon did not want to re-open before Easter.
“Although we’re desperate for the income we were slightly concerned that being allowed to open too early would have been a mistake,” he said. “You have to remember – if businesses have to close again before the end of this summer season then it will mark the end for a lot of them. There is such a small window here to make money. It’s a ghost town in winter and if we had to shut again without having a run at it until the end of the summer it would be disastrous.”
Simon is convinced that will not happen. He has faith in not just the vaccination process but in the people that will descend on New Quay in the weeks and months ahead.
“We are more optimistic this time compared to last year but you’re always concerned about the figures going back up. We just need common sense. This time last year I remember there was a very strange feeling, people were very wary about coming out so there was no point opening up even for takeaways.
“You could feel that locals were worried about a huge influx of people coming into the town, but I sense that has changed now. People are more confident because of the vaccines. I would say it’s at the stage now where it’s a bit frustrating – we’re through Easter and is there any harm in opening up outdoors before April 26? Surely it’s a safe environment, sitting outside in the fresh air?”
As Simon stands outside his bistro, there is a bit of hustle and bustle about New Quay again, bearing in mind children have returned to school.
One local walks past and jokes: “Back to normal then? Or, the new normal anyway.”
Whatever it is, Simon is ready for it as long as it’s different to the last four months.
“It won’t be normal this year,” he said. “We’re hoping it will be by next year but Covid might be something that will always be with us in some form, we just have to learn to live with it.”
From the upstairs window of the Bluebell you can see boats on the water, but, despite the sun in the sky, they don’t have any passengers onboard. Not yet anyway, much to the frustration of Jonathan Evans, who runs Dolphin Spotting Boat Trips.
He’s hoping to be able to make some money for his business again from April 26, and thinks the town is now ready for the summer season to start in earnest, a season that was shortened last year following the outbreak of the pandemic and the subsequent full-scale lockdown. It’s difficult to fathom what two shortened summers might do to his business.
Things have changed, he believes. There was a time, last year, when panic gripped the nation as nobody knew the virus’ potency. There was a time when we feared that catching it might result in death, regardless of age or the presence of any underlying health conditions.
Jonathan thinks the landscape has changed now, and that we can once again look forward without trepidation weighing heavy on us as we do so.
“I’m more optimistic than pessimistic,” he said. “The chances of bumping into someone with Covid in New Quay last year was low, and this year things look better again. We are now ready for thousands of people to come here over the summer. All the businesses have had time to prepare and we know what’s required. Our elderly are being vaccinated – many of them have already been vaccinated – so I would say bring it on.
“The businesses need the revenue and the individuals need the employment. And you know what, the people just need a nice time! Local residents want to enjoy themselves and make the most of New Quay – people live here because it’s a nice place to live.
“Last year, we didn’t know anything about Covid, it was this new thing that we didn’t understand. It’s different now because the most atrisk are already being vaccinated and people like myself who are under 50, will soon be vaccinated. Hopefully by the end of the summer everybody should have been able to get a vaccine.”
The only horrible, dystopic speck on the horizon is the possibility new variants of coronavirus penetrate the protection provided to us by the vaccinations currently in use.
“If we don’t get the level of protection that we hope to get and there is a strong third wave then it will depend on the science,” said Jonathan.
“If it’s a case of needing a top-up vaccine then we will be back to where we are today, waiting. If it’s a case of the vaccines just not protecting us against certain variants that spread then New Quay will be a different place. The whole world will be