HOPING FOR BETTER DAYS

As entertainment venues emerge from months of lockdown, workers and bar owners say social distancing requirements won’t make their lives any easier

After months of lockdown, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) recently gave the green light for all remaining entertainment venues to reopen, following an appeal from musicians and entertainers to allow them to get back to work as the long closure had put many in severe financial straits.

This measure was largely a result of the fact that Thailand has gone almost two months without domestic transmission, only finding new cases in state quarantine among those repatriated from abroad.

Prior to the reopening, operators of nightlife venues had cried foul over a set of proposed regulations to be enforced when the venues resumed business, saying many social-distancing rules would hurt livelihoods. The revised regulations by the government include venues being open until midnight, social distancing of 1m from one another when seated or standing, 4m² of space for one person, not sharing tables with people from different groups, waiters wearing face masks at all times, 2m of distance between tables or a 1.5m-tall shield, providing an air ventilation system, providing smoking space outside and patrons checking in and out using the Thai Chana platform.

While everyone is happy to be back to work, many have mixed feelings not just about the restrictions they will be working under but also the manner with which the government has managed the situation.

In light of the reopening of the entertainment venues,

Life sat down with people working in the nightlife industry to discuss how they coped during the height of Covid-19 and their take on state measures.