Pub manager restricting access to keep doors open

But, for one business at least, the advice is not about to change its stance.

The States has said it is up to businesses to make their own decisions on what they believe to be reasonable risk mitigation and business continuity.

It has provided some general guidance on its website about how they can mitigate the risks.

Many of these measures are the same as those that most places had in place once the two lockdowns started to ease, but with the easing of restrictions a lot of firms have removed them.

Fully-vaccinated arrivals from the Common Travel Area are now allowed into the island unrestricted.

Since border restrictions eased on 1 July thousands of people have entered the island, but some of those who wanted a meal or a drink will have found themselves turned away from several establishments if they had not had a negative test or been here for a week or more.

Venues are worried about having to close if a member of staff was contact-traced, but the spokesman said they needed to keep in mind what was likely to be considered a contact of a positive case.

Pony Inn manager Ben Corson said he had taken the decision to restrict access to ensure the business could stay open.

As with others in a similar situation, the majority of his staff have not yet been fully vaccinated and if one of them ended up coming into contact with someone who had Covid, the restaurant would have to close.

‘Once I have 75% of them totally jabbed we’ll review it and by then we’ll have a clearer picture of what’s going on,’ he said.

Assuming all went well, he estimated it could be six weeks before the pub’s own restrictions were lifted.

He had not read all the States’ advice, but did not think it would help much.

‘You can’t stand up to one metre away when you’re picking up dirty glasses,’ he said.

While there had been negative feedback posted on Facebook groups by islanders, he had not received any similar comments from visitors who had encountered the rule and they understood why it was necessary.

The States advice is that individual circumstances will vary and some discretion would be applied by the contact tracing team, but generally someone is considered a close contact if they have had:

n direct physical contact with a positive case or case secretions (e.g. handshake, touching dirty tissues);

n spent more than 15 minutes face-to-face or in a closed environment with a positive case at a distance of less than two metres; or

n spent more than one minute with a positive case at a distance of less than one metre.

A States spokesman said up to 2,000 tests a day are being carried out on anyone displaying symptoms, plus surveillance testing in key sectors and testing travellers who are not fully vaccinated.

‘Currently the numbers of cases remain very low and, importantly, there are no cases requiring hospital care.’

n General business guidance from the States is available at covid19.gov.gg/guidance/july/business.

n More detailed data on travel trends since 1 July is due to be published later this week.