Nightclubs in Scotland are to close for at least three weeks from 27 December https://t.co/K99UtEcOGJ

— BBC Scotland News (@BBCScotlandNews) December 23, 2021

Public Health Scotland announced yesterday that there were 22,000 estimated cases of the Omicron variant as of December 19^th, spurring on the decision to close nightclubs. It was originally intended for nightclubs to enforce 1 metre social distancing, however with the rapidly climbing case numbers, it seems wise to enforce temporary closures.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney has stated, according to BBC News, that financial aid will be made available in order to keep nightclubs afloat during this time, and that they will have the option to stay open providing they cancel their typical proceedings and effectively operate as bars with physical distancing. Swinney said: “We consider that closure in regulations, combined with financial support, may reduce losses and help these businesses weather what we hope will be a short period until they are able to operate normally again.”

Despite the promise of funding to supplement the inevitable financial losses that these venues will incur, there has been much concern how this will set back nightclubs and music venues. The Scottish Conservatives said that the decision to close was “a further setback to a sector already on its knees”.

Gavin Stevenson, the vice-chair of the Nighttime Industries Association, said according to an article from The Herald: “Nightclubs just fundamentally are designed to be large capacity premises and unfortunately they need to have those numbers in to trade viably so we suspect the majority will now choose to close and take advantage of the closure grants.” He also said that nightclubs were already in a “very precarious financial position.”

In Scotland, nightclubs were only re-opened on the 9^th of August, having been completely shut since March 2020.

Presently, no such restrictions have been enforced in England, however nightclubs and any venues with a capacity of more than 10,000 people are required to check the COVID status of any patrons over the age of 18. According to BBC News, The Nighttime Industries Assocation chief executive Michael Kill stated that “Vaccine passports will have a devastating impact on a sector already so bruised by the pandemic…The mixed public health messages this week that have been coming out of the government have arrived at the worst possible time – the pre-Christmas period is absolutely crucial for our sector. And now it is announced damaging vaccine passports are to be implemented.” The rules were put in place on the 15^th of December.

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May tells us that before he tested positive, 8 other people from the party already had. At the time, he believed that the party would be safe, what with him (and other attendees) being triple jabbed and May describing the congregation as “a safe bubble“. However, after the result, he says that he “made a mistake“. May described the experience with the virus as “the worst flu you can imagine“, and that he felt “truly horrible”. However, in a series of two videos (titled ‘Life After the Double Red Line’ in reference to the lateral flow tests’ positive result), May let us know that he’s feeling much better now, citing his three jabs of the Pfizer vaccine as the reason.

Despite this, he urged others to get the vaccine, noting a friend who died of the illness early on in the pandemic, and doubting whether his own body would have fought against the virus so well without the jab’s help, saying “this is not the response my body would have made on its own”. People who wished the Queen star well include guitarist and YouTube star Rick Beato, known for his videos about music and his own experience in the industry, who told May to “feel better my friend”.

Also, singer-songwriter Talia Dean, whom May mentored and has worked with, wished him and his wife well, saying “big hugs to you both”. May also thanked his wife in one of his posts, calling her “amazing” and saying that she “was a warrior while I mainly slept through this – cooking up a storm and caretaking and holding everything together. Again. Who could be as lucky as I?“

 

 

 

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The news comes as the Omicron variant continues to make its way around the world. Cases in the UK have been increasing, with over 90,000 people testing positive yesterday, as well as over 500,000 throughout the past week. May remarked on how transmissible this new variant is, describing it as travelling at “an alarming rate”, and noted the irony of catching it despite being so careful over the past 20 months with his wife. However, dedicated Queen fans can rest assured knowing May is over the worst of it by now. He ended his video by telling fans “don’t be scared but be cautious because you don’t wanna get this”.

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Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Micheál Martin announced in a televised address on Friday night that a number of new restrictions were coming into place in order to fight the new Omicron variant. These include restricting indoor events to a 50% capacity, applying to sports games and concerts, as well as limiting private home visits to no more than four households.

These rules are temporary, coming into place from the 7th of December until the 9th of January, completely covering the Christmas period. Martin said that the “risks associated with proceeding into the Christmas period without some restrictions to reduce the volume of personal contacts is just too high.” 

The move is especially frustrating as it was only on the 22nd of October, less than seven weeks ago, that nightclubs in Ireland reopened. Another restriction to Irish nightclubs also came into play on the 17th of November that imposed a midnight curfew in Ireland, effectively closing nightclubs that typically only allow entry after 11pm, in a story covered here on mxdwn last month. Irish clubs had less than a month of regular operation before being hit by Covid restrictions once more.

These new restrictions, however, are not arbitrary, as they are necessary in the fight against the new Omicron variant. More data is coming out about the new variant by the day, but the first real world data is showing that the Omicron variant may evade some of our immunity, weakening the effectiveness of vaccines, as reported by The BBC. Since nightclubs pose the risk of superspreader events, they will be the first against the wall.

Martin acknowledged the impact that this news has on the hospitality and entertainment sectors, that “many of them will be fearing for their livelihoods”, but he was quick to reassure: “The government will stand by them and ensure that they have the financial supports necessary to weather this latest storm and to stay intact until we are out of it.”

The full list of restrictions is available on the Irish government website here.