“There is no reason why the nightclub sector cannot be permitted to reopen with safe measures in place” says the Institute Of Occupational Medicine in a recent report.
While pubs and bars began to reopen in the UK back in July with new safety measures in place, the nightclub scene has remained dormant. However, earlier this week, a light at the end of the tunnel seems to have appeared for the UK’s nightlife industry. The Night Time Industries Association has published an article that proposes a path for the reopening nightclubs and other venues in the UK during the pandemic.
Commissioning the Institute Of Occupational Medicine, the seven-page document gives a rundown on how the sector can safely start to reopen, but also gives reasons as to what is holding them back. Unregulated events, including the various illegal raves that have been held at unregulated environments like beaches and parks and covered heavily in the media in recent months, have caused many to doubt that clubs should open back up. The document states that, though these occurrences do give some cause for concern, there is no reason that the UK late-night sector can’t work together to follow the proposed path and open its doors safely.
The IOM report states the three main routes of the coronavirus is spread: through close personal contact, surface contact, and airborne transmission. It then goes on to examine how these methods of transmission can be addressed in a nightclub environment. SAGE recommends that to mitigate the spread, it would be better to use the ‘bow-tie’ model which operates under prevention barriers and mitigation barriers that reduce risk from the spread. As long as indoor nightclubs are properly monitored and controlled and the at-risk number has been reduced, there is no reason why night-time venues can’t join bars, music venues and outdoor venues in re-opening. Despite this, it remains unclear as to when the UK government will permit indoor nightclubs to legally reopen their doors.
“There is no reason why the nightclub sector cannot be permitted to reopen with safe measures in place.”
The Institute of Occupational Medicine