April 12th, May 17th and June 21st, three dates heavy penciled into the diaries of everyone in the UK. For the Hospitality Industry, each of these dates is especially important and represents the long-awaited steps out of the pandemic.
Five weeks separate each of these dates in order to ensure cases don’t begin to increase. The vaccine rollout and rapid testing will play a huge part in ensuring cases stay down, and venues stay open.
We asked Gillian Hoffman, Hospitality Titan and Director of The Answers People, for her thoughts on the vaccine, rapid testing and how this affects the Hospitality industry.
The Vaccine is Finally Here – What does this mean for Hospitality?
There is finally a light at the end of the very long Covid tunnel.
To date over 17 million people have had the first dose of the vaccine within the UK with the rest following swiftly behind. However, this still means that the 20’s-30’s age group may not be fully vaccinated until September time. As well as this, some
people simply do not want to be vaccinated, and it won’t be compulsory.
As one of the sectors worst hit by closures, job losses and restrictions, the Hospitality Industry is desperate for things to get back to normal.
Research suggests that 80-90% of the population needs to have immunity before Covid is no longer a threat. That is a vast amount of people.
There has been talks of some travel companies, restaurants, hotels and venues asking for proof of a person’s vaccination before allowing them entry. This has proved incredibly controversial but maybe the only way that businesses can ensure the safety of their staff and customers and ultimately, allow them to re-open their businesses.
Is there another option?
Rapid testing has been in the news and on the Prime Minister’s briefings for the last 2 weeks. Could this offer the hospitality and events industry the solution they need? Already sectors that have had to work on-site through the lock down-including property, construction, manufacturing, film and TV to name but a few have been using this method to keep their staff and guests safe on site.
Rapid testing is in the form of the lateral flow test, which gives an on-the-spot result within 5 minutes. The test involves a straight-forward nasal swab. Similar to a pregnancy test, the user will see a control line, and need to wait several minutes to see if a positive line also appears. This means that after a short wait, businesses can let consumers in through their doors (or turn away those who have a positive result) feeling confident that they have significantly reduced the risk to staff and guests.
The test detects proteins on the surface of the virus and identifies infection even before the body starts to produce antibodies. A highly effective tool at reducing risk, enabling those infected to quickly isolate. We remain focused on bringing agile and effective solutions to our customers, offering affordable options to protect your team, your customers and your business.
With 98.5% effectiveness, this is a very promising option for businesses. It is straightforward to administer, and ideal for on-the-day testing. This would offer companies a way of ensuring safety for events and sports matches, for example, as well as hospitality venues and hotels.
Maybe this will also bring back confidence to the consumer to have their private celebrations, conferences and brand product launches again.
Right now the idea of being in a room with any more than 4 people socially is daunting and no host or company wants to be the one that spreads the virus again. Therefore, rapid testing can give another layer of protection.
For more information on The Answers People and their Rapid Testing solutions, head to their website:
