In a government press conference earlier this week it was announced that the number of people allowed at organised and unorganised gatherings had halved to 20 and ten respectively.
And after-school and sports clubs are being forced to decide whether to increase the number of sessions available – thereby putting a strain on staff – or scaling back their offerings to comply with government guidelines.
Glen Militis, Island Scout Commissioner, said each group was working to adapt, based on the number of volunteers available.
‘Some have had to resort to online learning already in order to operate safely,’ he said.
‘We had been operating in groups of 40 but due to the change in guidelines there will be an increased demand for volunteers and we may have to ask for parental help during certain activities.’
He added that the Scouts had introduced staggered start times during their activities.
‘My kids will be going on a night hike soon, which will be split into two groups starting at different times, as they have the volunteers to do it.’
Some of the Scout groups have had to halt their activities early ahead of Christmas.
Mr Militis said that if a group could not meet the increased demands on volunteers, they would have to suspend activity until further notice.
Nathan Jégou, from Tigers Swimming Club, said: ‘The club is actively seeking the best option. We need to find more space and pool time so that we can spread swimmers across multiple sessions or we will be forced to dilute our programme, which could severely impact training.’
Andy Glover, owner of after-school and holiday activity club Sportsbug, said the new restrictions would not significantly impact their operation but would reduce the capacity for parents to supervise their children.
‘We have already been operating in groups of 20 indoors. On a Saturday morning we have one group inside and the other outside, which means parents can come along and watch,’ he said.
‘But if the weather is bad we need the capacity to move indoors and so we are going to put a restriction on the number of parents who can come and watch in the older groups.’
Netball recently resumed in the form of their indoor winter league but the sport is now facing further disruption.
Linda Andrews, president of the Jersey Netball Association, said the number of fixtures taking place at Les Ormes would be halved and the number of people on court reduced.
Outdoor sports like football and hockey remain unaffected, as the change to restrictions does not apply to them.
