Andrew Hosegood, owner of El Tico Beach Cantina, called for a ‘consistent, pragmatic and understandable policy regarding age and isolation’ after a number of his staff were forced to quarantine, causing the business to operate a reduced service.
Eight staff members at El Tico are currently isolating after being identified as direct contacts of positive Covid-19 cases. This has forced the business to scale back its service, which Mr Hosegood says could continue until next week.
‘We are all in a grey area of not knowing what is going on. The government need to come clean and tell us what is happening. If the situation is not as bad as they make us think, then all the oppressive nature of the track-and-trace system is doing is just continuing this narrative of fear. Where are we going with this and when are we going to get back to normal?’ he said.
Mr Hosegood said that isolation requirements due to being identified as a direct contact of someone with Covid-19 will continue to negatively affect the hospitality industry throughout the summer if the rules are not changed.
‘The industry is under a lot of pressure anyway due to staff shortages which have been created by Brexit. On top of that we now have this track-and-trace cloud hovering over us as we are about to come into the two busiest months of the year. This could have a huge impact on business throughout the summer.
‘It is not just us, it impacts both our staff and customers. If we cannot serve our customers then we lose money and customers don’t get to enjoy our services,’ he said.
‘The problem is, we might have some staff come out of isolation next week, but it is just a matter of time before others are identified as direct contacts,’ he added.
Mr Hosegood also questioned the difference in isolation requirements for under- and over-18s.
‘If I have two staff members isolating and one is 17 and one is 18, one of them will do five days and the other ten.
‘What is the difference between a 17- or 18-year-old that requires them to isolate for an extra five days?’ he said.
