TIDMJDW
RNS Number : 9544V
Wetherspoon (JD) PLC
12 August 2020
WE NEED MORE TRANSPARENNCY ON COVID DATA by TIM MARTIN
Government policy in the four UK parliaments, and in the
Republic of Ireland, is implicitly based on the assumption that
there is a high level of Covid-19 transmission in pubs.
This approach by governments is obvious since pubs have been
among the last to open, after the various lockdowns finished.
Pubs can be crowded, behaviour can be uninhibited and the
general warmth and conviviality seem, on the surface, to offer a
plausible basis for transmission of the virus.
Indeed, an outbreak of the virus in Aberdeen seems, for many
people, to have reinforced the assumptions about the role played by
pubs.
Professor Hugh Pennington, Emeritus Professor of Bacteriology at
Aberdeen University, told Radio 5 Live on 6 August that there had
"been an outbreak associated with pubs" and for "90% of cases, that
was how they caught it".
He said that "was not a surprise because this has happened in
other countries.... there was a big one in New Zealand, for
example".
The professor also said that "the risk factor of going to a pub
is you're inside. That raises the likelihood of transmission. Maybe
it's hot and a bit steamy - helps the virus to get about".
The professor added that "we know that one thing that really
gets the virus going in terms of spread is heavy breathing.....
Whether there was any sign of that involved....like singing and so
on....I don't know".
The Professor's categorical assertions indicate that he has
strong scientific evidence to back his claims.
Nevertheless, with Covid 19 there is much uncertainty, and
people with a high level of general scepticism, or scientific
enquiry, will legitimately question these sorts of assumptions.
Yet in the month before lockdown, when infections were
approaching their peak, according to Professor Simon Wood of
Bristol University, there was no real evidence of outbreaks in
Wetherspoon pubs, or among staff.
By lockdown on 20 March only five of our 43,000 staff had tested
positive, even though they were working in the busiest pubs in the
UK, at the tail end of the winter, when the virus was rampant in
the country.
These observations do not amount to scientific evidence and we
had no direct evidence at all from customers, but it appeared
strange, given the seriousness of the pandemic and evidence of
increasing positive tests, ICU admissions and fatalities.
Shortly after the UK's lockdown, a German epidemiologist,
interviewed by the BBC, said that there are a lot of things about
the virus we don't know.
He couldn't understand, for example, why there were no reported
cases at that time within German hair salons, which appeared
completely counterintuitive, given the close body contact, the high
temperatures and humid atmosphere.
Schools are perhaps another example of the Covid-19 paradox,
since they are normally hotbeds of transmission for viruses,
including coronaviruses like the common cold.
However, it seems that the transmission of Covid-19 in schools,
subject to common-sense caveats, is almost non-existent.
Where the virus is concerned, 'nothing is but what is not' as
Shakespeare once said, in another context.
Since pubs have re-opened and the level of testing has
dramatically increased, there has been a handful of individual
cases of positive tests for the virus in our pubs but nothing, it
appears, which could be described as an outbreak and there appears
not to have been, up until now, a case of transmission from person
to person among staff or from staff to customers- or vice
versa.
Obviously, there is some uncertainty in making this sort of
statement, since it's probably impossible to be absolutely certain
as to how a virus has been transmitted in an individual case, but
most cases seem to be linked to contacts outside work.
Given the importance of the pub industry to its staff, customers
and as a taxpayer to the Exchequer, it would be very useful if
Professor Pennington could publish the basis of his assumptions, so
that they could be thoroughly analysed and peer-reviewed.
It seems clear that there have been high levels of transmission
in hospitals, care homes, abattoirs and certain production
facilities.
Until now, the evidence surrounding pubs in the UK has really
been based on supposition. The situation presents an excellent
opportunity for a proper scientific investigation into an extremely
important industry.
Given the time that has elapsed since the first outbreaks in the
UK, there has been ample opportunity for this sort of analysis and
it may well be that Professor Pennington and others are possessed
of information that is not available to the public.
Ends
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. J D Wetherspoon owns and operates pubs throughout the UK and
Ireland. The company aims to provide customers with good-quality
food and drink, served by well-trained and friendly staff, at
reasonable prices. The pubs are individually designed and the
company aims to maintain them in excellent condition.
2. Visit our website www.jdwetherspoon.com .
3. The annual report and financial statements 2019 has been
published on the company's website on 13 September 2019.
4. The current financial year comprises 52 trading weeks to 25
July 2021.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
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END
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