Cafés and restaurants due to reopen this month

Friday 12 February 2021

Seated food and drink services will be allowed to reopen from 22 February, the Government has announced.

Dining parties will be limited to 10 people per table, who can be from different households, and will be limited to a two-and-a-half-hour time.

The reopening will also see premises allowed to sell alcohol, with last orders at 22:00. 'Wet pubs' - those that do not serve food - will not be allowed to reopen, however. 

Customers will be required to wear masks apart from when eating and drinking, and there will be a legal requirement for contact details to be supplied.

Pictured: Venues will be able to serve alcohol, and last orders will be at 22:00.

There are also plans to provide Lateral Flow Devices - a type of rapid diagnostic test - to the hospitality sector free on a voluntary basis to allow businesses to test their workforce regularly. 

The use of temperature checking devices will also be encouraged at these venues, and covid safety reviews by the Test and Trace Team will be offered. 

In addition, the new ‘Stage 3 reconnection’ will see the number of people attending faith worship gatherings will be extended from 20 to 40 people, and will be implemented even sooner, coming next Wednesday.

Next Wednesday will also see an exemption on gathering rules for under-18s sports, with up to 35 people allowed in one gathering, as long as it falls under the category of a ‘controlled event'.

This will then be followed by the same relaxation for over-18s sports on 8 March.

However, despite the relaxations, indoor sports venues will remain closed and rules on no household mixing will remain in place, with relaxations on these rules being considered for mid-March.

Pictured: Tables will be allowed a maximum of 10 people, with household mixing in the venues allowed. 

Further measures on hospitality and the current rules on working from home will also be reconsidered around mid-March, but for now remain in place.

The Chief Minister, Senator John Le Fondré, said: “Members of STAC have been clear that the current levels of infection in the Island show that it is safe for us to continue our programme of reopening group activities, carefully and with mitigation measures in place. 

“To date, the reconnection policy has proceeded without spikes in case rates or positivity.  The 14-day rate is now below 50, which puts Jersey in the ECDC Amber Zone, and test positivity for all age groups is below 1%.

“STAC have advised us that COVID cases, and test positivity, are now low enough to proceed with reconnection more quickly. STAC have also emphasised the impact of COVID restrictions on mental health and wellbeing, and we don’t want to continue with these measures for any longer than necessary. 

“Risks remain though, which is why we are not opening up too quickly, and why we are not yet relaxing our travel arrivals policy. We are still seeing high rates of COVID in the UK and other jurisdictions, our vaccination programme for the most vulnerable won’t be complete until the end of March, and the ‘Kent’ variant has been identified in Jersey, which increases the risk of faster spread

“The expert research and advice provided by members of STAC is very important to our response to COVID, and we thank them for their work.”

Pictured: The Chief Minister said that "risks remain," hence there being no relaxation on travel policy.

The Minister for Health and Social Services, Deputy Richard Renouf, said: “We are pleased to resume our gradual and considered reopening of lower-risk activities. We are putting various mitigation measures in place, including a recommendation that hospitality staff undergo PCR workforce testing before reopening, and then have regular Lateral Flow tests as a further layer of protection once venues are open. 

“Waiting until Monday 22 February to reopen hospitality will give the businesses time to prepare for the public health requirements they will have to meet and will give us time to discuss their concerns and support them as they prepare to reopen.

“While the relaxation of public heath measures creates some risk, there are significant wellbeing benefits to reconnecting some of the activities we have all been missing. Officer advice on the balance of harms has convinced us that the reconnection we are announcing today is the best way forward for our community. 

“Islanders should continue to respect physical distancing restrictions and continue to take care to mix with only a very limited number of people. It is only by making small, gradual changes that we can manage a slow, safe return to normality.”

Minister for Economic Development, Senator Lyndon Farnham, said: “The re-opening of many hospitality venues means that it will be easier for families and friends to gather in a controlled environment. I’m sure it will also be welcome news to our hospitality industry, who will be able to welcome Islanders, while taking additional measures to protect both customers and staff.”

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The next steps in the reconnection plan...

From Wednesday 17 February:

• Faith groups can meet for worship in groups of up to 40 people 
• Controlled outdoor sports gatherings can restart for up to 35 under-18-year olds  

From Monday 22 February:

• Food and drink premises can open where they can maintain 2 metre distancing between people seated at adjacent tables, and with two metres between different groups of people seated at the same table; a maximum of 10 people per table, which can be made up of members of different households; with last orders at 10pm, and with masks worn at all times except for when eating and drinking.
• Staff working in hospitality are being offered a free Covid-19 test and are asked to call the helpline this weekend to book: 0800 735 5566

From Monday 8 March:

• Controlled outdoor sports gatherings can restart for up to 35 over-18-year olds