PUB managers say the surge in Covid cases in recent weeks hasn’t impacted business yet – but derided the decision to minimise free testing.
Cases of coronavirus in Oxfordshire have more than doubled from what they were before restrictions lifted last month.
Since then, cases have once again hit more than 1,000 a day in the county.
From tomorrow, free testing for the general public will end as part of the Government’s Living with Covid plan, with lateral flow tests only freely available for the over-75s and those with weakened immune systems.
Meanwhile, physical test sites will close.
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Paul Silcock, landlord at The Gardeners Arms, said: “We’ve had slightly more cancellations in the last couple of weeks because of Covid, where maybe one person in the group has got it so the group has cancelled.
“We’ve had a bit of a drop off and at the weekend, we’ll get a couple of calls each day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, to cancel.
“It’s noticeable but not damaging.
“A lot of our staff are students who test regularly, so I don’t know how the new testing rules will affect them.
“We kept up mask wearing for staff as mandatory up until 10 days ago and let that lapse a little, but half the staff are still wearing them.
“We’ve kept a very strong Covid safety policy in place, and a lot of people come here because they like the measures.”
Alan Backshall, manager at the Three Goats Heads, said not having free lateral flow tests available would impact businesses.
“We have minimal staff members and we don’t take bookings so things like staff sickness and booking cancellations haven’t affected us,” he said.
“Not being able to get free lateral flows will impact businesses though, staff will need lateral flows.
“For businesses trying to recover from the last two years, it would be more viable to have these free lateral flow tests – we’ve all been struggling to get back to normal and it’s an additional cost.”
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Ed Whinney, general manager at The White Rabbit, backed up Mr Backshall’s sentiments.
He said: “In the short-term, we’ve neither had a noticeable increase in cancellations or staff illness.
“It’s not affecting us as a business and we feel very relaxed about the situation.
“Getting rid of free testing is really crazy though, it means there’s no control.
“Measures like masks and social distancing are put in place to keep people safe, and if they’re brought back in for a reason, we’ll do our best to implement them.”
On Tuesday, health secretary Sajid Javid announced people at risk of serious illness from Covid-19, and eligible for treatments, will continue to get free tests if they develop symptoms, along with NHS and adult social care staff, and those in other high-risk settings.
According to the Government, the testing, tracing and isolation budget cost more than £15.7 billion in 2021-22.
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