The great Aussie pub crawl is no more
The great Aussie pub crawl looks to be off the cards for many disappointed pub-goers.
Australia's deputy chief health officer, Dr Nick Coatsworth, warned that Australians should only visit one bar if they are having a night out.
“To be honest, in this day and age, the idea of attending multiple venues on one night, people need to reflect on whether that is the right thing to do,” Dr Coatsworth said.
“For the moment, I think we need to pull back a little bit on our socialising.
“Just remember that when you visit many places in a night, you may be the person spreading the virus or you could put yourself at risk of spreading.”
Many cities overseas have also called for such a ban.
In Aberdeen, Scotland, a 54 person cluster was found leading to Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon ordering pubs and restaurants in Aberdeen to close by 5pm on Wednesday and not reopen.
It was revealed that patrons linked to one outbreak at a pub had visited 28 other venues including cafes, bars and golf clubs.
Ms Sturgeon said a ban on pub crawls could eliminate the spread of the virus between venues.
In Newcastle and Sydney in early August, two men with the virus were the cause of an outbreak in a number of pubs, which had to be closed for deep cleaning after the men went on separate pub crawls.
Patrons aren’t the only ones to come under fire. NSW pubs are continuing to breach coronavirus public health orders, receiving hefty fines for these breaches.
The Eastern Hotel allowed gaming machine patrons to sit side by side and was issued with a $5000 fine. According to Liquor & Gaming NSW Director of Compliance Dimitri Argeres, this came days after they had received a similar warning during a previous inspection.
A $5000 was issued to The Unity Hall for not enforcing social distancing between tables and chairs, improperly recording patrons' details and not having an updated safety plan.
“These latest breaches mean a total of 18 venues across NSW have now been fined for COVID safety breaches in the past month,” Mr Argeres said.
“Venues caught doing the wrong thing can expect to be fined for the first breach and shut down for second and subsequent breaches.”
Irit Jackson, 10th August 2020
