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UK faces weeks of pandemic chaos with disruptions to transport, bin collections & food supplies due to isolating workers
BRITS are facing weeks of pandemic chaos with disruptions to transport, bin collections and food supplies due to isolating workers.
Companies and councils have warned the August 16 date to lift quarantine for the double-vaccinated could now be delayed amid fresh concern.
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No 10 scrambled to set up a system to let more key workers take daily tests rather than isolate for 10-days.
But fears are growing that large parts of the economy could grind to a halt over the “pingdemic”.
Ministers initially said that there would be few critical workers allowed to be excused from quarantine.
At the moment, there are about 10,000 workers at 500 food distribution sites and some NHS and social care workers permitted to take daily tests instead of isolation.
And tonight the government has been looking at widening the exemption scheme, as rail bosses and councils warned of reduced services due to high numbers of isolating staff.
The Scottish government announced its own scheme on Friday for key workers that will allow companies to apply for permission to exempt those who work in critical roles and where staff shortages could jeopardise essential services.
Some companies are reporting 15-20% of their staff absent because workers are being required to isolate for 10 days either with Covid or as a close contact of a confirmed case.
Despite being the first in line for exemptions, several food industry groups and executives said that the government was not moving quickly enough to tell companies their workers were exempt.
DAILY TESTING
There has been no list published yet and many businesses not sure if they would be included in the new daily testing scheme by the end of the day on Friday.
The British Meat Processors Association said the government urgently needed to publish more information giving “clear, unambiguous guidance on which sites are exempt, which job roles qualify for exemption and exactly how these new rules will be applied”.
“Our fear is that, if infections keep rising at the current rate, there will be so many non-exempt workers taken out of the system that, regardless of those protected ‘key sites’, the rest of the supply chain around them will start failing,” the group said.
Richard Harrow, chief executive of the British Frozen Food Federation, described the current situation as “worse than useless”, with confusion “continuing to pervade”.
As it stands, the new exemption system will only need to apply for the next three weeks.
George Eustice, the environment secretary, hinted the 16 August deadline could be delayed on Friday.
He said the government had only announced the date to give people “some kind of indication” of when rules might change and added that it could still move “in either direction”.
But government sources insisted that the government was still “working towards that date”.
More than 800,000 people in the UK had coronavirus last week and more than 600,000 in England and Wales were required to isolate by the NHS app.
Four days of falling case numbers as an early encouraging sign, with 36,389 Covid cases and a further 64 deaths on Friday.
And the situation was still critical in some parts of the country, with extra testing and public health support announced for seven local authorities across Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and County Durham, and five local authorities in the Tees Valley.
Most critical workers outside the health and food sectors still required to abide by isolation rules until 16 August at least, rail companies and councils warned that services would have to be cut back.
Firms with key workers in 16 sectors are also allowed to apply directly to government departments for exemptions from isolation for named individuals.
This will only be granted in serious and exceptional circumstances involving “major detrimental impact on the delivery of essential services” or “significant impact on national security, national defence, or the functioning of the state”.
The Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators, said that while companies were working to “minimise any disruption, there may be an impact on services” and the Department for Transport (DfT) said it had agreed to reduced timetables.
Transport for London said London Underground’s Circle line and Hammersmith and City line will be closed this weekend due to more than 300 staff self-isolating.
The Local Government Association, representing councils across England, said some councils are already having to shut down services because of staff shortages caused by the so-called “pingdemic”.
One senior local government source said bin collection, libraries, park maintenance, street cleaning and pot hole maintenance could all be affected over the next three weeks.
James Jamieson, Chairman of the Local Government Association, called on the government to clarify urgently what councils and employers should do if they want to request exemptions for their critical workers. public health directors could have some powers in it.
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“Residents will need to bear with us if they experience disruption to some services, if councils are forced to prioritise services that protect the most vulnerable in their communities,” he said.
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Luke Pollard, shadow environment secretary, said security of the food supply is fundamental and empty shelves “show the system is failing”.
“The government caused this chaos by recklessly releasing all restrictions at once in the face of the Johnson variant, hitting the accelerator while flinging off the seatbelt."
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George Eustice says the pingdemic will effect travel and food infrastructure