It was a day of relief, hope and celebration in York’s hospitality sector as it fully reopened for the first time in months.
Pubs, restaurants and hotels welcomed people indoors yesterday (Monday) as the lockdown eased.
But some in the sector were angered by a York MP later in the day.
At about 5.20pm, York Central MP Rachael Maskell tweeted: “I’ve just asked the Health Secretary how he’ll ensure that, in York, with people now visiting our city, we will not see a surge in infections of the new variant (and who knows – further new mutations) spread through the hospitality sector to local people.”
Paul Whiting, whose marketing business supports many hospitality businesses in York, replied: “This is terribly unhelpful language.
“Hospitality businesses have worked very hard to be as safe as possible. I agree with the overall desire to keep people safe but please don’t demonise an entire industry that benefits the city and wider region. Disappointing.”
‘Thanks for your support’
Pub the Waggon & Horses, found on Lawrence Street, said: “‘Spread through the hospitality sector…’ Just what we need to hear right now. Thanks for your support.”
They added: “No reason to single out hospitality over other sectors though. Especially as the representative of a city where hospitality is a hugely important employer and a main driver of the local economy.”
Phil Pinder, chair of the York Retail Forum, added: “Disappointed to see on day 1 of hospitality reopening in York and a local MP is saying ‘spread through the hospitality sector’ when there is no such evidence I have seen that hospitality has spread anything.
“Mixing in homes has been the issue up to now.”
And secretary of the Retail Forum Judy Illing added: “So are we supposed to keep everything closed so it won’t encourage visitors? Didn’t numbers rise after people visited families at Christmas, not because they went to hospitality venues?”
In a reply Ms Maskell said she wasn’t blaming York hospitality businesses. “Far from blaming local employers, I blame a Government who have failed local employers. I have asked about testing at stations and in the city, so we can keep them and their workers safe.”
The exchange in full
Ms Maskell asked this question to Matt Hancock via video link to the Commons yesterday.
“Prior to Christmas, it was a mutation, the Kent variant, mixed with the opening of the economy in York, which caused a rapid spike of Covid-19 infection as people on mass came to visit our city and spread the virus to the hospitality sector, where today many of the workers have yet to be vaccinated.
“But here we are, again, a different variant, the Indian variant, and who knows what will come next.
“With high transmissibility about to be spread in a city where many people are already visiting – more to come – we feel vulnerable. So what proactive preventative steps will he take, so we do not pay that heavy price again, for the government not acting fast enough?”
Secretary of State for Health Matt Hancock gave this reply.
“The most important difference between now and then is of course, that the vast majority of those who are vulnerable to ending up in hospital or dying of Covid have now had two vaccines.
“The uptake rates of the vaccination have been absolutely spectacularly high. And the uptake rate of the second vaccine has also been incredibly high.
“And this means that the protection afforded to those who have chosen to take up the vaccine is very, very high – with the latest estimates that having had two jabs and then waited a fortnight or so after your second job leads to around a 97% reduction in mortality.
“Now, of course, we will continue to drive and open up access to find those final few per cent of people.
“But the lesson from the last few days is that if you have not yet taken up that opportunity to be vaccinated, then you should – because it’s those people who have sadly ended up in hospital and we don’t want to see that.”