Coronavirus (Covid-19)

Bars and clubs can re-open soon, but with a list of 22 requirements

Published

Tuesday, June 23, 2020 09:37

“Musicians and performers must wear face shields.”

Well, there’s some good news and there’s some bad news if you’re the owner of an entertainment venue in Thailand. You CAN re-open… soon. BUT, the CCSA has put together a list of 22 requirements you’ll have to meet when you re-open your doors.

Not surprisingly the owners and representatives are unhappy about the long list of encumbrances on venues who will re-open under the new phase 5 guidelines. The list of rules is being submitted to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration this Friday.

Of businesses left to re-open in Thailand, the entertainment industry includes pubs, karaoke outlets, massage parlours and other types of adult entertainment venues. Shuttered since March, the venues are eager to open in July.

Here’s some of the main restrictions, among the long list…

• Restrict the number of customers

• Check body temperature of patrons and provide hand sanitiser

• Groups of people sitting together – maximum 5. They will have to sit 1 metre away from each other.

• At least 2 metres between tables, or install barriers

• No singing or dancing (that includes your club team song after the 9th beer)

• Drinks in glasses only, not bottles

• Staff must wear face masks AND face shields

• No ‘gathering’, ‘shouting’, or ‘wandering’

• Musicians and performers must wear face shields (who wants to hear those silly lyrics anyway!?)

• No competitions or group activities, including pool and darts

• Ensure social distancing in smoking areas

• Ban ‘product presenters’ from sitting with guests (huh?!)

Last week the country’s musicians and entertainers pleaded with the the government to allow them to return to work. They told officials that they were in dire financial straits.

Operators say limiting customers to five in a group may keep them from coming and are complaining that the rules for entertainment venues are stricter than the ones imposed on eateries and filming crews.

But, keen to pry their doors open again, operators admit they will have no choice but to comply with the new rules. In the meantime they are urging the CCSA to reconsider the draconian list of restrictions and consider relaxing the rules, either before Phase 5 starts or a few weeks after.

There is no doubt the country’s battered entertainment industry will take time to recover. In towns around Thailand the locals will likely trickle back as more confidence is gained in social gatherings again. But for the tourist spots, many former businesses will simply go broke as the government delays opening borders for international tourists. Many will never re-open. Some 2 million people are employed in the country’s entertainment and nightlife business.

Meanwhile, Deputy PM Wissanu Krea-ngam says the government will consider the lifting of the emergency decree by this Friday.

Mr Wissanu says the decision whether to lift or extend Thailand’s emergency decree will be made based “on the assessment of Covid-19 risks”.

“If the country does not face a second wave of infections, then the Communicable Disease Control Act is adequate to contain the virus.”

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

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7 Comments

SAM LIM

Tuesday, June 23, 2020 at 10:04 am

THIS VIRUS SPREADS RAPIDLY N NEEDED A VERY STRICT CONTROL THE THAI GOV HAS BEEN DOING A GREAT JOB CONTAINING THE SPREAD N MUST BE PRAISES STRIGHT LAWS MUST NOW BE IMPOSE FOR THE BENIFIT OF THIS GTEAT NATION I SUPPORT THEIR ACTION

Reply
Toby Andrews

Tuesday, June 23, 2020 at 11:14 am

No gathering, shouting or wandering?
That’s me out then. I always like a good shouting session in a bar while wandering about.

lol

Reply
TERRY BOYLE

Tuesday, June 23, 2020 at 7:51 pm

5 PEOPLE SITTING ALONG A BAR TO TAKE UP 7 METRES !! Ridiculous !! If that is the case all the small bars will only have 5 customers .. Better of staying closed until common sense prevails ..

Reply
Peter

Thursday, June 25, 2020 at 1:48 am

This global economy shutdown will cost a lot more lives (starvation) than it will save (from corona death). And those who die from starvation are also children and younger ones, whereas nearly all dying from corona are very old people who are already very sick. Besides the deaths resulting from the economy shutdown, there is also all the grave suffering going on…

I do not understand it.

Reply
- Dinero
  
  Thursday, June 25, 2020 at 9:54 pm
  
  Nobody forced those hoes to be hoes, finally Thai government does something about it,maybe in a few years will be less of old disgusting farangs in the country
  
  Reply
Alan

Sunday, June 28, 2020 at 10:34 am

How does drinking out of a dirty bar glass rather than a bottled beer reduce the spread of the virus? I have seen how bars wash their glasses, or perhaps I should say “don’t wash their glasses. Years ago, when I used drink whiskey & water, and/or request a glass of ice to accompany my beer I would frequently get a sore throat accompanied by a heavy foul mucus running down the back of my throat. Sometimes I’d get lucky and my immune system would eradicate whatever was causing the problem, and sometimes I’d need to visit the hospital and get medication to eliminate the problem. At a bar I’d sometimes get a glass of ice that I could smell the remains of a previous drink, or find a lipstick coating on the top of the glass. Normally I just complain to the waitress when I’d find lipstick on the glass and she would take it away and bring me another drink. The last time I used a glass in a local bar and discovered bright red lipstick on my whiskey & water glass I was sitting next to the counter and bar tender that had just mixed the drink. So rather than wait for the waitress to come around again I just stood up and showed the bartender the lipstick. He took my drink, poured the drink into a different glass, then using a bar rag he wiped the lipstick off the top of the dirty glass and without washing the glass placed glass back on the shelf. That event ended my days of using bar glasses. I most exciting benefit of not using bar glasses anymore is now I very seldom get, what was once an annual event, a sore throat. I don’t know who came up with the idea of using only glasses in the bar, and I can’t find any logical reason for it. I have no desire to start getting the annual sore throat again so I will not be going to bars as long as that policy exists. Have a nice day.

Reply
Carey Gibeault

Saturday, October 31, 2020 at 7:45 am

Hi Barb, You can simply contact Groupon via the contact sources present on this page for reaching in the touch of a representative.

Reply