Alcohol ban in Restaurants

[Paulw]

I am just reading the Phuket news and note that business owners are asking for the alcohol in Restaurants ban to be lifted. Well we have the same ban in Koh Samui which I find doesn't make any sense and I am informed that any bars & restaurants are selling alcohol. Can someone explain to me what the authorities see as a Covid liability having a couple of beers or some wine with dinner in restaurants. I can understand enclosed bars, clubs disco's etc being a risk like the Black bamboo club saga recently.

Anyone can go to any supermarket or convenience store, buy as much alcohol as they wish and consume what they like with very little policing and often not following the maximum number in a gathering etc. 

Those of us restaurant owners that follow the rules being 50% table occupancy, a limited number of people and enforcing the no alcohol serving are loosing a large percentage of the little revenue we have had for the last 18 months. I see numerous bars & restaurant selling alcohol and even had customers giving me an ultimatum, we will dine in your restaurant if you agree to serve us alcohol as nearly everywhere else we go is. I cannot say I blame these that are because they are mostly like myself and just trying to survive financially. If the alcohol ban rule made good sense I could understand the need for it, to me it makes no sense and just another poorly thought through scenario but the authorities. 

Samui plus is supposed to be a tourist promoting idea yet they hamper the programme by applying the same rules as the Mainland where the percentage of Covid cases are much higher and the number of vaccinated people by percentage is considerably less.

Why is the Mayor of Samui allowing this and doesn't seem to have the business savvy to help an already difficult situation. 

[longwood50]

30 minutes ago, Paulw said:

I find doesn't make any sense

It does not make any sense.  It only shows the prejudice that the government has against alcohol.  They are using the Covid 19 issue to give an excuse to ban something they find objectionable.  I was in a restaurant where I noticed numerous tables with Heineken beer cans on their tables.  I asked the waitress.  She informed me it was non-alcoholic Heineken.  So tell me, the same can, same person, same distance but one can regular Heineken and the other non-alcoholic.  What exactly is the difference in risk. NONE

[Marble-eye]

Part and parcel of going to a restaurant is to enjoy a beer or whatever with the meal, needless to say it must be over 12 months now since we've dined out and it will remain that way untill the ban is lifted. There is no rhyme nor reason for such illogical bans, IMO anyway.

[dmacarelli]

Beer is well known to increase the risk of the spread of Covid. Especially Chang. LOL. Nobody knows why these rules exist. I do not believe there is any science behind them, but nobody could ever accuse Cha Cha of being a science guy. 

I get it, as it applies to dance clubs, and crowded pubs, where the music is loud, and you essentially need to release alot of spittle to be heard by someone you are talking to. But, a quiet dinner, where people are spaced at a dinner table? Such nonsense. Such drivel. Such destruction of the restaurant industry. And do the so called leaders care? Not one iota?