Reporting Business For Covid-19

[OldChestNuts]

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/whistleblower-hotline-birmingham-report-coronavirus-18785178

I find it ridiculous that the authority puts the blame on the business owner. The business owner had no power to stop people from not wearing masks or social distancing. Last week when I went into one of the food grocery, more than 80% don't have masks on.

[Buenchico]

The types of concerns which the form ( https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/xfp/form/755 ) seems primarily to be addressing are, for example, employers insisting that employees should turn up for work even though they're exhibiting symptoms of Covid-19 or who're not providing adequate PPE for their staff. Firms, such as factories with production lines, who don't carry out risk assessments and/or who fail to ensure that their staff are able to maintain social distancing also seem to be covered.

The form does NOT seem to be intended for use in relation to retail premises where customers fail to wear face coverings, as suggested by your post. (Supermarkets who fail to provide the means for customers to sanitise their baskets and trolleys might well be though).

It seems perfectly sensible to me.

[Mamyalynne]

I agree with Buenchico - those reasons look perfectly sound to me.

[Old_Geezer]

They ought not be that worried about a rise in infection incidents. It's to be expected from a low level base. Most will get infected anyway eventually if herd immunity going to kick in and we can all get back to normality.

[1ozzy]

When herd immunity finally kicks in the obituary column would have required many pages

[fiction-factory]

As others have said this is not about shops not insisting on masks. Your linked article says
"Complaints are likely to include:

-Being open for business whilst the guidelines state they should remain closed
-Businesses encouraging workers to come into the workplace even when they are symptomatic or have been in contact with someone who is
-Businesses not carrying out risk assessments in line with Government requirements

Sounds fair enough to me. Most businesses are doing the right thing and have invested in proper systems and reduced numbers of customers. Those who cut corners and put people at higher risk for the sake of profit should be discouraged and closed down if necessary.

If everyone plays their part the sooner everyone can get back to something close to normal.

[New Judge]

//When herd immunity finally kicks in the obituary column would have required many pages//

Really?

In the period of four to two weeks ago 11,757 new Covid infections were reported. In the following two weeks (i.e. when those new infections would have progressed to mortality) 145 people died. This is a mortality rate of just over 1%. In that same period around 25,000 people would have died from other causes. So about 0.6% (six in every thousand) deaths were attributable to Covid. I didn’t see the obituary columns any longer than normal during that time.

The fact is that the infection rate for Covid is currently extremely low (about seventeen new cases per million people are being recorded daily) and the death rate among those who are infected is considerably lower than that (average deaths are running at around 8 per day). This country, and the people in it who are behaving irrationally and hysterically, need to get a grip.

//Most businesses are doing the right thing and have invested in proper systems and reduced numbers of customers.//

All they are doing is extending the period the disease takes to spread throughout the population and in doing so are causing irreparable damage to the economy, to education and the nation’s social fabric.