A THURROCK pub which voluntarily closed its doors after a customer came down with Covid19 has actually gone above and beyond the level of protection expected says Thurrock Council.

In the 24 hours since the Crown and Anchor at Aveley confirmed it had been notified a customer in the pub on Sunday (12 July) had visited hospital and had been confirmed as a carrier of the virus there has been an element of confusion about what should happen.

And local feelings of concern were exacerbated by comments on social media as no-one appeared fully aware of procedure.

In order to head off any issues the pub, on the High Street, announced it would close for 72 hours and a deep clean would take place.

However, it appears that wasn't necessary as a person with Covid entering a pub is actually classified by Public Health England as being 'low risk'.

Like most public spaces, and all licensed premises, the Crown and Anchor has been operating a 'track and trace record' requiring all visitors to record their presence and give a telephone number so they can be contacted if there is a problem.

However, it now appears the system is a bit of bureaucratic overkill and neither Thurrock Council as the licensing authority, nor Public Heath England and the medical authorities seem particularly bothered about utilising the information.

Thurrock Nub News asked Thurrock Council yesterday for an urgent explanation of what protocols needed to be followed.

This evening (Tuesday, 14 July) the council responded and appears to play down the situation.

Its statement says: "Before they were able to re-open on 4 July Thurrock Council wrote to all pubs and restaurants to make them aware of the guidance and where they can find more information.

"Thurrock Council's Outbreak Control Plan, which was published on 30 June 2020, sets out a local strategy to prevent and control Covid-19 in Thurrock. The plan is primarily focused on preventing, monitoring and reducing the spread of Covid-19 at a local level.

"Cases and contacts would only be escalated to Public Health England and on to Thurrock Council at a local level where contact tracing is required in complex settings including care homes, schools, certain workplaces and for more vulnerable residents or where there is a local outbreak risk that would require follow up.

"Neither our PHE Health Protection Team nor Thurrock Council has received escalation of any positive cases from NHS Test and Trace in relation to your report that require follow up by us. This is within the agreed process as signed off nationally by PHE.

"Routine instances of contact tracing for residents who test positive for COVID-19 in the community are not dealt with by local authorities and come under the national NHS Test and Trace scheme.

"More information about this can be found online here.

!Details of Thurrock Council's local outbreak control plan can be found on our website here."