A Working Men’s Club in Staffordshire was forced to temporarily close its doors again last week, after a number of people in the area have since tested positive for Covid-19. On Sunday 16th August, the Silverdale Working Men’s Club held a live bingo night at the venue, and the event has now been linked to 16 positive cases – with numbers still rising.
On August 26th, it was reported in the Birmingham Mail that there had been 3 confirmed cases linked to the night at the North Staffordshire club. Just days later however, BBC News have now confirmed the high increase in numbers, and everyone who visited the bingo night is now being urged by officials to get tested.
They are also advising over 1000 people in the area who attended these premises – plus several other venues throughout that period of time – that they should also seek a test urgently as it’s possible that the virus has actually had a much wider spread.
The club hosts this particular bingo night regularly most Sunday evenings throughout the year, but it’s currently uncertain as to whether the event will return anytime soon…
Closed Bingo Venue The First Of Many?
There are currently 16 known cases now linked to this particular bingo event, and the fast increase in numbers is proving a fairly obvious spread.
Dr Richard Harling, Staffordshire County Council’s director of health and care, told BBC News: ”
What we are seeing from test-and-trace activity is a widening network from the original bingo event as people met with friends and family and went out socialising.
More than 1,000 people have already been tested, but we need everyone who was at any of the venues on the given dates to get tested.
There are 12 venues in the area now including pubs, restaurants and another Working Men’s club in Newcastle, that are reaching out to anyone who visited the premises on certain dates between 16th and 27th August.
Dr Harling continued:
This is vital in our work to identify people who may have the virus and help contain the spread of infection even further.
Anyone who has tested positive for the virus already is now self-isolating for 14 days, and any immediate contacts are being tracked and traced thoroughly.
What Does The Future Of Land-Based Bingo Look Like Now?
So many land-based bingo halls, clubs and entertainment venues that offer bingo, are all up and running now with no current problems reported.
This Staffordshire example may be a one off case, or we may soon start to see other venues undergoing similar problems too.
It’s so uncertain to know how things are going to pan out now moving forward for this particular industry, so it’s impossible to know if and how land-based bingo will continue to operate over the coming months/years.
Most bingo chain venues are offering excellent social distancing measures now throughout the UK, so we can only hope that this is a one off scenario for now…