Liverpool City Region’s Good Business Festival Joins National Covid Pilot
Liverpool is to stage four events, including part of The Good Business Festival, linked to a trial to reopen live presentations without the use of so-called “vaccine passports”.
Aerial View of Liverpool City Centre
The pilots to be hosted by the city include the Hot Water Comedy Club at M&S Bank Arena Auditorium, three shows for the Luna Cinema on the Waterfront, The Good Business Festival Presents: Change Business for Good at ACC Liverpool, and the Circus Club.
Liverpool City Council said the programme will help to develop and pilot the logistics of event ticketing and testing, venue admittance and post-event follow-up as the hospitality sector gears up to emerging from the pandemic lockdown.
The pilots will “gather evidence associated with different settings and approaches to managing and mitigating transmission risk”.
The council said: “The pilots will explore how different approaches to social distancing, ventilation and test-on-entry protocols could ease opening and maximise participation, including the use of lateral flow tests – but there will be no use of so-called ‘vaccine passports’.”
Matthew Ashton, Liverpool’s director of public health, said: “Our experience as the pilot city for mass symptom-free testing means we have the knowledge and infrastructure in place to deliver complicated projects safely.
“We really hope we can help provide the scientific evidence needed to ensure the wider sector is able to open across the country in the coming months.
“This is a continuation of the city’s long-standing tradition of carrying out pioneering public health work that not only has an impact here, but also across the rest of the country and the wider world.”
Claire McColgan, Liverpool City Council director of culture, said: “We’ve been working with national government on an events research pilot which means the testing of events in order to go with the road map that opens everything up on the 21st of June.”
She said all four events will be carried out under strict, scientific conditions: “There’s a huge amount of work that’s gone into this by lots of people, both within central government and within Liverpool City Council, and also with all our event partners.
“It’s a great story for Liverpool that puts us on the same page as Amsterdam and Barcelona who opened up their events, we saw over the last couple of weeks, and it’s a real test for us about how that whole sector can then open up nationally.”
The Good Business Festival was announced last year and was split into two ‘Acts’ in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The global event has been described as a replacement for the International Business Festival, which was staged three times by the city.
Meanwhile, legal action involving Greater Manchester’s night time economy adviser, Sacha Lord, has resulted in an order for Health Secretary Matt Hancock to file a response by 10am on April 6.
The case calls for pubs and restaurants to be able to join other “non-essential” businesses in reopening their indoor areas from April 12, rather than in mid-May.
Mr Lord’s case went to the High Court for Judicial Review last week. He tweeted over the weekend: “I can now confirm, that within hours of receiving our evidence, Judge Swift decided our case was urgent.
“Matt Hancock has to file a response by 10am Tuesday, with no concessions for the Bank Holiday.
“Everyday before the 17th May is a win. Open Hospitality.”
For more information about Liverpool City Region’s Good Business Festival click HERE.