The second wave of the pandemic hit the UK, and the Government moved quickly to do everything within their power to slow the spread, to the best of their ability. They had initially opened markets and economy at the beginning of August, encouraging people to take precautions but promote small businesses while taking all the measures possible to make sure they were safe.
Masks were mandatory, and most establishments had to work with less than 50% of their capacity, so they were sure that they were following the right social distancing norms. People frequently used sanitisers to make sure they contained the spread to the best of everyone’s ability. However, most assumed that they could not get sick if they were following the protocols, at the time, while the general trend in most other countries showed that they began with the second wave of the pandemic, forcing them to shut everything at the soonest.
With the UK moving forward with the second wave of the pandemic, the Government began putting some additional rules into place. This time around, they did not make significant changes like locking down the country or forcing people to stay indoors but were making other ones which would keep their people safe.
They passed a rule stating that people could not gather in groups of more than 6 in public. During the first phase of the pandemic, while the rules were mandatory, and people followed them, the cops did not have the right to take action against the people. All that changed with the second phase allowing cops could take matters in their own hands and impose fines and penalties if they broke the rules.
Like all rules, this one too had a few exceptions, with people given the exemption if they were
- working, or the provision of voluntary or charitable services
- working on registered childcare, education or training
- supervised activities for children, including wraparound care, youth groups and activities, and children’s playgroups
- providing support to a vulnerable person
- providing emergency assistance to avoid injury or illness or to escape the risk of harm
- to continue existing arrangements where children do not live in the same household as both their parents
- fulfilling a legal obligation such as attending court or jury service
- Weddings and civil partnership ceremonies and receptions with up to 30 people, in a public place. They had to follow a couple of additional rules to make this happen.
- Funerals that allowed up to 30 people, not including wakes, other than for religious ceremonial purposes.
- other religious and belief-based life cycle ceremonies
- organised sport exercises classes, licensed outdoor physical activity, not including informal sport or fitness activity with family or friends
- elite sporting competition and training
- Support groups formally organised to provide mutual aid, therapy or any form of support.
- protests organised in compliance with COVID-19 guidance
Companies too could work on these changes, but as much as possible reduced working in person and started remote working. While working from home and meeting deadlines was great for companies, employers thought that it would make more sense to handle background checks on the people within the company. Many of the job descriptions stated that the candidates could not have a criminal record. Employers gathered the information through the DBS check that was very popular, and it allowed them to collect details by glancing through the DBS certificate, online.
