COVID-19 UPDATE – 8th October

Dear Members, Colleagues and Friends,

Yesterday the First Minister made a statement to Scottish Parliament outlining a series of temporary measures intended to stop the rise in coronavirus cases being seen across the country. These measures are a mixture of national and regional in scope, and will be in place from 6pm on Friday 9 October for the hospitality industry changes and 1am Saturday 10 October for all other changes including table tennis, and will remain in place until Sunday 25 October inclusive.

The primary measures impacting on table tennis clubs are regional in their reach, covering the following NHS Health Boards and local authorities; NHS Ayrshire & Arran (North, South and East Ayrshire local authority areas), NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde (Glasgow, East and West Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire, and Inverclyde local authority areas), NHS Lanarkshire (North and South Lanarkshire local authority areas), NHS Forth Valley (Clackmannanshire, Stirling and Falkirk local authority areas) and NHS Lothian (Edinburgh, East, West and Mid-Lothian local authority areas).

The temporary key measures being introduced in these areas impacting on table tennis are:

• Adult (18+) indoor group exercise activities are not allowed. (Adult group activity for the purposes of this guidance is activity, involving adults, from more than 2 households / 6 members of those households who take part in an activity on any one day.)  In summary this means the BUBBLE system is suspended. Play can take place on four tables for example but there can be no changing of partners during the session.

• Travel: Asking people to avoid public transport unless necessary (e.g. work or school). Advised to avoid (but not prohibited from) travelling outside your health board area if you don’t need to. For those living outside this region, they are advised not to travel into the region if you don’t need to. However, this is advice not mandatory and people are not required to cancel half-term breaks they have planned.

• There is no change to table tennis activity guidance for under 18s.

In light of these new temporary restrictions, many venue providers in the central belt may decide to close their facility during this period. But for those clubs who are able to stay open, once again, please adhere to these new guidelines which mean you can only play with one partner each session.

Please note for all other local authority areas outside of those detailed above the latest temporary Scottish Government restrictions announced yesterday DO NOT change the current Table Tennis Scotland Return to Play Protocols. Please continue to take care and adhere strictly to the TTS Return to Play Guidelines.

Congratulations and a big thank you to all Club Covid 19 Officers who have helped put the necessary measures in place to enable a safe return to play for everyone.

Please be extremely vigilant however and continue to follow the Scottish Government`s FACTS advice. As you know infection rates are continuing to rise so there is no room for complacency.

On behalf of everyone at TTS, stay healthy, keep safe, follow FACTS and enjoy your game!

If you have any questions please contact Richard Yule: 07739 574 356 (m)
richard.yule@tabletennisscotland.co.uk