Bristol businesses suspected of flouting measures aimed at limiting the spread of the coronavirus could be visited by a new team of Covid Secure Marshals being set up by the city council.
The council said it is to have “at least 16” of the marshals operating around the city as it moves into an unofficial tier 1-plus to prevent the spread of the virus. 
The marshals will not be able to enforce Covid-19 regulations or have other enforcement powers – which will remain the remit of the police and designated local authority compliance and enforcement officers, the council has said.
The marshals, who will receive specialist training, will explain Covid-19 secure guidance and encourage to businesses and the public.
The council said the marshals would “support compliance and enforcement function through visiting businesses to check compliance with Covid-19 secure measures through observation, escalating to local authority compliance and enforcement officers as appropriate”.
Under Tier 1-plus Bristol will also take on some responsibility for the local contact tracing, supporting the national system particularly where they are unable to communicate with people who have been in contact with confirmed positive Covid-19 cases.
The city council has received a £3m one-off payment from the government for local outbreak management, which includes ongoing work to support individuals, communities, businesses, education and care homes to prevent and respond to local incidents and outbreaks
The council has also been allocated £282,752 from the government for compliance and enforcement activities.
This funding will go towards a host of measures, including paying for the 16 marshals for six months. They will patrol seven days a week, including evenings to help firms in the night-time economy.
Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees, pictured, said the city had been in discussion with the Department for Health and Social Care and local partners in the NHS and across the city over the past few weeks.
“Our rates in Bristol are rising and we are currently in Tier 1, which is the ‘medium’ local Covid alert level,” he said.
“Within this tier, we are taking targeted actions including the introduction of Covid marshals, deeper analytic work to identify rising tides of cases and taking on further powers of our local test-and-trace service to prevent further spread of the virus and protect our communities.
“These actions are being called tier 1-plus. Any further actions will be based on what we’re seeing locally and through discussion with our local partners across the city and central government.”
Mayor Rees said if these new measures did not work then Bristol would move into tiers 2 or 3.
As cases continue to rise in the city, and hospitals feel the brunt of an increase in admissions, Bristol’s director of public health Christina Gray this afternoon urged residents to take action.
Social interaction where families and friends were mixing between multiple households and not maintaining 2m distance was thought to be one of the key drivers for the increase, she said. This was particularly concerning among the 30-69 age group.
“We are all tired of Covid-19 and want things to go back to normal and this has driven some complacency. While people may have been sticking to the rule of six, this only works if you limit that number and still make sure you stay 2m apart. Meeting multiple groups of six people and visiting people’s houses is driving up infection rates,” she said.
“A lot of people have the misconception that students alone are driving the numbers up. While there have been outbreaks at both universities these have been well managed and contained. So it’s really important we all need to look at our own behaviours and ask, are we doing everything we can to prevent the spread of Covid-19?”
“The thing we can all do is limit the number of people we see and always stay 2m apart. Wash our hands regularly and wear a mask if we can when needed.”
The Covid Marshals’ roles will also include:
- signposting members of the public and businesses to government guidance
- cleaning touch points
- directing pedestrians and managing pedestrian one-way systems
- guiding pedestrians through exit and entry points
- checking and promoting visibility of Covid-19 secure messaging
- handing out face coverings and hand sanitiser
- working with local businesses on queue management in the public realm, for example, advising on one-way systems and social distancing in queues
- facilitating to help prevent mixing between groups in night-time economy areas
- encouraging social distancing in busy night-life areas
- reminding members of the public to wear a face covering where required in relation to business premises.
The Jack of Diamonds, a bar on West Street, Old Market, last week became the first business in the city to be be issued with a direction from from the council after it was found to be breaching Covid-19 rules.
After multiple inspections carried out by the council and Avon & Somerset Police, the venue was found to be non-compliant with public health measures and the owner was given a £1,000 fixed penalty notice by the police.
