Cheltenham Festival should not have gone ahead in 2020, says medical chief Chris Whitty

The top scientific advisor to Boris Johnson's government during the Covid pandemic[1] has said the Cheltenham Festival[2] 2020 should not have gone ahead as it did, at the same time as the world began shutting down to prevent further spread of the virus and deaths. Professor Sir Chris Whitty said it was "obvious with hindsight" that the mass gathering should not have gone ahead. The former Chief Medical Officer has been giving evidence to the Covid Inquiry,[3] which is interviewing key figures responsible for the UK's pandemic response, and argued that letting the mass gathering in March 2020 go ahead sent the wrong message to the general public.

However, he denied there being a direct link between the horse racing festival and the spread of coronavirus at the time. A spokeswoman for Cheltenham Racecourse[4] said at the time: "The Festival only went ahead under the clear and ongoing guidance from the government and its science experts throughout, like other popular sports events at Twickenham and Murrayfield, 10 Premier League matches and the UEFA Champions League at Anfield that same week.

Considering the waves of infection that hit Cheltenham and wider Gloucestershire in the 18 months following the March race meet, data from the Office for National Statistics show a relatively small number of coronavirus infections following the festival - with one case reported during the event, and around 35 in the weeks following it.

However, Sir Chris believes that letting the event go ahead was a mistake and that in a future pandemic, mass gatherings like the Cheltenham Festival would not go ahead. He said: "The risks of outdoor events, even if quite crowded, is small relative to many of the other things... "I think what we really were not paying enough attention to, and it's sort of obvious with hindsight, is the message this was sending to the general public - that the government couldn't be that worried because it was not closing the mass gatherings.

"So I think that the problem was not the gatherings themselves, which I don't think there's good evidence had a major material effect directly. But the impression it gives of normality at a time that what you're trying to signal is anything but normality. So I think, again, were we to rerun, I think that's one of the things I would certainly do differently."

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References

1. ^ Covid pandemic (www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk)
2. ^ Cheltenham Festival (www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk)
3. ^ Covid Inquiry, (www.mirror.co.uk)
4. ^ Cheltenham Racecourse (www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk)
5. ^ Cheltenham's 'disgraceful' roads get major cash boost to fix potholes (www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk)
6. ^ Safety fears over 'unofficial' car park as vandals wreck council bid to stop it with temporary bollards (www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk)
7. ^ iPhone (go.skimresources.com)
8. ^ Android (play.google.com)