Influencers are Exempt From Travel Restrictions Because Their Luxury Vacations are Considered 'Work'

Source - With much of England first plunged into tier four and now lockdown, many seem to be wondering how all of these glamorous breaks have been able to go ahead at a time when millions are being told to stay at home. 

From a Love Island star facing charges for alleged Covid breaches in Barbados, to the Celtic football team drawing Scottish government criticism for travelling to Dubai for training - tabloids and social media have been full of scrutiny of these trips in recent days. 

So, what is going on and what do the rules say? ...

[P]eople were instructed to stay at home by law unless they had a reasonable and legal excuse to leave including for work, shopping or caring responsibilities. 

Guidance said people living under tier four could only travel internationally - or indeed elsewhere in the UK - if they first qualified under one of the strictly defined legally permitted reasons to leave home. 

Some influencers and celebrities have been tagging brands and talent agencies in their posts - indicating their content shared abroad is sponsored or paid work. And travelling overseas was permitted for work reasons under tier four, when your job could not be done at home. 

Finally. It's taken 10 months, millions of cases, dozens of spikes and surges and unflattened curves, and worldwide economic collapse. But at long last we've got one government issuing restrictions that make sense. Cheerio, England. Well done, old chaps.

Some people have to travel. They have no choice. Doctors Without Borders. Members of the armed services. Diplomats. People in the intelligence community working on matters of international security. Influencers on the 'Gram. These are people who can't do their essential jobs without overseas travel. Deadly worldwide pandemic be damned.

OK, sure. There are businesses all over the place being threatened with shutdown. Family owned and operated places that have kept food on the table for generations. But with all due respect to Mulligan's Fireside Pub in the Bronx or Banks Billiards in Banks, Oregon, we've all got to make special allowances for the Influencers. Where would the world be without 22-year-olds posing in bikinis from in an infinity pool in Dubai or taking carefully Snap-filtered selfies from a tropical beach in the peak light of The Golden Hour? How are we supposed to know what designer shoe to buy unless it's on the foot of an IG model in Barbados? People in the UK can complain all they want about not being able to allow customers into their place of work or guests from another household into their home. But those luxury cars in exotic foreign locations aren't going to lay across their own hoods, posing seductively. You might think that's not as essential as your own livelihood, but just see how drab and boring this existence is once the Influencers are put out of business. Or, god forbid, are forced to do their posing in their own miserable countries. 

So good for you, England. In the same way these young superstars hit up real businesses for free stuff, allowances for them have to be made. Even if they bring the 'Vid back to your country, that's a small price to pay for all the good they do. We're all in the same boat in this. It's just that some people's boat is a superyacht they pretend to live on.

As a P.S., let's celebrate the fine work being done by our own domestic IG Influencers in the Covid-restricted streets of Los Angeles. Let's do whatever we can to help them get their jobs done. 

PPS: Support the Barstool Fund. Your donation won't go to any of these people.