Government may want to seriously consider completely banning
all public gatherings as it seems people are unfazed by the deadly Covid-19 as
most dance floors in Bulawayo were packed with revellers over the weekend.
Even though Government on Saturday confirmed the country’s
second Covid-19 case and discouraged people from social gatherings, those
warnings clearly fell on deaf ears as the public went out to be merry at
various nightspots in the city, and in numbers.
Following the call by Government to limit the number of
patrons patronising their spots, one would have expected to see few people, but
clearly the call went out of the window. Nightspots in the central business
district and its peripheries were teeming with revellers dancing, drinking and
partying.
On Saturday evening, people seemed to have heeded the call
earlier in the night, but as the night grew older, more and more people flowed
into the nightspots. Perhaps the lure of money in such difficult economic times
was too hard for the bar proprietors to resist as they let revellers in without
considering the suspension of public gatherings.
To their credit though, the nightspots seemed to have their
patrons at heart as they sanitised each person’s hands at the entry points. But
with the high volumes of patrons, some were not sanitised upon entry.
Inside the bars, people however were spotted hugging,
shaking and holding hands, while others kissed, oblivious of the risk they were
putting themselves in with their actions. These were the perfect conditions for
the virus to spread as it only takes one infected person to enter the bar and
put everyone there at risk.
Also, there was also no effort by the workers at the
various spots to sanitise the tables and bar areas as the waiters only wiped
the surfaces with regular cloths.
In the toilets, there were sanitisers, but some people
would, after using the toilet, not even wash their hands. The same people would
go and start dancing, shake hands and pick ice from buckets to put in their
cups.
In South Africa, alcohol is not allowed to be sold after
6PM as a measure to curb the spread of the virus, something that may need to be
imposed locally, mostly due to the carefree attitude exhibited by locals.
Another worrying trend of the misconception around the
“less than 100 people” allowance needs to be addressed urgently as people now
seem to believe that if their gathering has less than 100 people, it means they
are not at risk of contracting the virus that has killed thousands of people.
Covid-19 has claimed over 11 000 lives globally with Italy
being the hardest hit country. Chronicle
0 comments:
Post a Comment