Features
Covid-19 guidelines …no more in our scene!
Well, this seems very much so when one takes a look at some of the advertisements, on social media, regarding the festive events that were held, over the past few weeks, and, of course, the 31st night celebrations, scheduled to take place tomorrow night – December 31st.
Most of these events refer to dinner, and dancing. No qualm where dinner is concerned. But…dancing!
Surely, any sensible authority should know that one can’t maintain social distancing (an important Covid guideline) while gyrating on the dance flow. And, invariably, these dance floors are packed.
Even face masks (another important Covid guideline) are nowhere to be seen on a dance floor. So, the obvious question is how come such events have been given the green light, by the health authorities, to be held!
What is also mystifying is that nowhere, in any of the advertisements, on social media, have I seen reference being made where only full vaccinated people would be admitted – now an important requirement abroad.
Perhaps, the health authorities believe that we, Sri Lankans, are now totally immune to the highly contagious and fast spreading Omicron variant.
I had a couple of letters coming my way regarding this issue:
Sumedi W. R.
I went along with some of my pals to a popular venue, in the heart of the city Colombo – now back in action after the lockdown, etc.
However, we were disappointed with the setup; the place was packed with young folks, dancing away, with no masks and unconcerned about social distancing, and the management seemed unconcerned, as well.
I believe we were the only people who had are masks on and, as the place looked totally unhealthy, we left immediately.
Varunajith Dayaratne:
Most people are living in silent depression and frustration, what with the cost of living skyrocketing on a daily basis.
I happened to go, with a few of my friends, after a conference, to Galle Face Green, and then One Galle Face (after ages), just to see what’s happening over there.
Believe me, I don’t understand the mentality of our people. Both places were absolutely crowded, with no Covid safety measures being followed, and we quickly got out from there, for our own safety.
We witnessed massive queues outside, on the streets, at all the surrounding five- star hotels – people waiting to get in. I don’t know for what! Absolutely, no Covid safety measures were followed by the majority, jam packed, knocking against one another (both outdoors and indoors) and no sanitization, no one meter distance, no temperature checking, etc.
There was this Santa where parents allowed their kids to be hugged by him and take pictures, without face masks. OMG! How many people would he have touched to take pictures, without masks, etc.
There were also young boys and girls, from a dancing group, on the ground floor (centre stage area) doing the Latin, waltz jive, etc., holding one another.
It was also scary using the escalators as people were knocking against one another, taking selfies, and holding the moving railings. We avoided touching anything and quickly got out.
The country is wide open for masses to crowd up anywhere, in common public places, and we were asking each other, have the people, and the country, forgotten that the Covid virus is everywhere! Are they living in an illusion, or gone insane?
It seems like that most are living abnormal lives, especially, in Colombo – waiting impatiently to go out and party with their entire families. It seems like most are not affected by the cost of living and scarcity or lack of essentials. Personally, I’m extremely scared to go out after what we witnessed this Poya day afternoon, and evening, at these venues.
Even buses are crowded. I don’t know, but I feel something is gone radically wrong with the majority of our urban area people’s mentality and behaviour, and they are behaving like there’s no Covid and there are no burning issues, living in this part of the world.
This country and its people have gone insane.