Warnings alone won’t do

Monday 8th November, 2021

Health experts are making gloomy predictions about the spread of Covid-19 here. Director General of Health Services Dr. Asela Gunawaradena has warned the public that restrictions will have to be imposed again unless they behave responsibly, given the increase in the number of Covid-19 cases reported daily. Nobody seems to care a damn about the health guidelines in place to control the pandemic. The people are behaving as if the pandemic were a thing of the past.

No amount of exhortations or warnings will have any effect on Sri Lankans if experience is anything to go by. The past waves of Covid-19 came about because neither the public nor the government heeded health warnings, and carried on regardless until the death toll went through the roof. The process of closing the country when Covid-19 fatalities increase exponentially and reopening it when they are brought under control cannot go on indefinitely; something drastic must be done to make the public abide by the health regulations and prevent infections. The onus is on the government to ensure compliance, and eliminate the factors that lead to the spread of the disease, instead of waiting until the situation worsens to close the country.

The time for adopting measures to prevent another explosive spread of the pandemic is now! They must not be postponed if disaster is to be averted. Unless the people stop holding ceremonies in violation of the Covid-19 prevention protocols, then there will be no alternative to a blanket ban on such gatherings. It defies comprehension why permission has been granted for religious functions, which are super-spreader events.

The Public Health Inspectors (PHIs) and Grama Niladharis (GNs) must be made to explain why wedding receptions, etc., are allowed to be held with the participation of many guests in violation of health regulations. It is well-nigh impossible for anyone to hold such functions unbeknownst to the GNs and the PHIs concerned. The same is true of overcrowded buses and trains; they are mobile Covid-19 hotspots. The police must be made to explain why they do not take legal action against bus operators and the railway authorities for flouting the health regulations.

The public sector is terribly overstaffed, and the country does not need more than one half of the state workers. It, therefore, does not make any sense to require all of them to be physically present at their workplaces daily during the pandemic. Some state institutions have rostered their employees to spare the latter the trouble of commuting daily and prevent the crowding of workplaces, or introduced ‘flexitime’. These methods should be employed wherever possible.

Many private sector institutions have embraced the work-from-home culture, and even succeeded in lowering their costs considerably. Some of them have shifted to smaller buildings because most of their employees work from home, and are saving on rent, air-conditioning, electricity, etc. Workers have also stood to gain because they do not have to travel, which is expensive and stressful although most of them bear the costs of data, etc., which however pale into insignificance in comparison to the benefits of remote work.

The government should encourage telework, which will stand the country in good stead even post-pandemic, because it will help ease traffic congestion, and save fuel and forex.

As for the possibility of another wave of Covid-19, which health experts have warned of, the government must get cracking. All those who violate the health guidelines must be made to face the full force of the law for endangering the lives of others and creating conditions for lockdowns that hurt the public and the economy alike. Mere warnings and threats of punitive action will not do.

When the violators of the quarantine laws are arrested and prosecuted with adequate publicity given to such instances, others will realise the need to obey the law. That is the only way to keep the country open.