Goa is the place to be when it comes to parties. Raves, parties in pubs and clubs are dime
a dozen. There has also been an increase in the number of cases due to Omicron
in the state. As of yesterday it was 261 cases in various parts of the state.
In such a scenario there has been some comment about parties being held in the
state. The recently concluded Sunburn generated comment and the CM then claimed
the weddings in the south were responsible for the rise in cases. Were these
the super spreader events?
Anand Chatterjee GM Planet Hollywood said
they were not conducting any Christmas, New Year or even Diwali party. He said
“Planet Hollywood parties are usually one of the biggest and we have major
celebrities performing. The last two years was muted and it will continue this
year too. This year we will have an open air dinner with social distance
maintained. It will be a sit down dinner which will be special. The hotel is
sold out”. No one he said would be allowed into the hotel without a certificate
which was now mandated. Earlier he said they would request guests to have
certificates showing their status. He went on to say they were not encouraging
any parties that could be a super spreader. Weddings he said were being allowed
because everyone knew everyone within the guests circle and everyone was aware
of each other’s status.
Savio Messias, a hotelier, was more to the
point when he said it was not possible to blame weddings for the spread of the
virus. He said “Yes a few cases were reported of NRI’s who came to Goa for a
wedding. Let me say there is no point in pointing fingers at people like saying
weddings or any specific party was responsible for this. If the proper testing
measures were taken at the airport we would not have had these problems. We
need to follow the guidelines that have been set by the authorities, that is
the only way forward. We need to do our bit.”
Nilesh Shah the President of TTAG voiced similar sentiments. He
said “The appropriate protocols have to be followed. In the hotel industry, we
have constantly reminded guests to follow the protocols. Number of cases may
rise so the only way is to follow the rules. Pointing fingers does not really
help.”
Shekhar Shelkar who is part of the advisory committee said
“Please remember any event held indoors with an air conditioner is dangerous.
Anything held outside is not a problem. In a closed space people not wearing a
mask is very dangerous”. He said if one were to look at the data all the cases
were coming from places like Panjim, Margao, Candolim, Cansaulim and Cortalim
where there were indoor venues. No cases emerged from places like Morjim which
hosted parties outdoors. He said the variant was contagious but the number of
people being admitted to hospitals was minuscule. That was not the case with
the Covid virus which led to a large number of people being admitted to the
hospital.
That
may be a more sane attitude in these times. Follow the protocols and don’t
party indoors.
