Covid cases are increasing, fatality is far less than other illnesses, dengue and typhoid cases are also increasing, if lockdown is the solution we may have to lockdown forever.
– Colin D’cruz, Musician, Sangolda
After tourist entry in the State and New Year bash, we have seen a rapid increase in positivity rate. Right now lockdown is the only effective tool in our hands, to slow down the progression of the virus and prevent our healthcare system from getting swamped with the critical cases.
– Mayanka Harlankar,
Pharma Executive, Bicholim
Goa loves it’s tourism, so no one was checked coming in initially and as expected the cases have grown. No shocker. Most mass venues aren’t checking anyone. If they can’t get the protocols in place I think going under night curfew for a while is the best solution. Why burden the hospitals and citizens again.
– Aadore Mukherjee,
Casting Director, Bicholim
If the hospitalisation rates are not increasing proportionately as everyone is stating with the omicron variant, then maybe we don’t need curfews, but maybe restrictions on just large gatherings, strictly enforce masks, social distancing in public.
– Nupura Hautamaki,
Event and Events Consultant, Guirim
Lockdowns are a lazy solution and will only hurt businesses further that have just started to recover. We need mandatory RTPCR testing for anyone entering Goa. Increase accessibility of testing, give quick reports, unclog hospitals, set up free remote consultation for patients, and ensure strict masking in public places for people. We should not create more problems to solve one problem.
– Shruti Chaturvedi,
Marketing Professional, Panjim
The state should have been proactive after the second wave, it may already be too late. But restrictions are the need of the hour. We should try to avoid the financial hit of another abrupt lockdown+unlock. Enforcement of mandatory negative RTPCR, and spot COVID testing at all the borders and ensuring that business owners adhere to COVID protocol is enough. But the police and state need to be vigilant.
– Tahir Noronha, Urban Researcher, Neura
Yes, it’s high time to have a strict curfew or the situation will be the same as from April-June wherein the second wave was at its peak.
Agnes Fatima Pinto,
Student, Vasco
Past experiences with the Coronavirus Pandemic have demonstrated that a blanket lockdown is not the absolute answer to curbing the spread of the infection. The objective of a lockdown from a Government’s perspective needs to align with the control of community transmission so that the vulnerable population in the State is kept safe from a reinfection pertaining to the newly discovered variant. However, with the growing discontentment among the stakeholders of the tourism businesses owing to a potential lockdown and the imminent need of the ruling government to satisfy its electorate, the balancing equation has become a dangerous milieu of leveraging policy decisions in contradiction to the preservation of public health. Section 2A of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 empowers the Central Government to take preventive measures when it is satisfied that any part of India is under the threat of an outbreak relating to an Epidemic. Consequently, here in Goa too the Central Government needs to step in and implement decisions that are aimed at protecting the herd immunity generated so far and preventing external influences such as tourists and visitors of other states from spreading the Coronavirus infection further. Announcing Night Curfews and micro-Lockdowns in the present scenario only seem like Paper Tigers when there is so much at stake in the form of sustainable livelihoods of Goans versus the health and safety of the State’s residents as a whole. Despite these drawbacks, the present Government appears to be committed towards “Double Engined” growth in a very shortsighted manner. So let not the political charades define the health and safety considerations while enabling the Executive’s administrative power in the State of Goa.
– Moses Pinto, Advocate, Margao
