THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amid the scare of a possible huge post-election Covid-19 surge in the state, the decision of the government to reopen schools/colleges on January 1 has set alarm bells ringing for the health department. Making matters worse is the possibility of a holiday wave triggered by Christmas and New Year celebrations.
While a section of health officials say the decision to reopen schools and colleges even if it is only for certain classes/batches at a critical juncture is wrong, some others say it’s a calculated risk the state has to take. “A prediction of how the pandemic will progress in the coming days is impossible. But going by the incidents world over, the curve will climb post-election.
The situation might get worse as the people are gearing up to celebrate Christmas and New Year,” said an official of the health department. According to the official, with the reopening of several sectors and no restriction on people’s movement, a feeling that everything is normal is getting ingrained in the society. “Some say there is no need to adhere to the Covid protocol.
The spike witnessed post-Onam happened because the advisories issued specifically for the festival were not followed meticulously. The same is likely to happen with Christmas-New Year — advisories will be issued but not followed,” added the official.
Healthcare experts want the Covid Care - Coastal Health Action Plan reintroduced as the coastal areas are most likely to go full throttle with the Christmas and New Year celebrations, which can result in super spread events or rapid spread as happened at Poonthura and Pulluvila in Thiruvananthapuram in July.
A member of the state’s Covid-19 prevention and control team said if advisories do not yield the intended results, strict enforcement of restrictions is the only way out. However, that will happen only if there is a huge spike. Otherwise, the enforcement might become a political weapon to launch protests against the government.
“For instance, if a restriction on the movement of people and vehicles is imposed now itself, it will be used against the government by the Opposition parties that will allege that it doesn’t care for the interests of daily-wage earners. Hence, the government is on a sticky wicket,” said the member. In the case of reopening of Classes X and XII and colleges, a section of the health sector has alleged that sufficient deliberations were not held with officials at the ground level.
Test positivity rate comes down to 8 pc
T’Puram: The state on Thursday recorded 4,970 recoveries and 4,969 fresh cases of Covid-19. The daily test positivity rate stood at 8.17 per cent and the number of samples processed was 60,851. Those who tested positive include 4,282 contact cases, 541 cases with unknown source of infection, 99 returnees and 47 health workers. The deaths that were confirmed as due to the virus were 27, which included a 100-year-old from Kollam (Nanu of Mukhathala)