THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the state considering a rethink on its lockdown strategy on Tuesday, experts under Amuseum — a collective of independent intellectuals, scientists, artists and cultural enthusiasts from different parts of the world — have suggested scientific measures to return to normal life in a phased manner. It sent a letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan requesting him to do away with the current lockdown strategy and to replace it with better crowd control and vaccination strategies.
IMA wants state govt to think of ways to open schools, colleges
“The test positivity rate (TPR) is calculated based on tests conducted on people with high chances for infection. Hence, it will always be high. It would be better to conduct random testing to make it more representative of society. Apart from TPR, parameters such as hospital facilities and load of new patients should be considered for imposing lockdown,” said Dr Ajit Kumar G, a trustee member of Amuseum.
He said restricted openings followed nowadays would lead to a surge in new cases, which could cross 40,000 during Onam. The state chapter of the IMA also wanted the government to think of ways to open schools and colleges in small batches. Priority should be given to vaccinate all aged above 18, it said in a statement. It mooted alternate ways of pandemic management by opening shops on all days. Banks and government offices should be allowed to open on all working days. Amuseum stressed that priority be given to those who have developed immunity against Covid. Immunity can be developed by vaccination or through recovery.
“An immunity passport enables others to get vaccinated as early as possible and enjoy normal life,” said Dr Ajit. Amuseum also demanded the state to make bulk purchase of vaccines to open vaccine centres operating round the clock. “The state should purchase 60 lakh doses so that at least 78% people get at least one dose. It will help in opening schools and colleges in a phased manner by September. The vaccines would cost `500 crore. But it is not a high amount considering the economic slowdown due to the lockdown,” said the letter.It also wanted state-level serosurveys to focus on areas to be vaccinated and to impose lockdown. The expert group wanted the pandemic management to be made more acceptable to people than something carried out as a police activity.