THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the Onam festival season starting just two weeks from now, the state is staring at a Covid situation similar to last year when the increased exposure of people had led to peaking of the first wave. This time, the uptick has already started and the pace of vaccination is unlikely to improve to reach the herd immunity level.
The Central government has already issued directives against more relaxations during the festival period. Notwithstanding these conditions, health experts have demanded the government to open up in a scientific manner for a safe Onam.
According to them, the lockdown restrictions based on the test positivity rate (TPR) and other measures such as weekend lockdowns have failed in containing the pandemic and, in fact, worsened the livelihood issues. They also do not want the state to follow the haphazard manner in which the curbs were lifted for three days before Bakrid.”
The state should not repeat the blunder of lifting lockdown restrictions at the very last moment. If there should be a safe Onam, then the government should relax the restrictions now, instead of waiting for the last moment. The government should also declare festival bonus now itself so that people get enough time to make purchases instead of crowding during the short window allowed later,” said immunologist and public health expert Dr Padmanabha Shenoy.Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan suddenly announced the relaxation for three days ahead of Bakrid at the last moment.
It led to massive crowding by people without adhering to Covid protocol and the effects of it are seen in a few districts in the form of high new Covid cases and TPR.” The government also had a role for the increased spread during Bakrid. Had the government communicated clearly and early that restrictions would be lifted for three days from Sunday, people would not have made frantic purchases on Friday that led to super spreading. There should be more time given to people to prepare for Onam to prevent a repeat of the situation,” said internal medicine specialist and public health expert Dr N M Arun.
Though they criticise the lockdown policies as a failed experiment, the health experts have a consensus that the chances of a spurt in new cases with the increasing exposure. According to them, the immunity developed through vaccination and recoveries from infection would prevent severe infection and occupancy of ICUs/ventilators.
The number of susceptible people is also equally high, which demands the state to open up in a controlled and scientific manner. The Indian Medical Association which has long advocated strong containment measures has also demanded long-term solutions to live with the pandemic.