Parties are being held in Barbados with hundreds of attendees who are not adhering to any COVID-19 protocols.
This revelation comes from some local promoters, who have warned health authorities that even as they try to regulate the number of partygoers at events some are being held without their permission or knowledge.
“Right now there are a lot of black market events that are flooding the marketplace and that hurts everybody across the board because Government isn’t collecting any VAT and then there is the risk because they aren’t doing anything at all and there are 500, 600 and in some cases 1000 people at these events,” promoter Orlando Newton pointed out during a meeting Tuesday with the Entertainment Association of Barbados (EAB) and Director of the COVID-19 Monitoring Unit Ronald Chapman.
Another promoter also expressed his concerns regarding the risks associated with the hosting of such events.
He said it was unfortunate that while law-abiding promoters were being limited to holding events with a maximum capacity of 250 persons, those flouting the law were able to reap the benefits.
However, in response, Chapman said due to a lack of resources it was incredibly difficult for the unit to monitor every party.
He called on Barbadians to behave responsibly at all times and not to put themselves in situations where they could possibly be exposed to COVID-19.
“There is manageable risk or there is known risk and there are risks that you can control and there are risks that you can’t control. For the most part, what we look to do is to control and manage those risks that we can.
“There is no way that I can be at every single party or every single event, me neither my officers, and we expect that Barbadians would behave responsibly. Some of them do, some of them don’t.”
Chapman also called on owners of catamarans and party cruises to enforce the COVID-19 protocols during events.
President of the EAB Rudy Maloney told Barbados TODAY he was happy with the outcome of the meeting.
He said it gave promoters, event producers and club owners, the opportunity to express their concerns and to find out Government’s plans for the entertainment industry during the pandemic.
“We are satisfied because we were able to get some clarity on what is happening in the actual industry. A lot of people have lost based on numbers so people were planning events not knowing what the real numbers were but now that we know it’s 250 no matter how big the venue is,” Maloney said.
He said while those reduced numbers would be a blow to promoters, the safety of Barbadians was of utmost importance.
“Sponsorship at this time is down and doing an event like at this time you can end up in the red. You cannot charge patrons in this time the real cost but at the end of the day, we in the industry and the association know that safety is key,” Maloney said.
(randybennett@barbadostoday.bb)
