Entertainment sector uncertain about Old Year’s Night events; BAMP worried about lifting of curfew

Government’s latest COVID-19 directives have left a cloud of uncertainty over Old Year’s Night and New Year’s Day celebrations.

Additionally, the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP) has expressed concern over the curfew being discontinued on Christmas Eve, as it believes the move could lead to risky behaviour by Barbadians.

With the current directives set to expire on Wednesday, according to the Official Gazette, the newest Emergency Management (COVID-19) Directive No. 23 has extended the midnight to 5 a.m. curfew from December 14 to December 29.

However, the curfew has been relaxed on Christmas Eve.

President of the Entertainment Association of Barbados (EAB) Rudy Maloney told Barbados TODAY the latest directives have left players in that sector in limbo.

He said they had not been included in any discussions and were still unclear whether any events would be allowed on Old Year’s Night or New Year’s Day.

“Anybody not in the entertainment industry who wants to put on a proper event needs more than two weeks. The directive is a two-week directive right now and there obviously is uncertainty of what is going to happen on December 31 so it affects the industry,” Maloney said.

“We can’t plan so we don’t know what is going to happen. If we could plan then maybe some people will take the risk but most proper event planners need time to get their event out there, they need time for sales and they need time to get all the things put in place for the protocols etcetera, so it is difficult when you don’t know.

“We just want a clear path of what you are doing. COVID isn’t something that goes to sleep and wakes up, so just let us know what your plans are. Other industries are open and other industries had COVID incidences and recovered and we need the same opportunities. There are people in this industry who are truly suffering and I don’t know if the authorities understand that and I hope they do understand it,” he added.

Meanwhile, BAMP’s public relations officer Dr Russell Broome-Webster told he did not fully understand why the curfew was lifted on Christmas Eve.

He said the decision to ease restrictions on that night could prove to be problematic.

“Obviously, the nighttime activity that will occur on Christmas Eve will be a concern to anyone from a health perspective and we are hopeful that while this is probably something that the Government deems necessary, I’m not sure what the thinking is in particular. But I assume it is similar to the Republic activities and there may be a religious aspect to it. I’m not sure what the reason is because I haven’t sat in on those meetings,” Dr Broome-Webster said.

“We do understand that there is a chance of exposure, certainly all the time and people just need to keep their guard up and don’t see it as an opportunity to let their guard down.”

He said while there were no major changes to the directives, BAMP was continuing its call for increased testing and a greater level of identification of variants.

“I think BAMP’s position has always been pretty much the same since the last set of directives that have come out. We have consistently called for greater attention to the identification of variants, which is something that still after a long time of discussion at the policy level and certainly at the technocratic level we are not aware of any formal pathway to readily identify variants of concern and that is something we’ve been calling for even before the advent of the Omicron variant,” Dr Broome-Webster said.

“….That is something that has been put out there multiple times by BAMP from a very long time ago and we continue to call for an improvement certainly in the scale of testing as well as the identification of variants.” randybennett@barbadostoday.bb