Special season needs special rules

IN LIGHT of the announcement on Monday of the first confirmed case of the omicron covid19 variant, the Ministry of Health must, as a matter of urgency, issue stronger, more definitive guidance to the population on Christmas activities.

Though Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh on Monday painted a dire hypothetical picture of what will happen if an omicron wave is layered and sandwiched with the ongoing, calamitous delta wave, he did not go nearly far enough when it came to addressing what is most immediately upon us: a busy holiday period in which more than half the country is unvaccinated.

At Saturday’s Ministry of Health media briefing, Mr Deyalsingh did not hesitate to agree – on questioning by a reporter – with a call from the Supermarkets Association of TT for fewer people to be moving around, saying the Government’s policy is one of asking for decreased mobility as a whole.

But on Monday, as he gave the distressing, but not unexpected, news that a first omicron case has been confirmed, the minister sought to put all his firepower behind encouraging people to get vaccinated and to get booster shots.

“Get vaccinated,” he said once more. His entreaty coincided with the very first day of the Government’s booster programme.

Yet the minister must see that above and beyond vaccinations and boosters, specific guidelines about Christmas and family gatherings need to be issued now to give the population time to become fully aware of and adjust their plans to conform with them.

Mr Deyalsingh himself alluded to the fact that not enough people are vaccinated. Even if some as-yet unvaccinated individuals now seek jabs in the coming weeks, it is not likely that a first dose will offer adequate protection in time for the holidays.

What the ministry must begin to discuss and amplify are limits to gatherings – whether of families at home or informal gatherings elsewhere. Just as people are being advised to avoid overcrowding supermarkets, the State must issue stronger, more consistent warnings about the need for people to stay at home – and that means their own homes, not their relatives’.

It is precisely because hospital capacity is limited and over-stretched that we must avoid, as much as possible, the conditions that are likely to generate a post-Christmas spike.

This risk is heightened by the suggestion that the omicron variant may be easier to spread than previous strains. The international media on Monday reported concerns among researchers about a case in which preliminary findings appeared to suggest the variant spread between two people staying in separate rooms across the hall from each other in a hotel.

Whatever scientific consensus emerges, we know enough about covid19 and delta to foresee the need for heightened restrictions over Christmas. Definitive rules need to be laid down, reinforced and communicated now.