by Kevon Browne
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN) – The labour day weekend is approaching and following the trends seen in other Caribbean islands, holiday weekends present an opportune time for the virus to spread because of events, fetes, weddings etc.
Superintendent Cromwell Henry made note of such an occurrence in his address during the Wednesday, April 28 National Emergency Operations Center’s weekly press briefing.
“And from observation in other countries, we see that whenever there is a spike… in the Coronavirus in these countries, it’s usually after a celebration, a major event where large crowds gather. And then shortly after that event, you have… a surge in the number of cases… and we have a tendency here in the Federation to have crowded events on weekends; on holiday weekends in particular, without regard for protocols,” he noted.
Barbados, St. Lucia and Jamaica are just three countries in the region who imposed curfews during the Easter weekend as a preemptive strike in stopping any spread that may occur.
Those three islands have had several instances of community spread throughout the pandemic.
Henry reported that during holiday weekends there is generally a spike in the amount of events seeking approval.
As previously reported, Easter weekend in the Federation had 97 approved events (private parties, bar and restaurant operations).
However, ahead of this holiday, Henry is reminding citizens of the importance of the protocols and recounted recent events that showed disregard for the protocols.
Henry ended by reiterating vaccination as a way to move toward more normalcy with fewer restrictions imposed on events.
