By Carlena Knight
With the feting season now in full swing, one medical practitioner is advising patrons attending these events to continue to take precautions against Covid-19.
CEO and Medical Director of C. Lewis & Associates, Dr Courtney Lewis, was speaking on the topic yesterday on the Observer AM show.
He said while several safety protocols have been lifted, persons should still remain cautious with the coronavirus still prevalent within the country. The latest dashboard showed a slight increase in the number of active cases to 55.
“If you know you are going to go to a fete, you should insist that the fete promoter insists that persons show their ticket, show that they had a recent test done.
“I mean, it’s not perfect but it’s better than nothing. If you have something done in the last 24 hours to say that you are Covid negative, the chances of you bringing Covid to the party is going to be lessened.
“Again, it is not a perfect system but it gives more peace of mind than none, and it helps with the liability issues of the fete owners and it helps everybody’s conscience overall,” Dr Lewis said.
“If you are going to go into the fete, there should be stations around either the exits or entrance or somewhere scattered throughout the area where you are going to have the fete where people can go and sanitise as they wish.
“They can get their temperatures checked upon admission and definitely sanitise upon admission,” he explained.
Dr Lewis admitted that while persons will not want to wear masks when attending parties, the next best option is mass testing prior to the event.
“Have mass testing before the fete, and then of course you can do routine testing afterwards,” he said.
Dr Lewis recommended taking a Covid test 24 hours before a fete and then again a week after the event.
“Just to be sure and get that peace of mind that I didn’t go there with anything, and I didn’t catch anything after,” he suggested.
He said revellers should also exercise personal responsibility and stay at home if they are showing any virus symptoms.
Meanwhile, Dr Lewis revealed he was not in favour of the various protocols being lifted ahead of the feting season.
Rules such as mask-wearing, caps on social gatherings, and mandatory vaccination for fetes were just a few of the requirements that were lifted earlier this year.
“I personally wasn’t happy. I thought it was a bit early to be announcing it,” Dr Lewis said.
“I think that in the space that we are in now, I am less so worried but still, I would have preferred that we would have kept some of the protocols as mandatory and standard before going into this Carnival season.
“I would have preferred going into this Carnival season of mass revelry with some of these protocols still in place, as opposed to just having it open and free and kind of see what happens,” he added.
Nevertheless, Dr Lewis, who is also the Vice Chair of the National Technical Working Group on vaccines, is encouraging persons to get jabbed and also get booster shots.