Editorial | Reggae fête poses moral hazard

In this COVID-19 environment, the Government’s primary effort should be in preventing, avoiding, and mitigating the spread of the disease, not risking its spread.

That is why as much as we embrace and celebrate reggae music and its centrality to Jamaican culture, this newspaper does not support the administration’s plan to host a July 1 concert to mark International Reggae Day. The risks posed by the event outweigh its potential for demonstrating how to effectively put on a major concert in line with protocols being advanced by the Government. The health minister, Christopher Tufton, should indicate what advice he and his technocrats offered on this matter.

Or put another way, every large gathering, especially of people who are not fully vaccinated against the disease, is a probable superspreader event. And while around eight per cent of Jamaicans have had a single dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is a tiny amount, not more than two per cent have had the second dose required for full vaccination.

In this regard, the Government opens itself to a possible moral hazard. Should its concert not go as planned and there are glitches, or worse, significant breaches of the regime under which concerts, parties, and other events are to be held, the administration would find it difficult to be tough when there are shortcomings and failures at fêtes and shows organised by private individuals or firms.

This issue is raised in the context of last week’s announcement by Prime Minister Andrew Holness of an easing of COVID-19 restrictions and the July 1 reopening of the entertainment sector. Notably, the nightly curfews, except for Sundays (6 p.m.), will begin three hours later, at 11 p.m., providing more time for leisure business to operate. Additionally, indoor, seated events, halted for months, will be allowed up to 100 people, or the number that can be accommodated in 60 per cent of the concert hall, but on the basis that each patron is allowed a minimum of 40 square feet.

NOT CLEAR

With respect to large outdoor events, no specific numbers, or the formula by which crowds are to be determined, has been announced. And it is not clear whether the 5,000 people daily that the Government was willing to allow to attend last week’s national track and field competition at the National Stadium – where up to 30,000 people are sometimes packed in – provides a guide to the administration’s thinking. Not having sufficient time to do what was necessary to meet the guideline for accommodating spectators at the stadium, the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) wisely decided against entertaining athletics fans. So the Government’s enforcement capacity at a privately organised event hasn’t been tested.

Assuming it wasn’t long ago secretly planning the July 1 concert at the Port Royal cruise ship pier, the Government, admittedly, will have had a week longer than the JAAA to prepare for its event. But the audience will be special invitees rather than people who independently purchase tickets to an entertainment event. It will, in the circumstances, be a controlled exercise, and thus easier to manage than if it were an open affair. In that regard, notwithstanding Prime Minister Andrew Holness’ declaration of the concert as a fitting way to celebrate International Reggae Day and a signal of the reopening of the entertainment industry, it doesn’t square fully with private, commercial events. In the latter, different economic concerns are also at play.

It would, therefore, make more sense, and be a better use of the Government’s limited resources, if the time were spent refining the protocols for hosting these large public events and clearly articulating them in public-information campaigns. Event promoters, especially those putting on events in community settings, shouldn’t be left to work out square footage and complicated sums to determine the legality, or otherwise, of a fête. In other words, the guidelines must be clearer and easier to understand than those that have, thus far, been elaborated by Mr Holness.

DISCIPLINE BREAKS DOWN

Additionally, it must be elucidated how these events will be policed and what happens immediately when there is a breach. Mr Holness, for instance, indicated that there will have to be concert marshals, which, we suppose, will be agents of the event organisers charged with monitoring adherence to protocols. We are, however, all too aware of how quickly and easily discipline tends to break down in Jamaica. We are, therefore, not sanguine with self-regulation if that is what is intended.

The bottom line is that while this newspaper is wholly sympathetic to the need to expand economic activity, we, and the rest of Jamaica, can’t lose sight of the fact that COVID-19 is still upon us; of the low levels of vaccination in the country; and of the possibility of new, more virulent strains of the virus reaching the island. We can’t afford to let our guard down.

We already know that COVID-19 is most easily spread when large crowds of people are in proximity of each other and expelling and ingesting the virus one to another. Outside of being vaccinated, the best way to slow the spread of the disease is by maintaining appropriate physical distance and wearing masks. The Government mustn’t compromise on these requirements.