The much-feared second wave of Covid is here. Thursday's Health bulletin recorded 582 new cases with the active count crossing the 3,000 mark, while Wednesday saw 527 new infections. The government has woken up to the grim reality that the killer virus could cause more damage this time but is hanging by a thin thread of hope since it is now equipped with a vaccine.
We can comprehend the reasoning behind not going for a lockdown or night curfew on the lines of Maharashtra and other States. The need to keep the economy afloat in these precarious times while trying to navigate through the Covid crisis is understandable. What is not understandable is not showing the urgency to vaccinate a sector that fetches us the revenue. If the government doesn’t want to impose restrictions and shoo away tourists, the least it can do is to insulate the hospitality sector so that tourism, which is the only money churner in the absence of mining, sustains even during difficult times.
Instead of going along the beaten path of appealing for discipline, use of face masks and social distancing, which the legislators themselves have been flagrantly violating all along, we need to change strategies given the fact that we now have a vaccine at hand. Yes, there are some credible initiatives taken lately to tackle the swell like reactivating Covid care centres and making vaccine compulsory for government servants who are above 45 years of age, besides moving the Centre with a proposal to vaccinate people in the tourism industry below 45 years of age. The State government has to push this further. There is an immediate need to get the entire hospitality sector vaccinated in a damage-control initiative -- from the taxi driver to the roadside eateries, resorts, hotels and the recently teeming entertainment sector. There are no two ways about this.
The government has to go into overdrive with a focus on hospitality if it wants tourism to continue. Currently, there are around 25 private and 37 government centres undertaking inoculation and the State has a stock of around 1.5 lakh vaccines. Vaccination has to move beyond the allocated centres, and have to be taken to the doorstep of hospitality if we are to stay ahead in this battle against Covid. Make stakeholders in hospitality partners of this drive so that every individual associated with the industry is covered.
The lethargy and hesitancy behind making quick decisions have cost Goa dearly in the past and lessons haven't been learnt. We recall the initial reluctance to implement even face masks when other States had adopted it during the onset of Covid. Vaccinating the hospitality sector on priority can be a game-changer for Chief Minister Pramod Sawant because it will not only help win the confidence of the tourists but also to a large extent help in arresting the spread of the virus within the State. It’s time to take bold and smart decisions in the interest of Goa and Goans.
