The Ministry of Health and Wellness has rejected a request to allow the holiday carnival to operate this year as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Office of the Prime Minister Press Secretary Clint Watson announced yesterday, adding that “the risk outweighs any benefit envisioned”.
The announcement came one day before the carnival was set to start operations and followed days of confusion over whether permission had been granted.
“The advisory committee, which has been meeting since the start of the pandemic to assess situations like this and give approval for events, has met and identified several reasons why this event should not be approved,” Watson said at a weekly briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister.
“The basis of this science has not changed. Social distancing is a key tool in mitigating the spread of the virus.
“As the holiday carnival is usually categorized as an event where people associate in close quarters, the Ministry of Health was not adequately satisfied that people from separate households will remain three to six feet apart from each other.”
Operators of the carnival had already set up many of the rides and equipment for the event at Fort Charlotte when Watson made the announcement. The holiday carnival did not take place last year due to the pandemic.
When reporters visited the site yesterday, Joseph Alberts, manager and coordinator of Midways by McCafferty Enterprises, said the company will “talk to other people in the political platform” since its request was denied.
“We’re going to work on it,” he said.
“… We invited them to come out and look at and see how safe it is so maybe they will reconsider it.”
When asked if anyone visited the site, Alberts replied, “No one ever came to look at it.”
Alberts previously said that Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis gave permission for the carnival to operate.
Asked yesterday if the prime minister gave approvals, Watson said, “It’s absolute nonsense.”
When asked if work permits were granted for the carnival operators, Acting Director of Immigration Keturah Ferguson said “not to my knowledge”.
Large events have been widely banned since the start of the pandemic.
While some concerts are slated for this month and nightclubs are expected to also resume operations, other events like Junkanoo have been canceled as a result of the fluidity of The Bahamas’ COVID-19 situation.
Watson said that the carnival falls in the same category as concerts and other large events.
“While the organizers have stated that they are committed to implementing measures to enforce the protocols, unfortunately, we are not satisfied that they will be consistently able to safely enforce rules even if motivated,” he said.
“The fact of the matter is the risk outweighs any benefit envisioned.
“During the application process, the responsiveness and behavior of the persons associated with the request for approval have been less than ideal as emails have gone unanswered and the illusion made in the press that the Ministry of Health does not have any jurisdiction on the holding of the carnival has given rise to concern of the level of regard for this ministry that is required for the ministry to have confidence that it can help organizers manage and guide this event safely.”
Watson said the organizers of the carnival did not provide the ministry with the number of people expected to be at the carnival.
He said that figure is anticipated to exceed the number considered as “a risk for concerts and other outdoor activities”.
“Recently, requests submitted to the Ministry of Health and Wellness for events of this scale have not been approved and approving at this stage will reflect a significant deviation from the ministry’s standards for approving these types of requests,” Watson said.
“It is with that that the Ministry of Health and Wellness has resigned to not approve the request for the holding of the annual holiday carnival this year.”
The post No carnival appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/no-carnival/
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