Dear Editor,
It is about time that there is a reconsideration of the national curfew that is in place as a Covid 19 mitigation measure. There are no grounds as to why the curfew exists and the assumption that it helps to prevent the spread of the virus is senseless at best. It’s not like the Covid virus is only contagious after certain hours hence the need for us to curb the hours. The virus is always present and anyone can contract it at any time, hence why we have all the proven mitigating measures like social distancing, mask wearing mandates, proper sanitation, etc. If one were to take this skewed logic to its natural conclusion, then we should move to a state of lockdown (aka 24hr curfew) and not selective time targeting.
Moreover, in addition to already hurting businesses which have already suffered an entire year because of Covid, with little or no direct state support, this curfew measure is forcing patrons to all come out before 9 pm and crowd up at hospitality and other business places, which defeats the entire purpose of discouraging large crowds from gathering. Decision making should be based on supporting facts and understanding of the particular environment in which the decision is being made and not on copying approaches and remedies which are prevailing in other countries and societies with dissimilar context as ours.
Sincerely,
Clinton Urling
