Kolkata: ‘Political gatherings, shopping may hasten Covid spread’

KOLKATA: Political gatherings ahead of the festive season, which is likely to see a surge in intermingling and demolish social distancing norms, may hasten the spurt in Covid spread at a time when the number of positives is on the rise and hospital beds are full, warned doctors and experts. A large number of ‘silent’ carriers are being encouraged to come in close contact with the unaffected which will lead to a faster transmission, they pointed out. They were shocked to find distancing norms being openly flouted when cases were spiralling, said the experts.
All political parties have the right to protest but doing that through huge gatherings is unacceptable now, felt Manas Gumta, professor of surgery at the College of Medicine and Sagor Dutta Hospital. “Physical distancing and other preventive norms obviously take a backseat at political meetings and rallies. This will backfire as far as Covid containment measures are concerned. Mass gatherings will only help further spread of the virus. We can’t afford this at a time when we are already staring at a post-Puja hike in the number of positives,” said Gumta.
The jostling of hundreds of political workers at rallies over the last one week has conveyed a wrong message, according to RN Tagore Institute of Cardiac Sciences (RTIICS) consultant Arindam Biswas. “All the good work done by the campaigns to prevent Covid spread has been undone in the last few days. While we have had leaders calling for safety measures and propagating them, they are the ones who have now taken the lead to break all the norms. This has not only put those who participated in the rallies at risk but also made the rest careless. We will see social distancing norms going for a toss more frequently now,” said Biswas.
It was a worrying situation, especially since hospital beds are already full, felt AMRI Hospitals consultant Debashish Saha. “Gatherings will only swell the number of Covid positives. We must realize that we don’t have resources to cater to all the affected. Such irresponsible acts may lead to an unmanageabke situation,” said Saha.
“All mass convergence — political, religious or social — should not be allowed during the pandemic of this nature. Even if 2% in the mass are asymptomatic carriers or mildly symptomatic, they will end up infecting a portion in the crowd who will further fan infection across,” said Prabhas Prasun Giri, associate professor at Institute of Child Health.