After household clusters, political rallies are likely to be superspreader events due to rampant violation of safety measures like masking and distancing protocols. The management of political rallies ahead of Assembly elections has now become a major challenge for Health Department officials in their effort to control the surge in COVID-19 cases.
Chennai:
According to officials, political events are also responsible for the rising cases in past few weeks. Though the standard operating procedure mandate seeking permission for holding any event, including political rallies, and strict adherence to masking and other safety standards, this is rarely followed. Because of this, at least a few of the new cases are reported among participants of these events.
“We have identified few cases who had participated in rallies and other political activities. However, no major cluster has been identified from any of the political events so far,” said Dr TS Selvavinayagam, Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.
What makes it more challenging for the officials is that contract tracing these cases is proving to be difficult, because many people hesitate to give details about attending political rallies and other such events.
“We are doing detailed contract tracing by tracking travel history, public event participation and mass interaction of people who test positive. The protocol remains the same on contract tracing; their family members are also being tested, as a large number of household clusters are being identified,” added Dr Selvavinayagam.
Health officials said they have noted many cases where the event organisers violated the norms. Hence, they have issued instructions on SOP and fine to be issued in case of violations. The district deputy directors are monitoring political events to ensure that all safety protocols are followed to prevent any superspreader events.
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