It's 2021, and Covid-19 is still here...don't get lax!
2021 is upon us, and Covid-19 is still attacking the world with a vengeance. We’ve become somewhat desensitized to the havoc wreaked, and as numbers increase it’s business as usual – not that we can afford to relax, given that economies, locally and globally, are already hanging by frayed threads. Sri Lanka has been seeing at daily caseloads in excess of 700 for some time now, and it is heartening to note that front-line responders are receiving vaccinations – as they rightly deserve for the selfless sacrifice, they are making to protect the country. The public vaccination drive is planned to commence in March but achieving a proper level of immunisation is dependent on many factors, so don’t think you can throw off those masks, dump those hand sanitisers and jump into those crowded pools by year-end.
Covid-19 is no joke. Just ask anyone who has gone through it. The virus does not discriminate by age, sex, race, profession, or any other criteria. We had the tragic loss of a healthy and dedicated 32-year-old Doctor recently, the first Doctor in Sri Lanka to die from the virus. We also saw that a 117-year-old French nun had beaten Covid-19 just before her birthday – that means she was 116 when she was infected and lived. If that isn’t any indication about just how indiscriminating this virus is, how everyone is fair game for its Russian-roulette-style of deciding who lives and who dies, I don’t know what is.
We still need to be careful, maintain our hand washing and sanitising, mask wearing, social distancing and the whole nine yards. Already, we can see the public is starting to get lax on these rules – we see those who wear their masks covering their mouths while their noses are free to wiggle in the exposed breeze, making that mask useless as Covid-19 can enter the human body just as effectively through the nose or mouth. Another one is people who slide their mask over their neck to talk, eat or drink, only to place it back over their nose and mouth once done. How did you enjoy that whiff of your own neck (especially if it was a hot day and you were all sweaty)? The inside of your mask has to be kept clean and you have just allowed it to touch all the microbes that were on your neck – which could include droplets of Covid-19, had you been close to an infected party. We hear about asymptomatic carriers too – that is, people who have Covid-19 but show no outward indications or feel any different.
The worst part is, I have seen some of these characteristics among workers in the Hospitality trade –hotel security guards with masks round their necks talking to each other, or Housekeeping staff busily cleaning vacated rooms with their noses out. Yes, it is difficult to wear a mask and can be a pain too. I have run to the door sans mask many times whenever I had to collect a food delivery or hail the ice cream seller, and after much protest from my family, I make it a point to mask up before opening the door. But spare a thought for the healthcare workers who have to wear, not only masks, but overalls, gloves, boots, face protectors and more, and perform their tasks for hours on end with all this paraphernalia. If they can do that, surely, we can stomach the minor discomfort of a face mask or take the extra thirty seconds to wash our hands before entering or exiting a business. Hand sanitisers are great, they smell nice and feel cool after you have spread them all over your palms but slathering your skin in so much alcohol multiple times a day is not ideal and can bring about other effects.
In a way, this year will not be any different to the last in terms of the precautions we must take. Cleaning, sanitisation and disinfection regimes must go on across all business entities, especially in hospitality where we provide board, lodging, food, drink and other services to our customers who patronise our outlets for a variety of business or leisure reasons. So, let’s focus on maintaining and raising the bar, rather than seeing a vaccine on the horizon and starting to relax. Let’s use this as an opportunity to discover new and Covid-19 safe ways to thrill our guests.
Ashraaq Wahab – Technical Director Hospitality Sri Lanka, Automotive Journalist, Marketer and Writer, who enjoys penning his thoughts, insights and ideas on a variety of topics.
|
|
|
|
