New lockdown in NMB a stern warning for BCM
Harder Covid restrictions inevitable if people don't mask up and hold back
Unless there is a dramatic improvement in behaviour, Buffalo City Metro and other parts of the Eastern Cape could face a return to the harder lockdown restrictions expected in Covidracked Nelson Mandela Bay soon.
This is the word from health specialists as the Port Elizabethbased municipality braces for no alcohol sales on weekends, no sit-ins at taverns and no large festive-season events.
Public open spaces, save for beaches, have been closed with immediate effect, Nelson Mandela disaster management head Shane Brown said on Wednesday.
President Cyril Ramaphosa met with his cabinet on Wednesday, and is expected to make an announcement about stricter regulations for Covid-19 hotspots, including Sarah Baartman municipality, which includes holiday towns like Kenton-on-Sea and Port Alfred.
Nelson Mandela Bay and Sarah Baartman have both seen dramatic spikes in Covid-19 numbers in the past month. Numbers in Buffalo City Metro are also rising.
Health department special adviser Dr Bevan Goqwana warned that with more people travelling during the upcoming holiday period there was a good chance the virus could spread fast.
If people don t take care of “’ themselves, some restrictions will be put in place in East London, Goqwana said.
”
People who live in Sarah “
Baartman visit PE and people from Amathole and other districts visit Buffalo City Metro. The most important thing now is how people behave.”
Addressing the media in a virtual press conference on Wednesday, Nelson Mandela Bay acting mayor Thsonono Buyeye said proposals made by the city s coronavirus council,
’ subsequently sent to province and national, included an earlier curfew of 10pm.
This was made because the metro s command council received
’ a report from law enforcement agencies that they were struggling to enforce the existing midnight curfew because some shebeens and taverns closed exactly at midnight.
This meant patrons only left at that time, putting them in violation of the curfew as they travelled home.
We put the proposal of an earlier curfew to allow people to get home and allow taverns to cash up in time so that no one is in violation of any regulations,” Buyeye said.
Of the public spaces measure, Buyeye said: We re looking at
“’ the closing down of public spaces for a week or two to prevent people from gathering in spaces. Part of that is the issue of numbers in gatherings. As a city this is an issue.
Any event done through contact will have numbers and as things stand now, we won t be
’ approving such events. We re
’ fast approaching the festive season and so we don t want a
’ situation where people can t walk freely but if it happens, so be it. Cabinet is sitting soon and a decision will be communicated, Buyeye said.
”
Asked if proposals on restrictions in travel to and from the metro had been made, Buyeye said there was no such consideration at this stage.
Border-Kei Chamber of Business executive director Les Holbrook cautioned that reverting to stricter regulations might not be the answer.
Going backward is always “destructive. However, if we re ’ trying to save lives, let s be honest ’ about how we re going to ’ achieve this. We re not convinced ’ that implementing a revised lockdown will achieve its goal. It s painfully clear the ’ spike [in numbers] is due to sectors and parts of the general public s unwillingness to do its
’ part,” he said.
He said the command council needed to concentrate on dealing with disobedient behaviour of citizens in hotspots and not
“beat everyone with the same stick ”.
Statistics show exactly what “is going on. Locking the whole country down is hugely negative. I qualify all these comments on the fact that we re still
’ only speculating as no official statement has been made. We ask for sensible introspection and consideration.”
However, he said the business chamber did agree with banning public events and gatherings, even while not clamping
“down on the tourism sector
Guest houses in Port Elizabeth already have been hit badly by ongoing lockdown regulations and travel restrictions, and a stricter lockdown could only make matters worse.
Jenny Thompson, secretary for the Port Elizabeth Metro Bed & Breakfast Association, said uncertainty about the future was stressful for business owners.
’
We re looking at
’ the closing down of public spaces for a week or two to prevent people from gathering
It s clear the spike
’ is due to sectors and parts of the general public s
’ unwillingness to do its part
“
We have Blue Flag beaches and great restaurants on the beachfront that are major tourism attractions. But no one is going to book accommodation if they cannot use any of these attractions.
Every time things seem to be getting better, we end up taking a step back,” Thompson said.