rishard.khan@guardian.co.tt
Since the start of the pandemic, public parties of any nature have been strictly prohibited barring those around elections. That ban will be lifted come Monday and the industry which suffered some of the worst economic fallout of the outbreak will be given some breathing room.
However, while many are eager to make up for lost time, the lessons of the pandemic will not be forgotten and will be incorporated into these events.
According to Residence Lounge operations manager Keegan Knights, the lifting of the ban, abolition of safe zones and return to 100 per cent capacity gives the establishment the necessary tools to recover lost income, especially through parties and special events which it has become popular for. Yesterday, he said parties and events will resume at the lounge “from the get-go on April 4.”
“We’re going to be going full force with that,” he told Guardian Media in a telephone interview.
But while the country’s epidemiology is more favourable than just six months ago, the pandemic is still very much in swing. This is why Knights said patrons of the nightclub will be subject to additional protocols. This includes the usual procedures the world has now gotten accustomed to — frequent sanitisation, social distancing between groups and mandatory mask-wearing while not consuming food or beverages. However, he said patrons will now be required to make reservations to attend.
“Everybody that’s entering the club is going to be asked to make reservations. So we ask every group in every section, the person that reserves the area, we’re going to have their name and their guests as well. (It’s) going to be used as a form of contact tracing,” he said.
Party boats will also be implementing safety precautions, as they too will be allowed to resume operations.
A spokesperson for the T&T Pleasure Craft Association (TTPCA), Stephan McConnie, referred to the restrictions’ lifting as “the first piece of good news we’ve gotten in two-plus years.”
He said around a dozen large operators were forced to shut down since the pandemic began and between 200 and 300 employees had been put on the breadline as a result. He said the ripple effect on downstream businesses— such as boat maintenance companies and caterers et cetera—is also wide-reaching.
Despite the “party boats’” and tour boats’ elation with the news, he noted that they’re cognisant of the risk the pandemic still poses.
“At the same time, we are being very cautious with it because like anybody else, we don’t want to see another wave, so we have spoken among the association and we are going to take the necessary steps to continue safeguarding our crew, our business and the patrons as well,” McConnie said.
“We plan to continue sanitisation before boarding. We plan to continue sanitisation of vessels between trips and also we will obey the ordinance...in terms of mask-wearing and all these different things.”
McConnie, the owner of Don’t Drink Indoors Down d Island boat tours, was forced to close his operations during the pandemic. Restarting, he said, will take him some time.
“We’re hoping to resume operations no later than mid to end of May, which gives us enough to put things in place protocol wise, safety-wise. Remember our vessels have been down for a while, so we have a lot of work to do to ensure the stability of the vessels and safety protocols within the maritime sector,” he said.
He lamented, however, that the recovery from debt incurred over the period will take him “a couple of years.”
