EDITORIAL | Why was matric event allowed when Covid-19 continues to rage?

Matric Rage: 2020 — rite of passage, festival of debauchery or superspreader event?

Since it began years ago, there have been numerous stories, be they factual or hearsay, about the goings-on at these gatherings. Many have ended in tears — and that’s in a “good” year.

In 2020 we have Covid-19. That virus people complained about because they couldn’t buy tobacco products or alcohol, see their families and friends, or jump in cars or on planes for that annual holiday.

And now, since we have come out of the hard lockdown, concerns about a second wave starting in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal are keeping scientists awake at night. The last thing we now need is superspreader events.

Research has shown that not all venues and get-togethers are created equal when it comes to this phenomenon. Put the same amount of people in different venues and the resultant number of infections depends on the crowd.

In the light of this, many fear Matric Rage will be very much a super spreader event.

The tourism industry, which lost hundreds of thousands of jobs this year, has stated, in no uncertain terms, that SA cannot afford another lockdown.

Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, CEO of the Tourism Business Council of SA, shared with Business Times this week how nervous industry players are.

“The source of the increased spread of the virus is not coming from tourism. It’s coming from community transmission and if you don’t deal with community transmission, in terms of people wearing masks in their own communities” and adhering to department of health protocols on social distancing, “then that becomes a problem”, he said.

Sunday Times Daily reported recently that epidemiologists have warned the nation that superspreading events over the festive season could drive us into a crippling second wave.

All of this begs the question: why are events such as Matric Rage allowed and why have parents bowed to pressure and let their children attend?

If SA does not want to end up like countries that are having to reinstitute hard lockdowns, perhaps its citizens should heed the advice of the US’s Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which suggests gathering in groups of fewer than 10 people this festive season.

This is because superspreading events have a much larger impact than was previously thought.

If South Africans do not adhere to the basic principles of staying Covid-19 safe, the 10-person rule is a containment measure the government should consider enforcing, especially over the festive period.