BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE Police Force and the COVID-19 Task Force are being criticised for the recent decision to put a lid on crowds attending sport events, despite the continuation of fetes.
A video that was recently circulated on social media showed a large gathering, which included a number of prominent members of society in attendance, not maintaining social distance or wearing face masks.
This comes at a time when the authorities are said to be clamping down on large gatherings that pose a risk of being “superspreader events” with the new COVID-19 variants present in the region and has a high chance of contagion.
SKNVibes reached out to Superintendent Cromwell Henry, who is the Police Force’s representative on the National Task Force, for a comment but was unsuccessful.
This media house also reached out to the Head of the Task Force, Abdias Samuel, and Commissioner of Police Hilroy Brandy, but was also unsuccessful up to publication time.
All of this comes against the backdrop of the St. Kitts-Nevis Football Association (SKNFA) postponing the start of the 2021 season due to ongoing talks with the National COVID-19 Task Force to have crowds present at its tournaments.
The heads of various sport organisations in the Federation were summoned to a meeting last week, where the directive was explained to them.
In a media statement, the Department of Sports explained: “The Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture, and more specifically the Department of Sport, on the advice of the Cabinet and the National COVID-19 Task Force, has taken the decision that permission to host all inter-team and inter-club competitive matches shall be granted to the exclusion of spectators until further notice”.
However, a number of individuals, on the condition of anonymity, perceived that directive and the Police Force granting of permission to host fetes as an indication of “double standard”.
“We view that decision by the COVID-19 Task Force and the Police Force’s involvement in the granting of permission for fetes and parties as being biased, as while a directive was given for the hosting of sport events, a number of promoters are publicly advertising their fetes and boat rides during this pandemic, especially for the upcoming Valentine’s Day”.
