We are all living through our first, and hopefully last, coronavirus Christmas, which is like nothing else experienced before. Festive season parties, dining out, big family gatherings, festive events have all been banned by the government hoping to control the spread of the virus, as daily cases have remained persistently high. Only time will show whether having Christmas under curfew will have the desired epidemiological results, but if it does not, the government and epidemiologists could once again blame so-called undisciplined people and the alleged disregard they showed for the safety measures.
Faced with spreading public discontent, the council of ministers was obliged on Tuesday to make some very small concessions, allowing a small dose of normality back into people’s lives. It announced the putting back of the curfew to 11pm on Christmas Eve and to 1am on New Year’s Day. In reality it was a rather meaningless gesture considering people would have nowhere to go other than visit each other’s house, as long as these gatherings do not exceed 10 people. Perhaps a party host could have time slots for visits, entertaining one group of friends between 8pm to 10.30pm on New Year’s Eve and a second group from10.30pm to 1am.
Apart from the concession to partygoers, it also offered a small dose of normality to churchgoers, allowing them to attend church service on Christmas Day and Epiphany. The government had been under significant pressure from the Church hierarchy as well as ordinary people to allow Christmas services, especially as all Easter services were cancelled because of the lockdown. This time, it is not a total lockdown even though churches, like restaurants and cafes, have been closed down until January 3 for the time being.
Churches will most probably put in place the safety protocols, but how many families will comply with the 10-people limit on social gatherings is another matter. There has been defiance to this restriction and the likelihood is it will increase during these days. It is impossible to believe that there will not be New Year’s Eve parties at houses, with more than 10 people present and lasting well after the 1am curfew.
How will these parties be stopped? Will the police depend on people acting as informers against their neighbours or will they patrol neighbourhoods and investigate suspicious activities? And how will they prove there are more than 10 people in a house considering they cannot enter any house without a warrant? We do not know whether the government has left these windows for defying the decrees on New Year’s Eve open, by accident or design, but the reality is that policing compliance would be well-nigh impossible.
This is no bad thing under the circumstances. A little festive normality in people’s lives at least for a day, be they having a party of more than 10 people on New Year’s Eve, lunch for the extended family on Boxing Day or going to church on Christmas Day is the least they can seek in this coronavirus-infected festive period.
Merry Christmas.
