Festive celebrations …pre – Covid style!

Source:Island

Obviously, everyone is glad that the local scene is brightening up, and there is certainly a reasonable amount of work to keep our entertainers busy, over the next 10 days, leading up to New Year’s Eve.

Quite a few venues are having Christmas specials, and 31st night celebrations, as well.

I’m told that most venues, outside the city of Colombo, are fully booked, and that would certainly gladden the hearts of those involved in the hotel industry.

However, let’s hope sanity will prevail and all those who patronise such venues, will venture out with the pandemic, in mind – the Omicron variant, in particular.

Sohan & The X-Periments, with Trishelle, will usher in the New Year at the prestigious five-star Marriott Hotel, in Weligama, and the guys, I’m told, are eagerly looking forward to giving guests a memorable night of entertainment, with the right music, to blast through into 2022.

The group’s last 31st night event was at the SSC, in 2019, before the pandemic engulfed the whole world.

There was absolutely no work, for any entertainers, during the festive period, in 2020.

“I’m glad that some of our entertainers have something to look forward to, this festive season, unlike in 2020,” said Sohan.

“Work has come our way, not in truck loads, but good enough to keep us busy, and I sincerely hope my colleagues, in the music scene, are enjoying themselves, in whatever way possible,” added Sohan.

DJs, I’m told, will be having a field day, in Colombo, and I’ve already seen, on social media, some of the events advertised.

At a DJ event, one can’t expect the public (music lovers) to go, sit, and take in the scene. All the action will be on the dance floor, and then what happens to the rules and regulations, laid down by the Health authorities, where the pandemic is concerned.

The Health authorities talk about wearing mask and social distancing, but will any of their rules and regulations be adhered to at these festive events!

They have only got to checkout social media to know what I mean.

Right now, entertainment venues are crowded; dance floors are packed with merrymakers celebrating birthdays, etc., with no masks, and no social distancing.

They all seem to be doing it…the pre-Covid style, giving the impression that this pandemic is only an illusion, and that is because the Health authorities and the Public Health Inspectors have not moved into action.

Have any of the owners/managers, of such venues, been taken to task for not abiding by Covid-19 guidelines? And, so they have it their own way….

How come the Public Health Inspectors have given the green light for a big DJ event, to be held in the city of Colombo?

Yes, it’s mentioned that the event will be held under the Sri Lankan government’s guidelines on Covid-19. And, the guidelines obviously include masks and social distancing.

At such events, everyone will be on the dance floor…so, where is the social distancing, and who would care to wear a mask?

One has got to remember that the Omicron variant is spreading rapidly across the world and it’s inevitable that it would spread in Sri Lanka, too.

What is disturbing is that the Omicron Covid-19 variant can have symptoms, similar to the Common Cold.

Actress Kareena Kapoor contracted Covid-19 at an intimate dinner where one guest was coughing!

And, Taylor Swift’s album party, held in Australia, has become a superspreader event, after nearly 100 test positive for Covid.

PHIs wake up before a Covid-19 tsunami strikes Sri Lanka…at the end of all these activities.