Kamal Bankay, chairman of Dream Weekend, believes that the time has come to open up the island’s events industry which has been shuttered because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We need to open up our events industry this year for sure, we have been closed for way too long, unnecessarily so, especially after the passing of delta, the worst of worst in COVID, and we moved towards omicron and less harmful variants,” Bankay told OBSERVER ONLINE.

Citing a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study highlighting that the omicron variant was more than 90 per cent less fatal than delta, Bankay added: “Omicron is similar to the flu in terms of mortality rate, it’s a milder form of COVID. Protocols are different now when the world was dealing with delta.”

He believes that the entertainment sector needs a prescribed set of rules and regulations in the events industry that are in line with the current COVID outbreak. He believes that rigorous testing is the panacea that will allow large-scale entertainment events to occur during this calendar year. 

“If you want large groups of people gathering, testing is a more effective way of prevention of transmission than vaccination and the government has signalled that they need to incentivise vaccination, I agree with that but I don’t agree with discrimination,” Bankay said.

“Large events should happen but we need to find some way to test people to ensure that they’re negative (in order) to enter these events,” he posited. 

Bankay accepts that larger events are riskier endeavours, but doesn’t believe that small events (under 250 patrons) should be subjected to testing. 

“Smaller events should have mask wearing on entry, sanitisation and temperature checks because they have a lower risk profile,” he said.  

Bankay said that there are plans to resume carnival events this year. 

“We’re going to be part of the conversation to get carnival up and running, big events like Sumfest and Dream Weekend, Champs in March, Gibson relays, all these large events, they are possible during this time and we need to do them,” said Bankay, who is a member of the Entertainment Advisory Board. “It is doable to execute these events, and where we are in terms of testing, the protocols, anything over 1,000, testing is the way to go to prevent COVID spread.”

In the meantime, Bankay joined the chorus of voices criticising the government for its perceived plan to discriminate against unvaccinated persons within the society. 

“I believe that persons who are vaccinated should be incentivised, but that doesn’t mean that persons who are not unvaccinated should be discriminated against. It is a fine line but obviously how you frame things, especially in this sensitive time, it is very important. That is not the kind of position you want to take,” he told OBSERVER ONLINE. 

He stressed that the government ought to push incentivisation rather than policies that border on discrimination.

Bankay was speaking against the background of recent remarks by Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton when he revealed the government’s plan to favour those citizens who opted to get inoculated against COVID-19.

Tufton was blasted by several Jamaicans over the plan to discriminate against unvaccinated Jamaicans.

Nevertheless, Bankay applauded the government’s stewardship during the COVID-19 pandemic but strongly believes that it is time to change gears and reopen the economy without any hint of discrimination.  

“The government has done what it is supposed to do in regards to making vaccines available, you can walk into a majority of clinics, and get any vaccine out of five if you want. There are no lines and it doesn’t cost you a penny….the government should not be locking down all citizens of the country for any longer when it has done its part to protect, and educate and provide the tools necessary for each citizen to live freely during this COVID time,” Bankay said.