By: Dodik Prasetyo) *
The long season at the end of the year is usually used by people to stay in touch and have a vacation in tourist areas. However, the public must adhere to health protocols considering that the Covid-19 pandemic is still happening.
It is hoped that the long holiday period of Christmas and New Year will not be a “harvest period” case. This is certainly not without reason considering that from the experience of the previous long holiday period, an increase in the number of additional confirmed positive cases will occur in about 2 weeks thereafter.
Spokesperson for the Covid-19 Task Force (Task Force) Prof. Wiku Adisasmito in his press statement through the Youtube channel of the Presidential Secretariat said that every long holiday period takes place, the harvest of cases will definitely occur 10-14 days after that.
In anticipation of the Christmas and New Year 2021 holidays, the Central Covid-19 Task Force suggested several things that should be used as lessons to anticipate an increase in cases.
First, to all regional heads to optimize discipline enforcement of health protocols. The local government must be brave and firm to disperse the crowd and amplify the 3M campaign, namely wearing masks, keeping your distance and washing your hands. The public must understand that in this time of pandemic, 3M applications are mandatory and not optional.
Second, people are asked to be wise and aware to minimize mobility. Due to the findings of Yilmazkuday in 2020, it is said that the intensity increases to stay at home. The results of his study show that by reducing visits to public areas by 1%, this can reduce dozens of Covid-19 cases and deaths per week.
This finding should be an alarm for all of us to make wise choices, namely to stay at home and avoid crowds. Even though it is difficult, Wiku hopes that the public can fully realize that the choice to reduce visits to public areas is to protect themselves and especially those closest to them.
Third, there are several other alternative activities to choose from in filling the Christmas and New Year 2021 holidays. Such as virtual tours to tourist attractions and others. Or you can also choose to staycation. In principle, the choice of these activities allows people to have a vacation without causing crowds, which of course minimizes the potential for Covid-19 transmission.
Previously, in 2020 there were 3 long holiday periods which were the material for the government’s evaluation. Namely, the long holiday of Eid, the long holiday of the Republic of Indonesia and the long holiday of October 28 – November 1, 2020.
On the long Eid al-Fitr holiday, it seems that an impact on the increase in positive cases by 69% to 93 percent on June 28, 2020. Then, the long holiday for the Republic of Indonesia anniversary period, has an impact on increasing positive cases by 58 percent to 118 percent in weeks 1 to 3 September 2020, and the long holidays of late October and early November, resulted in an increase in positive cases by 17 percent to 22 percent from 8 to 22 November 2020.
The Task Force also said that the level of community discipline towards the implementation of 3M health protocols, such as washing hands with soap, wearing masks and maintaining distance has decreased in almost all regions. This is also a factor in the increase in active cases of Covid-19 in the country to this day.
Doni Monardo as Chair of the Covid-19 Handling Task Force said, the level of community discipline towards health protocols, especially the use of masks, as part of an effort to break the chain of Covid-19 spread has gradually decreased since early November.
In addition, the disciplinary level of the community in maintaining distance and avoiding crowds has also decreased gradually every week. The peak, according to Doni, was on November 22, which was at 53.57 percent.
In this case, Doni admitted that the government cannot work alone in order to break the chain of spreading Covid-19 in the country, especially in providing education and inviting the public to remain disciplined towards health protocols.
He assessed that there needs to be a role from various components, especially non-formal figures in each region, so that calls and calls for health protocol discipline can be followed by all levels of society.
Therefore, to prevent an increase in confirmed cases of Covid-19, of course this can be started from yourself and your family to obey all forms of health protocols established by the government.
) * The author is a contributor to the Cikini Press Circle and Students
