Despite a looming fourth wave of Covid-19 and the dangers of the new Omicron variant, the Plett Rage is set to go ahead from Friday with close to 1,000 matriculants having already booked their tickets.
This is despite the Ballito Rage being cancelled by organisers on Wednesday after 32 guests and four staff members tested positive for Covid-19 the previous day.
Ballito Rage organisers said they were processing refunds for revellers who had tested positive for Covid-19 before attending the event.
For the moment, however, the Plett Rage is still on.
Plett Rage founder Ronen Klugman said it was mandatory for all attendees to be fully vaccinated and that a PCR test would need to be taken at home.
An antigen test would be required upon registration.
At a council meeting on Tuesday, Bitou mayor David Swart said the organisers had adhered to all protocols.
“As we approach what is commonly known as [peak] season, more work opportunities are available and this will enable so many more community members and businesses to earn some much-needed income for their families,” Swart said.
“Friday sees the start of our annual matric Plett Rage festival and the people of Bitou municipality may have seen the preparations taking place at central beach.
“The organisers will be testing students and will be adhering to the regulations in place and, in fact, exceeding them.
“Students will now show proof of vaccination, will be tested on arrival and a testing centre will be operational from Wednesday [yesterday],” Swart said.
Contact tracing would take place and a vehicle would be available to take anyone who tested positive to their accommodation or their hometown, he said.
“Once the festival is over, the holidaymakers will start to arrive, mainly from Gauteng. This is where our real challenge lies in confining the spread of the coronavirus. With our many facilities closed last December, we know that we received a spike in numbers when the visitors arrived.”
Meanwhile, Dr Siva Pillay, who sits on Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane’s Covid-19 provincial command council, cautioned against holding the festival until more was known about the new variant.
“There is no vaccine in the country that can prevent infections. They can only prevent you from serious illness and death,” Pillay said. “They cannot protect you from infection or from spreading the infection, therefore the non-pharmaceutical methods of prevention such as washing hands, social distancing and the like is most effective.
“It is important that everyone is responsible by avoiding large crowds and by practising social distancing.”
Pillay said if there was a large gathering, such as a festival, there would have to be strict social distancing.
“Because we do not have a prevention against infection, we should avoid mask-to-mask gatherings,” he said.
Pillay said events such as a matric rage did not lend themselves to social distancing.
“Events like this are discouraged,” he said.
“With the new variant, we do not know whether the vaccine will prevent serious illness.
“At this point where we have a new variant we are unfamiliar with, you are taking a chance,” he cautioned.
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