Be the first to comment!MEIA calls for a 12-month managed Covid exit plan
 Email item
|  Print item
|
|
The Malta Entertainment Industry and Arts Association (MEIA)is calling for a 12-month managed exit plan starting from March 2021.
In a statement, it said that this exit plan should identify the different scenarios and the respective mitigation measures required for each scenario according to the protocols established by the Health department.
MEIA also expressed concern that the current situation is often leading to crisis management, leading to conflicting messages by different public entities and economic hardship to the industry.
“Industry professionals in the arts and entertainment are unable to plan ahead and address the challenges of the current situation which will probably take longer than anticipated with long-term effects on all sectors,” it said.
MEIA went on to say that “the one-year exit plan needs to identify ways in which the arts and entertainment industries can operate with sufficient information to design and plan events for the different measures.”
It pointed out that other countries have successfully introduced measures that allowed the arts and entertainment industries to phase-in different event planning measures, some also leading to mass gathering events without registering any Covid-19 infections.
“We are well aware that mass gatherings with thousands of people might not be realistic for this summer,” it said. “However, we can still hopefully look at small scale options, may it be with certification of vaccinations, sustainable models with different mitigation measures or strict border controls due to the new variants, if we have a well-managed exit plan to facilitate such planning.”
MEIA said that the fast-changing conditions of the pandemic requires significant flexibility to ensure that health remains a priority.
It concluded by saying that, “we firmly believe that scenario building can be simulated and communicated effectively to reassure arts and entertainment professionals that our sectors can restart through such exit plan built on existing data, research and industry expertise.”
