Ex-lawmaker slams gov’t for scapegoating cultural venues

Although no Covid-19 cases have been found to be connected to theatres and other cultural venues, they were always the first to close and the last to reopen amid outbreaks, former lawmaker Sulu Sou said in a social media post.

In addition, the former lawmaker emphasized that, even though no infections had been found to be related to performing arts venues in the past two and a half years, they were only permitted to operate at half capacity for an extended period, before more relaxed pandemic measures allowed them to operate at three-quarter capacity with conditions.

In the social media post, the ex-lawmaker pointed out that a theatrical show to which he had bought tickets had been forced to suspend shows in the middle of the season due to the June 18 outbreak.

This past round of the Covid-19 outbreak, which affected nearly 2,000 people and saw six deaths with Covid-19 involvement recorded, started June 18.

What probably made the situation tougher on cultural workers is that the government had decided to set up Covid-19 community test stations at several cultural venues, such as the Old Courthouse Exhibition Centre and Black-box Theatre and the Macao Cultural Centre, meaning that the resumption of performing arts was delayed as the city began the gradual resumption of normal life.

“As ever before, voices from the industry have not been heard,” Sou wrote in the post.

He also emphasized that disease control measures had heavily impacted the industry and, therefore, members of the industry have lacked opportunities to refine their skills.

As a result, he demanded the government implement relief measures, such as rental waiver and scale expansion, to show that they are willing to work with the industry.

At a recent health press briefing, Health Bureau (SSM) director and pulmonologist Alvis Lo, was questioned on the matter. He did not promise to return arts and cultural venues to the industry instead of using them as test stations. He said only that his bureau would make “general considerations.”

Lo added that the locations and number of test stations would be adjusted depending on the situation. Although he said there would not be dozens of stations, he defended the location of the test stations.

“People will accuse us of setting up too few stations if we cut too many of them,” Lo said. Nonetheless, he did not explain how the number of stations required was calculated.

Some school campuses are no longer used as community test stations since the opening of a new school year is soon.