Easter booze rules reduce drunk driving but cause super-spreader events

South Africa might have won in getting drunk drivers off the roads by closing bottle stores over the Easter lockdown weekend, but permitting on-site consumption of alcohol could have led to super-spreader events, with its impact to be seen in more than a week’s time.

In attempting to limit the potential spread of Covid-19 during the Easter holidays, President Cyril Ramaphosa again banned the sale of alcohol but for off-site consumption. Taverns, pubs and restaurants could continue to serve alcohol until the imposed curfew of midnight.

But it seemed some did not adhere to restrictions. In Soweto, a police operation found people not wearing masks while sharing hookah pipes in packed venues. Police arrested a man for torching a police vehicle in Muldersdrift after two police officers were attacked at a tavern.

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Most of the complaints received by the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) were those of noise emanating from street bashes, pubs and taverns, said spokesperson Xolani Fihla.

Tshwane also saw some pubs keeping their doors opened past the midnight curfew, Tshwane Metropolitan Police Department (TMPD) spokesperson senior superintendent Isaac Mahamba said. But overall, there were minimal issues, he added.

“The closure of alcohol helped a lot. We did not have a lot of issues. Although we had a few incidents of pubs that did not close on time and a few arrests for drunk driving, we are happy in Tshwane in terms of the number of accidents and the behaviour of motorists on the road,” Mahamba said.

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Fihla said motorists in Johannesburg had also complied, with less incidents of drunk driving reported.

Despite over 70,000 vehicles travelling between Durban and Gauteng, and a further 50,000 on the N1 to Limpopo, 290 people were arrested for drunk driving over the weekend, said the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC).

“The biggest challenge observed was the high number of pedestrians along the roads. Some of these people were drunk and crossing the roads when it was not safe to do so. We are collating statistics on the number of crashes and fatalities,” said RTMC spokesperson Simon Zwane.

But the restrictions seem to have cancelled each other out, said president of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) Professor Glenda Gray.

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“People not drinking and driving will obviously reduce alcohol-related accidents and keep the hospitals open but obviously the sale of alcohol in overcrowded areas could lead to super-spreader events. You might win in keeping hospitals open but the ongoing sale of taverns could predispose to super-spreader events.

“Probably in 10 days’ time we can see what happens to the country’s infection rate and know whether we are successful or not,” said Gray.

The alcohol ban would not make much of a difference as a third wave was dependent on poorly ventilated indoor settings, said chair of social security systems administration and management at Wits University, Professor Alex van den Heever.

“I doubt the alcohol restrictions made much difference to what people were going to do anyway. If we face a third wave, it will have more to do with indoor gatherings and poorly ventilated bulk transport,” he said.

rorisangk@citizen.co.za

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