The futility of wearing masks against Covid-19

As public transport system settles for the new normal, observing the standard operating procedures seems to be fading away.
A visit by this newspaper to several taxi parks and streets in the city revealed that people are not bothered about the contagious pandemic at all and merely wear masks to avoid arrest rather than in fear of Covid-19 infection.
Most passengers and people in town move without wearing masks at all. Those who attempt to, wear the masks on the chin while others wait to be reminded by the conductors to put them on correctly as they board.

At 5:30pm on Monday, this reporter visited the New Taxi Park where dozens of anxious passengers waited for taxis to go back home before curfew.
At one of the entrances to the park, there was no hand-washing facility at all. While there were some washing facilities within the park, at some of the stages, there was no enforcement.

As curfew time drew closer, taxis became scarce in the park as majority did not return in order not to be on the road by 7pm.
The scarcity triggers a scramble among the passengers to enter the few available taxis and a struggle ensues, totally throwing all the Covid-19 caution to the wind. At stages for routes such as Entebbe, passengers queue up for taxis, abandoning social distancing while others struggle or interact without masks or with their masks strapped under their chins.
The face mask is supposed to be won covering the nose and mouth to avoid inhaling Covid-contaminated air.
Despite government’s directive for all taxi drivers to ensure all passengers wear facemasks and sanitise or wash their hands with soap before boarding, this seems to have only lasted for the first few days of relaxing public transport.

This does not mean that drivers and travellers in private vehicles are any different.
With scarcity of taxis in town and to avoid being caught up by curfew, it is survival for the fittest in the parks during the evening rush hour. A few minutes to 7pm, there is hardly a taxi at some of the stages such as Kajjansi route. Most passengers are not in queue and are on a get-set position to scramble for any taxi that comes.
On this particular evening on Monday, one of the passengers called out her friend who was standing at a distance. “Mama (mother of) Nakato, if you stay on that side you will not get a taxi. They must have held up taxis because omukulu (the President), must be coming to Nakasero (State House) ahead of the presidential address,” she beckoned to her friend.

A gentleman advises passengers headed to Kajjansi to board taxis destined to Zana and then catch a connecting taxi from there. When a Zana taxi, arrived, it triggered a scramble to the scale of a rugby scram. In the circumstances, social distancing was unthinkable and the taxi driver could not bother with the sanitisation.
The situation was the same in many other taxi parks and stages for different routes.
A conductor in one of the taxi parks said: “The water is there, so if anyone does not wash hands, it is their fault. Why should a mature person be told what to do? Some things require common sense.”
Some of the taxis on the road have water mixed with different other detergents such as Omo, Jik etc in spray bottles which they use as sanitisers while others use liquid soap.

Some taxis load beyond the recommended number of passengers and use short cuts to beat both the traffic jam and police. Along the way, extra passengers board the taxi bringing the total to nine people instead of eight.
“Sebo (sir) kindly drop me, it’s getting late and I have failed to get a taxi, don’t worry I am getting off right near there before the road block. Please I am begging you,” a woman pleaded with a taxi man.
While lifting the suspension of public transport recently, President Museveni said they will operate with half passenger capacity to ensure social distancing. He also banned taxi touts.

However, along Mega Standard Supermarket where most taxis park following the renovation of the Old Taxi Park, there are still taxi touts.
One of the passengers identified as Ms Sarah Kemigisa, a resident of Nsambya, said following the relocation of taxis outside the park, the touts help them identify taxis for their routes.
On Jinja Road, some taxis were seen carrying more than eight passengers in the evening rush hour.
Yesterday, some passengers were seen refusing to sanitise but were allowed into the taxis. Some claimed to have their own sanitisers but none bothered to sanitise before entering the taxi.

Most of the taxi drivers ask passengers to put on masks mostly when they are approaching a security road-block or upon seeing traffic police.
A conductor in one taxi said: “Put on your masks, mzee (oldman) put on your mask (tipping a passenger), aren’t you seeing the traffic officers?” the conductor warned.
However, at some taxi parks such as Usafi enforcement personnel were seen making sure everyone accessing the taxi park washes hands or sanitises. However in the process of waiting to wash social distancing is ignored.
Following an increase in the number of covid-19 cases, government suspended public transport in March but the ban was lifted this month to relax the lockdown.
Currently Uganda has 821 cases of coronavirus with 731 recoveries and zero death.

Measures
Safety first
The Minister for Kampala Metropolitan Affairs, Ms Betty Amongi, has said on May 27 all taxi operators of public transport are expected to have personal protective equipment like facemasks and provide handwashing facilities for passengers to wash their hands and a temperature gun to measure the temperature of passengers before boarding.
She said taxis will park two metres away from each other while in the parks while touting has been banned as part of a presidential directive.
All city taxis will be assigned specific routes as they resume operations on June 4, 2020.
The taxis were also be given route colours and numbers.
The colours to be used are black, red, yellow and green shall be used. She said this will help in tracking vehicles especially during the Covid-19 period where they might need to trace for contacts.