Giftland sees unfairness in continued prohibiting of cinemas

The Giftland Group believes that its cinema operations are being unfairly dealt with as similar businesses are being allowed to reopen.

This was disclosed in a letter to the Private Sector Commission which was seen by Stabroek News. In the letter, the company says that it is “dumbfounded” at how the company and its theatre operation are being disregarded as it relates to being allowed to reopen even as other businesses have received permission.

The correspondence stated, “In recent weeks restaurants, bars, and clubs are allowed to operate in Guyana with limited COVID operating restrictions. These are dining/ drinking/social/entertainment operations with considerably more interaction among customers themselves and the individual establishment employees than what a cinema operation entails.”

It was noted that patrons at cinemas spend the majority of their time inactive while observing the “big screen movie experience”. This, the company said, is the nature of the business where consumers are accustomed to being quiet and not disturbing other patrons and with COVID-19 safety protocols including social and physical distancing in place, that norm would be further enforced.

More recently, Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony had stated that the possibility of the reopening of cinemas remains risky as indoor environments can pose a public health hazard. At the time he had said that recommendations were made to have the cinema owners install HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filters which is a type of mechanical air filter usually found in air purifiers.

In relation to the topic of filters, Chairman of the Giftland Group, Roy Beepat, in an interview with Stabroek News referred to a message which the company had sent to a member of the National COVID-19 Task Force last Sunday. This correspondence he said, informed that the movie theatres have MERV 8 filters installed for air inflow and that the company is willing to install ultraviolet lights for the air outflow system which would in turn further advance the cinema’s air purification system.

Beepat, on that note, opined that the company is being treated unfairly in comparison with other indoor businesses that have been allowed to open. He pointed out that most of those businesses have regular air conditioning console units which have weaker filtering systems than that of the cinema.

He mentioned that in their bid to have the cinemas reopened, they have gone a step further to limit the capacity in the cinemas to 35% of the usual capacity as compared to other businesses that have been allowed to accommodate up to 40% capacity.

The chairman told Stabroek News that there have been positive experiences outside of Guyana with the reopening of cinemas as Caribbean Cinemas operations in other jurisdictions have resumed with no reported outbreaks of COVID-19.

Beepat noted that they do not object to other sections of the country’s economy being reopened with the proper protocols in place. However, he iterated that many indoor businesses including restaurants and clubs where social interactions are more active than that of theatres have been opened and as such cinemas should also be allowed to reopen.