There is no respite in the COVID-19 graph of daily cases in the district with over 300 cases being recorded on any given day in the last couple of weeks. Vididhipalle, a village in Penumuru mandal, recorded 25 positive cases on a single day on Friday. Since a week, the pandemic graph is on a 30% rise.
While some officials perceive the steady spike in the cases as a harbinger of the third wave, the scenario is also attributed to growing violation of COVID-appropriate behaviour in public places, added with increase in the number of social and family functions with unlimited presence of guests.
There is a clear trend among the public to attend celebrations such as birthdays, wedding anniversaries and betrothals. The officials also decry the steady return of political gatherings elsewhere in the district, though they are reluctant to criticise it openly.
“Having missed the gala in 2020, now a majority of the people are in no mood to wait any further to rejoice. The reckless mood is more among those who took two doses of vaccination, as they take it for granted that they are totally protected from the virus. Even if they are infected, it would be just like a small fever — this is the general mood now,” observed a medical officer on COVID duty in Srikalahasti mandal, which turned a hotspot during the first wave.
District on top
After a lull of a few days, COVID cases reached close to 400 on Thursday, followed by 315 cases on Friday. Chittoor district, which bore the impact of Chennai’s Koyambedu market links in the first wave, had turned even more virulent in the second wave, with alarming number of casualties, topping the districts in the State with over 1,730 deaths so far, with the total cases crossing the 2.35-lakh mark.
Private transport activity has returned to near normal, with hectic operation on inter-State routes towards Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, where the face mask protocol is grossly neglected.
A police officer in Madanapalle division deplored that though slapping a fine or booking a case for violation of COVID appropriate behaviour would take a few minutes, later the procedure involved other legal hassles. In order to avoid being caught in a tight spot, the strict enforcement of the rule was largely set aside, it is observed.
