Letter of the day

Rethink pre-event testing at weddings if other safety measures are present

Pre-event testing (PET) for Covid-19 being carried out at Sands Expo and Convention Centre last year. The writer says the new requirement for PET for wedding receptions with more than 50 people has left couples with little time to adjust their plans.
Pre-event testing (PET) for Covid-19 being carried out at Sands Expo and Convention Centre last year. The writer says the new requirement for PET for wedding receptions with more than 50 people has left couples with little time to adjust their plans. ST FILE PHOTO

I refer to the article, "Couples scramble with change in plans after tighter curbs on weddings" (May 7).

While I fully understand the need for stricter measures amid the current Covid-19 situation in Singapore, I urge the authorities to review the newly announced requirement for pre-event testing (PET) for wedding receptions that exceed 50 people.

Wedding receptions take much planning.

Many soon-to-wed couples had taken great pains to comply with the requirement for PET for receptions exceeding 100 people - a requirement that was announced on March 24 and put into effect from April 24.

However, the new requirement for PET for receptions that exceed 50 people was announced only on Tuesday and will be implemented from today, leaving many couples in much anguish with very little time to adjust their plans.

More importantly, there appears to be an inherent inconsistency in this requirement.

If members of the public can have a leisurely meal in a restaurant in groups of five without the need for testing, one questions the need for guests at a wedding reception to be subjected to such testing, if all other safe distancing measures are complied with.

With a maximum of five guests at a table, guests from different tables not allowed to mingle, guests of up to 50 people seated in designated zones, and tables kept at least 1m apart, perhaps we can adhere to the current requirement for PET, that is, to require it only if there are more than 100 attendees at the reception.

Please spare wedding couples any agony on their occasion of a lifetime, which is supposed to be a joyous one.

Loke Sai Keng

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on May 08, 2021, with the headline Rethink pre-event testing at weddings if other safety measures are present. Subscribe