Guyana and the rest of the Caribbean are hunkering down as best they can in response to the arrival of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the region. The response up until now, more than a week after the virus began to cause a stir in the region, has been characterised by militancy rather than unrestrained panic. If, however, death tolls begin to rise and countries in the region begin to measure the scale of the crisis against their response capabilities, the level of worry is almost certain to grow significantly.
Across the Caribbean, official reaction to the coronavirus outbreak has been limited largely to urgings about sanitizing and public warnings to avoid the holding of events that will give cause for even reasonably large gatherings. As yet, there are no ‘miracle’ vaccinations, and even if and when those do materialise, they are unlikely to find their way to this part of the world first; so that up until now the response here in the Caribbean has been largely defensive. Sanitize! Sanitize! Sanitize! is the message that has emerged from one company here in Guyana. If it is a not unwelcome message it is still not nearly as reassuring as it needs to be.