In the face of recent alarm over the rising COVID-19 cases and deaths, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Friday defended the government’s decision to proceed with the reopening of the economy, while saying that a lockdown is not a sustainable solution.
“The question is: Could we have done that forever? Could we have keep in that shape forever? You know the moment you opened up that more people would be affected because they come out of their house. They have to go markets, their daily business. Do you have an alternative to go back to a shutdown of this country? No!” Jagdeo told a press conference on Friday.
He added that the decision to reopen was not one dimensional as a number of factors had to be taken into consideration, with the economy being key among them.
He was quick to point out that safety measures were put in place but persons continue to flout them. He appealed to the citizenry to adhere to the measures, while saying that the increasing number of infections and deaths are dependent on their actions.
Jagdeo said that his government would choose “soft” enforcement because that way seems to work best for people and the alternative would see law enforcement capacity being drained.
“People know how deadly it is and it can kill you and yet they go on the seawall and have private parties, no mask. People will get infected if that happens and then more and more people will die. How do you prevent that? Do you go back to rigid enforcement again?
Locking up everybody who comes on the seawall or who drives at night beyond the curfew or raid people’s homes and shut down the parties? How many police? What capabilities do we have for the country? And that is why we are saying we want to do soft enforcement, talking to them, saying ‘It is your responsibility not just the government. It is your life, it is your family at risk if you don’t wear your mask or go out to private parties and be out there without masks and go into your homes,’” he added.
The opposition APNU+AFC has denounc-ed the PPP/C government’s management of the pandemic since it entered office on August 2nd, saying that it is costing lives. The opposition has maintained that its rigid measures and enforcement kept the number of cases and deaths low while it was in government.
But Jagdeo said when the past government’s shutdown measures were in place, there was no work or school and most persons remained at home due to fear. He added that all countries know that persons could not remain in lockdown forever and that the citizens have to eventually take responsibility for their actions.
Jagdeo urged the opposition not to “politicise” the virus but ensure that it, too, plays its part in edifying persons on safety.
“The growth in the rate of the infection has been locally, our own people. You go to the market don’t wear your mask etcetera… In a situation like this, you cannot go back to the old method of locking people in their own home and not coming out at all. You have to move past that and build the capacity for testing, which we have done,” he said.
Mental health
Jagdeo added that the lockdown and virus are “taking a toll on mental health” and he maintained that while government will continue to do all possible to ensure the safety and health of its citizens, they cannot be in “rebellion mode.”
APNU+AFC Member of Parliament (MP) Tabitha Sarabo-Halley told a virtual press conference last Wednesday that the idea that not enough testing was done while APNU+AFC was in government is false.
Sarabo-Halley said the former government’s focus was on having symptomatic persons tested and treated as quickly as possible and ensuring that asymptomatic persons observed all the relevant measures so as to not spread the virus. “What we were focusing on were persons who showed symptoms and ensured that they got the treatment that was required,” Sarabo-Halley said.
“What we see happening here is where you’re testing the entire population. There’s nothing wrong with that but if you don’t have the capacity to test in a very quick manner then you end up with persons dying because you can’t treat them fast enough because there is a line of testing for people to go through,” she explained.
The MP even told the press conference of the situation where one woman who had a heart condition was not able to receive treatment as she was forced to wait for her COVID-19 results and before the results came back, she had passed.
“The approach has to be one which ensures that those who have the symptoms and are showing that their bodies are reacting negatively to it get the treatment as early as possible so that we don’t have loss of life,” she stressed.
When asked why the phased reopening went ahead in June, when there was a significant spike in cases, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Karen Cummings did concede that there had to be a balance as there was a significant economic impact on the country due to the global pandemic. She stated that they had hoped that good sense would prevail and persons would have adhered to the measures that were put in place as part of the different phases of the reopening process.
