One doubts that any ‘true’ Guyanese will be looking forward to having to sacrifice their Christmas holidays on account of the COVID-19 pandemic … but most people are hedging their bets. One accepts, however, that some people will be hedging their bets on account of the ‘on and off’ movement of a curfew that has played havoc with the private sector and has seen no respite in the number of reported cases. Indeed, while there has been a marked increase in the wearing of face masks in public, over the past month or so, particularly, instances of transgression of the current curfew remain high. There exists a seeming determination among large numbers of residents of coastal communities, and the capital, Georgetown, in particular, to ignore the boundaries set by the authorities and there exists no serious evidence that the enforcement measures are making the kind of impact that it should.
Setting that aside, there have been clear recent indications of a determination to publicly push back against the set curfew hours by institutions that really ought to know better. Last week, perhaps surprisingly, an official warning issued to one of Georgetown’s oldest entertainment establishments for allegedly breaking the curfew restrictions was met by a sharp response from the Private Sector Commission. The response appeared to say no more than that the authorities were ‘picking on’ the establishment in question when, insofar as curfew transgressions are concerned, the horses were bolting in all directions.
The incident is a microcosm of a wider problem – a propensity for people to proffer various forms of pushback against the reality that COVID-19 is not budging, at least not yet. Frankly, it is not that the anxieties associated with the pandemic have disappeared; the simple truth is, however, that some people see the present circumstance as a struggle for the retention of a way of life that they are far from ready to surrender. “…otherwise, what else is there to live for?” a university student who had traveled from the East Coast to get a birthday present for a close friend asked us last weekend.
The protocols associated with social distancing will not be easy to enforce in a cramped capital, with a limited policing facility during the biggest, busiest holiday period of the year. Evidence of the scale of the challenge has already begun to materialise. By early this week it appeared that the transformation of downtown Georgetown to take account of the season had come a trifle early. A stroll down Regent Street provided manifest evidence of that transformation. Businesses, it seems, are taking no chances of having the authorities ‘call time’ on the pushed back curfew hours that we have been enjoying for the past few weeks.
To say that the coronavirus pandemic has altered our lives is to indulge in understatement. The changes that we have had to make challenge us in various ways and while the decision that many people have made to simply pretend as though it does not exist amounts to a kind of recklessness, the argument that you get from those types is that it is better to assume a que sera sera posture than to die of accumulated stress and fatigue. That, indeed, was the position taken by a spokesperson for a group of elderly men who, rain or shine, play dominoes – unmasked, mind you – in a congested corner of the city.
This week the downtown store owners were reluctant to talk. They were keeping a watchful eye on the early manifestation of the ‘Christmas crowd’. Their ‘intelligence’ on pay dates in both the public and private sectors have influenced their shift into a Christmas mode and their adherence to the old saying about the “early bird” and the “worm” were very much in evidence. As one Regent Street store proprietor told us, “You never know when another even tighter curfew might come. We have to catch it while we can.”
The shoppers were more talkative. A young woman with an infant in arms told us outside a Water Street store that she intended to enjoy a “Corona Christmas.” Her utterance reflected that enigmatic sense of humour that is probably uniquely Guyanese. Afterwards, she solicited a recommendation from our reporter as to where she might find a “good” pressure cooker at a manageable price.
It has become commonplace for young men – teenagers, some almost certainly as young as twelve years old – to suddenly appear on downtown streets during the busy hours. They ride what appear to be custom-built bicycles at breakneck speed, maneuvering them as though they were physically attached to their mode of transport, seemingly always ready to break into some kind of unpredictable action. A group appeared on the pavement outside a Regent Street store and two heavily-armed guards rose from their stools to make their presence more pointedly felt. The cycling crew rode off… gingerly, one of the armed guards watching them until they were out of sight.
This week, shoppers that we spoke with were animated about the likelihood that the curfew-related restrictions will be pulled back to an earlier hour at the height of the Christmas season. What may not have helped here is what was reported as the listing of Guyana by the United States as one of those high risk countries for travel as far as the incidence of coronavirus is concerned.
When we ‘hit the streets’ on Tuesday, some Regent Street stores were operating at ‘full throttle’. The frenetic environment customarily associated with the season had not yet gone into high gear, but the signs that there was more to come were clear. This year things are different, but not it seems, sufficiently different to deny Guyanese the opportunity to properly celebrate what, unquestionably, is the ‘best time of the year’.
It is, evidently, the social distancing considerations that could pose the biggest challenges. By Tuesday, mid-week, with Christmas Day but a month away, the pavements had, once again, become far too inadequate to allow for the social distancing protocols… and on the basis of what is already happening in the downtown shopping areas, there is no restraint on throngs of shoppers rubbing shoulders to get their shopping done. Here, the point should be made that it would be an act of the grossest recklessness to take infants and young children into the cauldron of downtown Georgetown in the days and weeks ahead to face, simultaneously, the crush and the coronavirus.
Between last weekend and Tuesday, the numbers of street vendors that had set up stalls at vantage points in downtown Georgetown had increased markedly. You get a sense that there is more to come. We were happy for such respite as the street vendors had been afforded. Amongst the businessmen and women, theirs have been the roughest ride and since their presence in numbers is likely to create knots on the pavement where shoppers stop to patronize them, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that the powers that be may frown on their vending pursuits. Whatever happens, one hopes that this intrepid constituency will be allowed opportunity to ply their trade in safety.
The kind of Christmas we will have will depend on the official ‘call’ on the matter of coronavirus and the additional public threat that it is likely to pose, going forward. That will be determined by the relevant authorities. What this means is that the kind of Christmas that we will have, is, at this juncture, an imponderable. We can do no more than hope for the best.
