Dear Editor,
Reference is made to `What I experienced was a pronounced disdain for the health and well-being of others’ (Sep 2) by Dr. Errol Liverpool. My experience at Sleepin (at the casino hotel as well as the Guest House and the gambling casino also) was the opposite. The security at the front door of both lodgings as well as the receptionists insisted that I covered my mouth and nose with mask. The check-in staff was behind a “see through glass or plastic” barricade. At times, I forgot my mask or had it below by shin. The guard and staff reminded me to pull it up. I dutifully complied for my own health and that of theirs! I cannot say if it was enforced for all other guests, but I can attest rules were enforced in my presence.
I also showed my proof of vaccination as requested. I can’t say whether it was enforced with regards to other guests. In situations where members of the public do not have a mask or are not social distancing as in the elevator, or in public transport in moving around, I made sure I had mine to protect me. So far, in multiple stays in Guyana traveling around and interacting with the public and at hotels, I have not been infected with Covid. I followed my own safety rules although at times I forgot to mask up. All over the country, there are individuals not following Covid protocols; many are not masking up or taking the protective vaccine. They put themselves, families, and the public at health risk.
The challenge in any hotel or public space is to enforce Covid protocols and mandatory vaccination as a requirement for service. Some in the public are defiant. We have seen the experience at hospitals and public place of work; those not masking up and or refusing to be vaccinated are being infected and some are needlessly dying.
The front desk check-in staff or receptionists of Sleepin are right when they replied to Dr. Liverpool – “What can they do if John or Jane public does not want to follow safety rules or requests?” They do their best, I suppose. Dr. Liverpool admits that guests defied him also when he requested that they put on their mask or social distance. The staff I engaged with had their mask on including at the casino and at eating and drinking locations!
By the way, the same challenge or problem Liverpool experienced at Sleepin exists in other hotels I patronized, and I visited quite a few (including two nearby on the Atlantic coast and one on the East Bank) during recent lengthy stints in Guyana. Guests are also defiant in these and other hotels as Dr. Liverpool would have found if he shifted to another hotel.
As far as the public record goes, Sleepin is not “untouchable”. I recall reading it was raided multiple times for night enforcement of Covid rules and protocols. Its manager and some staff were arrested and spent time in the lockup and were arraigned. I believe his case was put and is still before the court on Covid charges although I believe the charges are illegal and unjustified because a hotel cannot be closed when it has to attend to needs of guests 24 hours. But safety measures must be enforced.
I was very pleased with the service and courtesy offered at Sleepin. I got my value for money and I felt relatively safe on Covid enforcement. And I recommend it to others.
Sincerely,
Vishnu Bisram, PhD