Dear Editor,
The coronavirus/COVID-19 has raised many issues worldwide and could severely affect a poor country with a small population, like Guyana.
Most of our citizens reside in Region Four but surprisingly, Regions Ten and Two took the first steps of enforcing physical isolation. Georgetown’s Mayor has said that a lockdown of the city is outside his authority so who has the ability to do so in a crisis? Region Four is the most populous district and the origin of our first death from the Coronavirus. It didn’t start in all countries simultaneously but as it becomes entrenched in one, it then increases exponentially there and begins in another, increasing substantially. As victims and deaths increase further afield, the likelihood of it escalating in Guyana, increases. Georgetown’s Mayor needs to assemble a team of strategic planners to anticipate and deal with the effects of this pandemic. The City Council has a history of being unable to pay the waste disposal companies so he should seek financial help from the government to pay a part of its indebtedness or establish a reserve fund to pay them, if there is no indebtedness. This will serve as an incentive to the companies as despite the hardship the virus has imposed on us, the garbage collecting companies could strike if not paid satisfactorily, as seen before and the accumulation of garbage in the City and beyond would add to the chaos and distress. The government needs to step up to the plate and use its reserves at this time.
Minister Volda Lawrence have you assembled a team to tackle the COVID-19? If you have, the team should consist of a doctor/epidemiologist, sanitation engineer/expert and any other best equipped personnel to fight this scourge. Senators and governors in the United States update their citizens daily with issues revolving around the virus. Minister Lawrence should be doing the same here despite our number of victims not being as astronomical as theirs. People here are worried and traumatised. A photo circulated on the internet with the Guyanese man who died recently from the virus, wearing a mask which appeared to be too small for him and with an accompanying monologue of him complaining of his discomfort caused by the mask. Protective masks need to be labelled according to the size appropriate to the age of the wearer. Are all health care providers being tested on a regular basis? They should be, as they will have intermittent exposure between being on the job and leaving for home. Is their protective gear the same as that worn in developed countries? Our hospitals and health centres need masks, respirators, gowns, gloves, face shields and ventilators. Medical, health personnel are the most important, equipped people in this upheaval, so they should immediately be paid a bonus. They are putting their lives on the line for others. We don’t want them to act out their frustrations in ways that could adversely affect our much needed health care. We have already seen nurses at a West Demerara hospital refusing to work due to insufficient protective gear. Even the United States is running out of them and ventilators and we are dependent on developed countries like the U.S. to fight this pandemic. We need to start looking to source a reliable supplier who can provide sufficient quantities.
Let us not wait until the last minute to put all measures in place. The fear that now lingers among our populace could have been quelled if we had adopted the stance taken by South Korea. Upon their first death from COVID-19, they tried fervently to trace every person the victim had contact with during the incubation period. They used the person’s phone records to try contacting the family, friends, colleagues and associates. Also, they are testing everyone. They have the resolve. They are also enforcing physical isolation. It has been proven in many countries, even in those experiencing the highest numbers of infected persons and deaths, that the rate in the number of cases has declined since the implementation of social/physical isolation. It has been recommended by sociologists and communication specialists that the term be changed to physical isolation because we need to make it as clear as possible and emphasise the importance of staying at least six feet apart from each other, even if we are still being social. In this age of advanced methods of instant, electronic communication, we remain connected socially. We are still connected socially if we live in the same house with others but we could still practice physical isolation in our homes. Actually, because of this pandemic, people will be communicating more online. The government should strictly enforce isolation by implementing curfews with fines and even imprisonment for those found on the streets within the forbidden hours. The number of persons travelling in any mini-bus should be limited to maybe five including the driver and conductor. This may face resistance from the mini- bus drivers and their association but desperate times call for desperate measures. Anyone travelling by taxi should be compelled to sit in the back seat at the extreme opposite end from the driver.
I take this opportunity to commend a local company for producing large bottles of hand sanitiser at a fair price. I hope it contains at least 65% alcohol which is the amount recommended by leading authorities in the medical field. Contributions like this were displayed by companies in the U.S. during World War Two when they used their machinery and labour towards the war effort. In Guyana, only some companies live up to their social responsibility. We repeatedly see the same companies contributing to some national event or the less fortunate. Unemployment will increase during this pandemic and the utility companies, Banks and other companies should develop an App for those customers with bank accounts to pay their bills online. People using the MMG system may not have a sufficient deposit to take care of bills on a long term basis. Those customers who are able to pay regularly should be entitled to a growing rebate at the end of the pandemic. Conversely, payments could be waived for that time for those without bank accounts, with the payments accumulating and due at the end of COVID-19. Terms of payment could then be implemented. Guyana’s government could also do much more at this time.
Yours faithfully,
Conrad Barrow
