Barbadians on coping with corona, and the future

It has been a year since Barbados began to feel the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and Barbadians whose lives have been significantly altered are expressing a mixture of optimism and resignation about the future, they have told Barbados TODAY.

While business owners believe that in order for their businesses to survive, there must be heightened economic activity on the island, many other citizens have described having to make several

Business owner Reverend David Rowe, who operates a small business at Sky Mall Haggatt Hall, declared that if Barbadians do not have the necessary spending power, businesses would continue to find it difficult to rebound from significant losses.

“I think we now have to start putting the businesses in front a bit more to get things stirred up or we would have everybody living but no work to be done, and no income generation in terms of the economy and so on. So I think this is a very good move that the nation is going to open back up. Businesses need to flourish and get back into full flow,” Rowe said.

Rowe indicated that during 2020 and this year’s shutdown, like many other entrepreneurs, he has had no income. But the uncertainties of the current environment have forced him and his co-owner wife to think ahead and plan, he said.

“You have to put something aside for those days, just in case,” Rowe said.

Clothing store manager Bernadette King indicated that it has been a tough year but stressed that she was hopeful the situation would improve. Like Rowe, King also explained that the pandemic has pushed business owners to do things differently.

King said: “You had challenges but you had positives too. You know how to do business differently and the slowing down of the business. It wasn’t easy but we still trying to hang in there”.

From the wearing of masks to sanitizing and social distancing, shoppers have had to make several adjustments in their lives in order to overcome the challenges of the pandemic.

One shopper said despite the challenges of living in a pandemic, he has made several adjustments throughout the year, which includes following the protocols to contain the spread of the virus.

“It has not been easy but I have adjusted. I have to adjust my day to day life to suit it. But I believe and I am confident that within the coming months or year or so that things should look up. I am just hoping for the best and just staying positive,” he said.

But another shopper pointed out that because of COVID-19; he was able to stay at home do things he otherwise would not have been able to do because of his usual hectic schedule.

He told Barbados TODAY: “It helped me to use the small resources that I have. And also to minimize where money is concerned because you know, you got limitations. And it helped me to realize that things I thought I couldn’t do without before

“But this thing ain’t gine done in no short while, so it really should strengthen us as a people because at the end of the day it could be a worse situation. Let us say we had a hurricane or a serious disaster that cause we now to be without light, water, without phone. If you prepare yourself mentally, automatically you would be able to overcome it.”
(anestahenry@barbadostoady.bb)