#BTColumn – Calling it as I see it

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today Inc.

by Donna Every

I am very pleased with the way the government has handled the COVID-19 situation in the country once again. From our wave in January the positivity rate has, thankfully, come down to less than 1 per cent over the last week or more.

I’m praying it stays that way even as we expect tourism (long stay and cruise) to increase now that the UK and other countries have lifted their lockdown and people have been vaccinated.

However, I have to call out some of the directives that are totally nonsensical. I am very aware of the disturbing trend in the nation that no-one can criticize the government without being vilified, particularly on social media.

With that in mind, I will still go ahead because my objective is not to only identify directives which are illogical but, hopefully, to offer suggestions for improvement.

Emergency Management Directive No.10, Paragraph 11 (5) was shared in one of my WhatsApp chat groups this week. It states that boxing and martial arts are permitted subject to the conditions that there shall be only be non-contact bouts, non-contact shadow training and non-contact coaching.

The last I can understand, but I’m grappling with the first one and I’m wondering how this is supposed to be executed. Could someone re-state that directive or delete it?

One of the other directives that I’m dumbfounded about is the sale of essential items. Let me give you a real example. Pharmacies are allowed to sell only pharmaceuticals on a Sunday but if they also sell food items you can purchase those as they are considered essential, or at least that has been my experience. However, when I called one pharmacy to find out if they sell dog chow and if I could buy some, I was told it was non-essential and I could not.

So basically, if I go to that pharmacy on a Sunday, I can get a prescription filled and buy bread and other essential items, which means that I am already potentially exposed to anyone with the virus, but I can’t add dog chow to my list of purchases. It totally confounds me.

I can understand that the directive may have been written to discourage people buying a lot of items and therefore prolonging their time in the store. If so, perhaps it can be amended to allow the purchase of a limited number of items (say five) and let the customer determine what they consider essential. To me, my dog chow was very essential.

Another issue I have with the directive as it stands, is that on a Sunday I can buy coconut water from a vendor on the shoulder of the road, but if I go to a gas station with a store, I can’t buy coconut water from there.

I can go into the shop at the gas station and get a top-up but I can’t buy bread. I can only buy it from a bakery, a bread depot or a bread van. Is it only me or do some of these directives seem ludicrous? Would someone please review our directives and make sure that they make sense? Thank you.

As we open back up it is my understanding that if you are NOT from one of the specially designated high-risk countries (i.e. Brazil, India or South Africa) and have been fully vaccinated with one of the four approved vaccines, you have to provide a negative PCR test result taken no more than 72 hours before you arrive.

You will be tested at the airport, free of charge, and you can go to an approved hotel until you get your results which appear to be processed in 24 hours at the moment.

If you are unvaccinated, the quarantine period is five to seven days in an approved hotel with a test on Day 5. The five to seven-day quarantine period with the Day 5 test is an improvement over the protocols which were in effect last year.

However, I still compare this with the UK protocols which are very strict. My daughter travelled to England last week and coming from an Amber country (Barbados is on the Amber list) she is required to quarantine for 10 days at a home, a hotel, an Airbnb etc. and must have arrived with a negative PCR test taken no more than 72 hours before travel.

She is then required to take a test on Day 2 and another on Day 8 (either at an approved facility or a self-test) before she is allowed to come out of quarantine. There is also an accelerated “Test to Release” route but that requires an additional test on Day 5.

The tests are administered by a list of approved test providers and range from about £95 at the low end to over £300 at the high end. There is no such thing as a free test unless there are extenuating circumstances such as what occurred with my daughter.

She ordered a middle-of-the-range test kit from a provider called Biogroup Laboratory (I’m deliberately naming it) and her kit never arrived. She called and emailed the company several times without receiving an adequate response and she finally called the National Health Service who sent her a kit, free of charge, because she is registered with NHS.

They advised her that they have been getting complaints about that company, so if you are travelling to England, Caveat Emptor.

Having seen the UK protocols and how their government is generating revenue for their medical institutions, while keeping the country safe, perhaps that could be an opportunity for our government to provide income for our medical providers or for the Ministry of Health.

We want visitors, but not at any cost. As we open back up and introduce longer quarantine periods, we will need to change the focus of our marketing to target longer stay visitors and continue to push the Welcome Stamp Visa now that we have COVID under control again.  Let’s pray that it stays that way, and it can if we all (both tourists and locals) co-operate.

Donna Every is an author, trainer and international speaker. She is also the President of the Barbados Chapter of the International Women’s Forum. Contact her at donna@donnaevery.com