#BTColumn – All hands on deck to fight deadly virus

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

by Angus Jones

COVID-19 is no joke, and as we put protocols in place to protect the health of our citizens, I firmly believe that we must also be mindful of the manner in which we implement those protocols.

The fact is that this virus represents an unprecedented challenge, and there is no playbook or guidebook for how we deal with it. What that means is that as hard as we work toward safeguarding people, we will never create a shield that is 100 per cent secure and we must be mindful therefore of how we handle issues when they arise.

Recently we have seen this issue blow up with Sandals Resorts and the threat of delisting by the government. Not only that, the statement sent out by the Ministry of Health lumped into it the fact that police had to detain three visitors for tourist breaches, giving the impression that this had also involved Sandals.

What has happened since then?

The Ministry has had to issue an apology to Sandals to clarify that the issue involving guests did not occur at Sandals, however damage done – the New York Post carried an article specifically detailing that matter and attributing it to Sandals giving the impression that tourists were running about in Barbados and police were locking them up.

But more than that, barely had the ink dried on the Ministry’s release about delisting, than an explosion of cases occurred in Barbados linked back to a bus crawl involving prison officers.

So one must ask, if it was easy for the Ministry of Health to point fingers at Sandals for perceived breaches, who then takes the blame for this breakdown. I’ve seen no such release from the Minister of Health as yet.

The point is that in these very delicate of times, a greater level of diplomacy is needed when treating with these matters. In other words, having, for lack of a better description, thrown a world known brand under the bus for perceived protocol breaches, a glaring breakdown in national protocols then followed.

It does not make for good reading, especially since the Ministry already brought the attention of the world by its release, which means they were all looking when this occurred.

We know that this pandemic started as a health crisis, and therefore our health officials were empowered to treat with it, but it would be remiss of us – if not delinquent – to appreciate that this is now more than just a health crisis, and therefore the work of our health officials – who I have no doubt are doing what they think is best – must be tempered by a level of diplomacy in how we treat with our partners.

I see no benefit in Sandals Resorts intentionally flouting protocols, it does them no good. Non- adherence to the protocols, especially with health monitors on the compound, has only one ending, and that is the resort shutting down. So why would Sandals spend millions of dollars to reopen, to rehire staff, and then to jeopardise all that by breaching protocols? No one wins in such a scenario; the resort closes, guests don’t come and staff are sent home.

So my suggestion is that we all need to work together, and I think that our health officials probably also need to have a level of diplomatic support, where stakeholders can be engaged, issues ironed out and we move ahead, without creating a spectacle for the world to watch. To be honest I was quite astounded to read that having taken such a step – to announce a possible delisting of Sandals as a quarantine hotel – the CMO, the Minister of Health nor the Minister of Tourism had ever visited the resort to see the protocols at work. So who were they taking instructions from? Something is not quite right with that picture, and at this point a united, coordinated and progressive approach is required if we are to successfully overcome this hurdle.