There will be those who because of blind, naïve allegiance will seek to excuse aspects of Government’s management of the recent COVID-19 crisis. But Barbados is not merely about blue, yellow or red, Bees or Dems, It is about the people and the country must be placed first.
Barbados finds itself in a crisis and yet our Government remains seemingly intent on controlling the narrative. An intelligent populace, no longer in awe of party affiliation or in fear of intimidation, has long ceased accepting double-speak and evasion.
This is no blame game but unless truths are told, the Government’s prevailing narrative will continue and the dire situation facing the country will continue to escalate.
The administration had no trouble bathing in public approbation of its management of COVID-19 before last November. Now, it is only reasonable that it listens to the loud concerns of Barbadians over what has transpired over the last two months.
Our celebrated Prime Minister has been the toast of British, Irish and American television. The consensus among Barbadians was that the pandemic was being handled well. Our infection rates were low, and though there were cases which led to a shutdown last March with curfews, stay-at-home restrictions, alphabet-ordered shopping and the like, there was a general sense that we had it all under control.
But with the advent of the tourism season, which brought a greater influx of visitors in December and January, Barbados let its guard down and then a crisis happened. This should surprise no one.
When the island should have been responding with stricter controls, we instead lapsed because we were lulled into the complacency of the Government’s own false narrative that the situation was fully under control.
Yes, there were still protocols in place but they were being flaunted, and as has now become glaringly evident, ignored by many visitors to the island, who had been given the impression that this was a safer destination than whence they came.
Visitors travel to enjoy the huge sums of money they expend to reach their various destinations. They let their hair down. The raging debate remains whether Barbados either had to close its border during this period or implement the toughest possible policies with respect to double or triple testing and protocols for all tourists entering the island. We did neither.
As the winter season unfolded over the last two months, visitors entering quarantine at hotels found minimal security to ensure that they complied with the emergency legislation which had been put in place.
Certainly, this should have been buttressed by members of the Royal Barbados Police Force or the Barbados Defence Force being placed at all quarantine centres. But it was left to hotel staff to notify authorities if quarantining visitors strayed from their properties.
It is ironic that while our Government still maintains that closing our borders during the initial spike in COVID-19 was off the cards, St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves admitted that his administration might have made a mistake by not banning international flights during the busy Christmas season. Last Wednesday, he said of the 738 cases in his country there were 597 COVID-19-positive Vincentians with no recent travel history.
Even in the face of biting criticism from several quarters, Government and private sector interests sold Barbadians the argument of major economic fallout occasioned by the initial period of travel restrictions last year and that pain would result from similar restrictions during the ongoing winter season
So now, the chickens have come home to roost.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at the weekend deemed Barbados a Level 4 destination and advised: “Travellers should avoid all travel to Barbados, and Travel [to Barbados] may increase your chance of getting and spreading COVID-19.”
Thus, the same visitors in whose favour the Government tipped the scale, and who have been the principal players in the spread of COVID-19 here, are now being told this is an unsafe destination.
Those on a bus crawl were ready-made scapegoats and the perception that the indifference of Barbadians propelled this surge has become as fake as Donald Trump’s toupee.
Now, revenue accrued from visitor arrivals will have to be spent on our health crisis.
But perhaps the most damning aspect of this situation is that Government and health authorities got lost in a maze of semantics, optics and guarded speech with respect to community spread in Barbados. The daily numbers of COVD-19 positive cases without a trace history screamed community spread.
Perhaps, had Barbadians been told this a month or two ago, they might have been doubly cautious, especially when confronted by visitors. But, as usual, the “cluster” narrative was pushed even though there were “clusters” all over the place in tiny, clustered Barbados.
The daily numbers of COVID-19 cases are astronomical when Barbados’ tiny size and population are taken into the equation. We are now at 744 active cases and our death toll has reached double digits. It is on the level of the United Kingdom or the United States if they report 40,000, 50,000 or more cases daily.
The Government did not spread this virus but it is not blameless.
We agree with Minister of Health Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic that this too will pass. But taking Barbadians into Government’s confidence, openness and a sound public health-driven strategy rather than political sleight-of-tongue will help Government – and our nation – see off COVID-19’s passage much sooner than later.
