DLP says tackle COVID-19 like crime

The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) is once again calling for more urgent action to guard against a possible third wave of COVID-19.

This time, however, the party’s spokesperson on health, Paul Gibson, is appealing to Barbadians to take greater responsibility for their own behaviour.

“I had, in my last press briefing, communicated that we have to guard against a third wave. I was told by many that I am being a prophet of doom,” Gibson said in a statement on Monday.

“What I do understand is human behaviour and we should have really continued to maintain the protocols and the messaging and the practices and our messaging to the Barbadian public, because everybody is letting their guards down. I am actually seeing this daily in Barbados,” he added.

On Sunday, mere weeks after the easing of all curfew measures, Minister of Health and Wellness Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic announced an 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew as the country recorded 40 new cases on Saturday that capped a week of increasing numbers.

The developments also prompted calls from Chief Medical Officer Dr Kenneth George for businesses and religious organizations, which are said to be at the centre of the latest outbreaks, to tighten their adherence to protocols.

Gibson further declared that an overall community effort is needed, in a similar manner to the methods used to reduce crime and violence.

“The same thing that solves gun crimes in countries is the same thing that solves high COVID numbers, which is a community effort, an effort by the community to stymie or reverse the trends and to be complicit with the instructions that are being given,” he explained.

“The principles are the same. Human behaviour drives crime reduction, human behaviour drives COVID-19 reduction and there are certain behaviours that give you the desired result. So it is unfortunate, but we need to get back to those guidelines so that we Barbadians can get back to some kind of normalcy by the normal protocols as they are,” the DLP spokesman concluded. (KS)