Virus without fear

DEATH has always been a clear possibility in the covid19 crisis, but the first official record of an infected person succumbing is nonetheless a turning point in the management of this disease. If there were any doubting Thomases left, we hope the seriousness of this matter has now been brought home.

From Sunday, all should heed Prime Minister Dr Rowley’s call for non-essential personnel to stay home. But while the direness of the pandemic envelops us, an unhealthy dose of feigned indignation, distraction, and brinkmanship is also being administered by our politicians. That needs to stop.

We welcome the following: the decision of the State to lead by example, changing its events to an online format in light of the need to exercise social distancing; Parliament’s adoption of new rules as a compromise to protect MPs; the raft of measures announced by the Government to provide relief to the unemployed and the hungry;

Openness and the constant flow of information from the authorities; the clear measures put in place to test and treat the ill; the establishment of a hotline; the procurement of respirators; the financial planning and efforts to stimulate the economy; the limiting of the workplace exposure of public servants; and the extra $157 million for the Health Ministry.

But here is what we do not welcome. As the nation struggled to process the news of the first death, the Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh had cause to condemn Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar for announcing, before him, the fatality.

He said the patient's family did not have time to process the news and added, “This is not a time for political gamesmanship.” Persad-Bissessar, in her release on Wednesday evening, cited the death as a reason for a national shutdown.

She said responsibility dictated the need for her to call for decisive and tough action. This may well come this weekend as Rowley alluded to greater use of law enforcement to deal with errant “non-essential” persons who chose not to want to stay home despite repeated calls so to do.

The feuding only served to distract from the substantive matters before us. For example, the issue of a national shutdown, lockdown or whatever word we use to describe it is a legitimate one. India’s 1.3 billion citizens have been told to stay home.

The experience with regard to a television host is also instructive. Hiding behind a fig leaf of patient confidentiality, which had obviously been waived by the patient himself, the Ministry of Health declined to confirm a positive diagnosis, even though it was essential to do so in order for persons who had been in contact with the host to take measures to self-isolate.

Also instructive is the Opposition’s refusal, in Parliament, to support a call from Finance Minister Colm Imbert to shorten the sitting on Wednesday. The first local victim of this disease was an elderly man. But all should remember: a 36-year-old TT national, Dez-Ann Romain, died in the US on Monday. This virus fears no one. Stay home.

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