Mass, muscle and masks

 - SUREASH CHOLAI
- SUREASH CHOLAI

As the country moves toward further reopening of business and services, churches and gyms are being readied to reopen.

But as the Minister of Health has warned, TT is not virus-free.

The public must understand that while we have brought known cases under control and implemented strict measures to control potential spread by requiring quarantine for anyone being allowed to return to the country, caution is still merited.

The instinctive response will always be to relax completely, since nobody is getting sick, but that’s exactly the wrong approach.

The signs are already clear that some citizens have been lulled into the comfort zone that our timely, stringent lockdown created.

The Prime Minister’s urging that businesses consider a “No mask, no service” policy has been widely accepted by the retail sector, though businesses have found themselves battling with customers adamant that they should be admitted without such protection.

In Tobago, one man ended up being arrested for disorderly conduct after trying to test the legality of the “no mask” restriction at a bank in Scarborough.

Since the implementation of phase three of the government’s relaxation of restrictions, the use of masks as a protective measure has been inconsistent.

For some citizens it is clearly a passport to do business, for others, an occasional token gesture.

While the Minister of Health has been insistent on the importance of the use of masks, that diligence hasn’t always filtered down effectively through the rank and file of the public health sector, who should be demonstrably consistent on the importance of consistent use of masks.

While there may still be disputes about the precise degree of their usefulness, they also function as a simple and useful reminder that even without active cases of covid19 in the country, the pandemic rages in the world outside, and in TT it cannot not yet be business as usual.

One significant area of concern is the inability of this country to effectively patrol its borders, and it’s not only contraband that makes its way through our porous borders, it’s people, most worryingly from our embattled neighbour, Venezuela.

The reopening of churches and gyms represent confidence by the government in the capacity of TT’s people to be sensible about the reality of managing covid19 going forward.

That confidence must be matched with guidelines and monitoring.

Religious services and gym activities may be important for the spiritual and physical health of many people, but they also entail relatively large gatherings in close proximity. As the first such activities to be resumed, they should set the example for managing such groups in a safe and sustainable way. This is the start of what may have to be TT’s way of life for the foreseeable future.

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"Mass, muscle and masks"

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