Bharath: Put consequences in place and reopen responsibly

Road to Recovery committee member Vasant Bharath said there needs to be an ongoing education campaign around adapting to the virus once the country reopens.

He said there needs to be significant consequences for breaching the health regulations so people will change their behaviour.

Bharath said the World Health Organization (WHO) has done its best to deal with the health issues worldwide, but the economies of various countries were suffering.

He said businesses should be allowed to reopen with covid19 protocols in place to keep both customers and service people safe.

“As countries flatten the infection curve, the recession curve steepens. Government must look at how soon the economy can be reopened.

“This is a health issue we will have to deal with for a long time, so whatever measures have to be put into place must take this into account and people have to readjust their lives to deal with it.”

He said while many people have the mindset that “God is a Trini”, he thought most people understood the severity of the virus.

Bharath said just as there were consequences and an education campaign around the use of seatbelts and smoking in public places, the same measures need to be put in place for covid19 so people will adapt and do what they need to do.

Barkeepers and Operators Association president Teron Mohan said he hoped Prime Minister will lift restrictions on bars when he speaks to the public on Saturday.

“There is no reason to keep us so tight-knit any longer. We’ve put it out in a big way that the situation can be controlled and it’s time that we get the ball rolling. The other islands, they’ve gotten such a wonderful grip on this thing and those are the examples that we should be following or paying attention to, not the world at large, which has mismanaged the situation from day one to now.”

Mohan said neither the health ministry nor the TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce has consulted with the association about the reopening process.

“They haven’t consulted period, even on the proposal that we put forward, it feels like they show no interest on the business side of things. We understand you’re trying to save lives, but at the same time lives can still be saved with proper consultation and enforcement of what we put. Right now, the least of our concerns is the rate of infection, there’s a lot more effects taking place with people on a personal level, mentally and physically, even with their livelihoods. There’s a much greater picture than this covid19 situation, and they need to be able to understand and see that.”

Businessman Peter George, who owns the Buzo and Trotters restaurants, also called for the Prime Minister to face the reality that government can no longer keep a stranglehold on the economy.

“I hope the economy is going to reopen and that he encourages people and businesses to be safe and seek the welfare of lives and livelihoods. He has to face the reality that we cannot beat this virus, we can only live with it. We’ve closed the economy up, for the most part, certainly my industry and entertainment that employs 100,000 people, we’ve affected small businesses, start-up businesses, cottage businesses, small industry, devastated. It’s very simple, it cannot go on anymore. The life and blood of a country is its economy. It keeps people going, it keeps them fed, it keeps them with clothes, roofs over their head, transport to get to work and pick up drugs and medicine, that’s what an economy does.”

He said the health ministry has not consulted with the restaurant industry and it is on the verge of collapse.

“We’ve gotten no assistance from the government of TT, the State has no money, we are essentially bankrupt as a nation so we can’t shut down businesses and not support them. In the foreign countries that are going back into lockdown there are trillion-dollar aid packages being given out. The salary relief and rent relief grants are not close to being adequate and the small business loan help was a fraction of what was required.”

George said business at his Buzo restaurant in Barbados, which is open for dining-in and takeaway, is going well, as businesses and the borders are open.

“People have been told to operate smartly and there are protocols in place. People are free to do what they want to do. Their individual freedoms have not been curtailed but they have individual responsibility to do what’s right and that’s what they’re doing. If you cannot support businesses and citizens in the way it ought to be done, then you have to let life go on and take your chances.”

George said government should be giving daily updates as to what was going on with the economy.