Absence of covid19 measures

THE EDITOR: I feel compelled to document my experience on Sunday morning at a popular restaurant in Chaguaramas, especially in light of the complaints from the owners of restaurants (at the time) and bars about the stringent covid19 health restrictions that are in place to protect everyone.

When my partner and I arrived, intending to have a meal in a place that was expected to be operating at 50 per cent capacity, we did not feel comfortable with what we saw, since that did not seem to be in keeping with the stipulated percentage. Also, some tables appeared to have been too close to each other, especially those that seated about eight people. We decided to forgo dining inside and ordered two drinks to consume in our car.

As we sat at the bar awaiting the drinks, we observed that the three bartenders were either not wearing masks or not wearing them properly. Two of them had their masks at their chins, while there was none on the third person.

I drew to the attention of the maskless one that he needed to put his mask on and I literally had to force the point that he should not be preparing drinks for patrons with his nose and mouth exposed. I enquired if he was the one who would be preparing our drinks, since I was not going to accept anything mixed by him without him being masked. He put the mask on eventually.

At one stage I considered cancelling our orders and getting my money back, so disgusted was I with what I was noting.

One of the other bartenders, who wore his mask under his chin, kept talking incessantly and singing over exposed drinks and other liquids. When I spoke to him about it, he too seemed to think there was nothing wrong with not wearing his mask properly. He went as far as to tell me that he was not facing the drinks while talking or singing. I told him that was not what I had been seeing. He never pulled the mask over his mouth and nose while we were at the bar.

One waitress who was at the bar to collect drink orders had her mask pulled down below her mouth as well. Had we not been at the bar to see all of this we could have been at a table and been served drinks that might have had droplets from the mouths of possibly-infected bartenders.

It is interesting to note that Police Commissioner Gary Griffith entered the establishment at about 11 am and I thought he would have noticed the number of people in there and, perhaps, checked to ascertain if the 50 per cent limit was being observed. However, he was ushered to a table where he might not have been able to see what we saw.

When we were leaving, I asked to speak with the person in charge to complain about the wanton flouting of the mask rules.

I told the person to whom I was referred that I was minded to draw the police commissioner’s attention to what I had witnessed, so that he could address that blatant display of covid19 non-compliance.

While restaurants and bars were closed, their operators were claiming that they had covid19 protocols in place that even exceeded what the regulations required. Based on what we witnessed at that restaurant in Chaguaramas, it was clear that the health authorities know exactly what they were doing when they impose restrictions on bars and restaurants, since some might not have been doing what they have been saying.

It is not unusual, for example, to see patrons in little clusters consuming their beers outside a bar at the corner in Woodbrook in contravention of the regulations.

When will these operators understand that it is a part of their duty to ensure that they must protect their customers from the covid19 virus?

CLYDE ALPHONSO

via e-mail

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"Absence of covid19 measures"

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