Is country headed to tighter restrictions? – Looking back at last year's 'lockdowns'

YOUR neighbour got laid off, but you were okay. Then your son, the new school-leaver just a month in his job, got laid off too.

You were deemed an essential worker, but your wife teased you as a "sacrificial worker."

Was it a privilege for you to be able to walk down the road free under blue skies and bright sunshine while others huddled away at home, or were you out there risking you life amid the contagion?

On the other hand, you were able to still bring home the bacon as others who were kept home had to resort to help from friends, family and neighbours and whichever church, mosque or temple in their area was giving out hampers. People of dignity found themselves having to swallow their pride so they could swallow a meal.

"Who'd have thought?" many of us reflected. Many doubled down into survival mode.

The children stayed home for a year, and in the main are still home, except for those on the cusp of exams who now pop in for occasional labs and project work. Help was promised to replace state-run school meals, first as a $500 monthly cheque and then as a box of vegetables.

Salary relief and rental assistance were also promised, but many complained of not getting.

The Ministry of Health did all possible to reduce the statistical likelihood of spreading the virus from one person to another, with groupings at times of moderate concern being limited to ten people and at times of high concern being limited to five.

Maxi-taxi drivers struggled with greatly reduced revenues from operating at a reduced capacity, again with passengers spread out from each other. Business organisations implored the Government to ease up. "Social distancing," "hand sanitising" and "mask wearing" became the new watchwords.

The Government strongly dissuaded citizens from being out and about unless they were essential workers or heading to essential services such as supermarkets, pharmacies and gas stations. A list of essential occupations was produced, and many such workers ensured they walked with personal ID and job ID, in case stopped by the police.

Despite no formal curfew or state of emergency, police officers initiated roadblocks where drivers were turned back and ordered home if seen as being on non-essential pursuits.

Units in the Public Service operated with bare-bone staff, with attendance on a rotation basis and some unions urging workers to stay home to mind their home-bound children.

A ban on street vending saw doubles vendors cry foul against chicken and chips restaurants, which the Government then shut down to display even-handedness.

Some chicken and chips aficionados spewed bile online at a prominent doubles vendor whose outlet was then vandalised.

Doubles lovers turned to delivery services and even to a Port of Spain gas station to exploit a legal loophole to buy the dish as a disassembled takeaway package.

Bars, beaches, clubs and cinemas were shut. Malls were mostly closed, but for the likes of supermarkets and pharmacies.

Even as morale suasion locked down people in their homes, border closure locked others out of the country, all to curb any spread of the virus.

As of now, two months ago the number of covid19 active cases was under 100 people; today it is over 1,000 people.

Vaccine shortages, coupled with vaccine hesitancy as the flip side of the coin, creates some uncertainty, although 21,000 have put their faith in science and got inoculated.

One can only hope that Wednesday's new restrictions on activity may reflect the old Buckley's cough medicine slogan, "It tastes awful. And it works."