Local xenophobia

GOVERNMENT ministers are concerned about locals blaming foreigners for the covid19 situation.

On Wednesday, National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds and Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh sought to dissuade people from blaming one particular group for the spike in cases.

Mr Hinds, in a dramatic shift in tone from that of his predecessor Stuart Young, said he was not “persuaded” illegal immigration had a role in the situation. Mr Deyalsingh said he saw no evidence indicating Venezuelans play a role in the large number of cases.

“We keep pushing this narrative that we ought to blame others for our behaviour,” the health minister said.

But there was something ironic about the ministers teaming up to combat xenophobia when our politicians seem intent on encouraging the local population to be uncharitable to one another.

While the ministers were chiding the public for holding skewed views, the Prime Minister was busy encouraging them.

In a statement, Dr Rowley sought to criticise those linking the current spike to Easter activities in Tobago. He correctly said the matter was not one tied to location, but rather conduct

“It is not where you spend your time, it is what you do there,” he said.

In the same breath, Dr Rowley seemed to imply that three districts in Trinidad are to blame for our predicament, starting with County Caroni, followed by County Victoria and St George East.

But how productive is it to seek to make large the slender distinctions between local regions in a small country such as this one? Especially when the boundaries between these regions are arbitrary and the population densities and physical layouts of these districts differ considerably.

It’s not just the politicians who have trafficked in this sort of thing, however.

Officials like Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram and his staff have repeatedly been at pains to track differences between districts, sometimes even when those differences are minute.

For instance, earlier this month Dr Parasram announced County Caroni continued to have the most cases. Approximately 25.73 per cent of patients at the time were from Caroni, with the Victoria district trailing not very far behind with 25.15 per cent.

In truth, a highly infectious disease such as this would be hard to contain to one particular county in the absence of the most stringent of measures. And what evidence we have is subject to the rate of testing and many other considerations.

In a situation in which race and politics are currently tied to geographical constituency, to blame one space over another has insinuations best left out of public health policy.

Treat foreigners better, yes. But people in TT need to take responsibility, as do politicians on all sides, for their actions.