Tobago Chamber head: Covid19 measures have not brought 'holistic' results

President of the Tobago Chamber of Industry & Commerce Diane Hadad believes the measures implemented by the Government to contain the spread of covid19 have not brought holistic results.

“It is piecemeal all the time, and every time you make a step forward, you almost make two backwards,” she told Newsday on Thursday.

At a news conference in Tobago on Saturday, the Prime Minister rejected calls by some members of the business community to fully reopen the island’s economy. He said such a move would be too risky, given the rise in covid19 infections on the island.

Dr Rowley advised citizens to bite the bullet and not make premature decisions that could be disastrous in the long term.

Hadad observed the prolonged public health measures, coupled with the restrictions imposed by the state of emergency, had “created, in a big way, hunger and need for some level of sustenance.”

She said: “The problem is that while they speak of the infection rate and that people should take the vaccines because they are here, there clearly seems to be something else that is missing in the puzzle, because people are not responding in the manner that was expected.”Hadad also believes there may be other situations at play that people may not be aware of “because we are not moving and we still have these increased infection rates.

“So, clearly, not moving is not the only answer.”

Hadad said citizens are under a lot of unnecessary stress.

“It has gotten to a stage where people are not even listening to the Saturday health presentations any more.”

She also said the unavailability of airbridge flights has presented a new challenge.

“I have received several phone calls from people in Trinidad who were looking forward to coming to their homes in Tobago for a holiday, even though the beaches are closed. But there is a creeping crisis looming of people being frustrated. And then there are persons who had bookings to come up, but their bookings were cancelled.”

She claimed CAL had sent people notices saying their bookings for August were no longer valid.

“So I am not sure that the solutions we are bringing are having the desired results, because at the end of the day, the numbers are going up. What is it that is missing in the information that we are not getting that is causing all of this?”Hadad added: “Covid (19) appears to be the unknown, and we are not sure how much closer we are to the known than we were from the unknown in March of last year.”

As for the people who are reluctant to take the vaccines, she believes they have been responding to information on social media.

“They are using it to make decisions, and I guess that in itself may be another challenge that the Government faces.”