As the masks come off

 -
-

If the World Health Organization does not convince the Government to change its plans, from today mask wearing in most public places in TT is no longer compulsory. The general consensus is that covid19 has become endemic and we must learn to live with it. While that may be true, we are still in an active period of the spread of the deadly virus, which continues to mutate, and we should not allow ourselves to be lulled into feeling prematurely safe.

Business people appear ecstatic but internationally, scientists are somewhat agitated by the emergence of newer coronavirus variants, some able to evade existing vaccines even if less life threatening to fitter, younger people.

The “variants of concern” are quickly spreading globally and are already present here and elsewhere in this region. Carpha (Caribbean Public Health Agency) is warning us that despite relaxation of the strict health protocols, covid19 still packs a lethal punch. At the same time, the USA is encouraging its citizens to renew previous levels of caution as the number of covid infections of the newer and more highly transmissible BA.4 and BA.5 strains and their derivatives have increased the number of hospitalisations there. As a result, not only is the US policy on vaccination being reinvigorated, people are being urged to increase indoor use of their masks. Reportedly, certain areas of California have been forcibly returned to indoor mask-wearing.

We in TT, on the other hand, are now free of our masks. When we consider that only half the population is vaccinated, and no new vaccination drive is on, one has to question whether this is a timely and sensible policy. It is the holiday season and international travel will increase, so we need more protection, not less, at this time. It has been difficult to understand why the outdoor wearing of masks continued to be enforced in this country long after having clear indication of how the virus is spread. A more reasonable plan would have been to insist instead on just indoor mask usage because it was consistent with public understanding of the science. It was overkill to demand full masking at all times. Now, when we face another real challenge we are being allowed to exercise free choice. I received an attractive offer in my e-mail inbox last week. High quality masks are being sold off at bargain prices, which indicates an expected extreme response to the no-mask option and stock being shed.

I was in Britain a couple of months ago and no one wore masks at private indoor events, and certainly not outdoors. Shop assistants and restaurant and staff were the exceptions. People seemed to equate not wearing a mask with exercising their human rights and personal freedoms. In many countries there has been a similar reaction, but in TT it has not been about rights, rather, about the cost, inconvenience, discomfort and excessiveness of the practice. Many individuals who have been less keen on vaccination have chosen the mask as their preferred means of protection. That is not the solution, however, to remaining covid-free, especially now, when infections are going to increase. We need both vaccinations and masks.

A new vaccination programme will have to be introduced later this year when new booster vaccines become available, and we have to hope that our government will procure them with some urgency. These boosters specifically target the new variants, which are offshoots of omicron and have the capacity to overcome immunity gained through previous covid infection and existing vaccines.

Covid has now killed around six million people worldwide and though the pace will subside, deaths will continue. We can expect that covid19 will be with us forever. Human history is, after all, full of plagues of all sorts. At times we appear victorious, such as against smallpox which is estimated to have killed half a billion people in just the last 100 years of its existence.

Influenza has killed as many, if not more, and we still have no cure for it. A recent attack of flu has laid me low for nearly three weeks and it shows little sign of disappearing. I have dubbed it long flu. According to the USA’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 2010-2020 between nine-41 million flu illnesses occurred, requiring up to 710,000 hospitalisations and a high of 52,000 deaths annually.

Therefore, in the USA alone, half a million people died of flu in a decade. Multiply that number globally and it looks like the flu will never be eradicated. Yet, there is no active urging of the public to be vaccinated against that particular virus.

Maybe the progress of covid will be similar and the tremendous cost will have to be borne forever. We may all be fed up with the constraints it unleashed upon us but it is too early to relax into a relationship with covid. There is still too much that is unknown. Let us hope that businesses and those who interface with the public will continue to demand clean hands and that customers mask up when on their premises.

Comments

"As the masks come off"

More in this section