The jury is out on the decision by the government to extend the state of emergency beyond the end of August. Views on the planned extension are mixed with Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar demanding that scientific data be provided to justify the call for a three-month extension.
The SoE, which has been in effect for the past three months, includes a 9 pm to 5 am curfew. Whether those hours will be maintained is left to be seen since that decision is up to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.
In the current curfew, there have been variations on those hours to control movement on public holidays. That has restricted freedom of movement to some extent and, according to Attorney General Faris Al Rawi, has borne fruit allowing the country to climb away from a “very dangerous position where we had merely days of bed space available under 35 to 45 per cent occupancy.”
One of the SoE regulations allows for a broader category of persons to administer vaccines, including dental assistants, and medical interns. The country now has hundreds of thousands of doses of vaccines available but as of yesterday, only 355,822 citizens had been fully vaccinated.
What is critical at this time is for citizens to get vaccinated, particularly as there are now three confirmed cases of the highly infectious Delta variant. It was therefore heartening to see so many parents taking their 12–18-year-old children to get vaccinated. Hopefully, many more will take the opportunity for their children to get the Pfizer vaccine.
Government has the authority to extend the SoE and that is what it will do when Parliament convenes next Wednesday. The business community is still unclear on what the extension will mean for them, but Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA) President Gregory Aboud took a pragmatic approach saying it might be an attempt to protect the country from a third wave of the COVID virus.
While many here are already expressing concern about the extension of the curfew, Caricom neighbour Jamaica has gone the route of restricting movement in an effort to tame an average positivity rate of around 39 per cent.
Governments elsewhere have imposed strict measures, including lockdowns, to curb the spread of COVID-19. T&T’s SoE in Trinidad and Tobago is one such measure.
Restrictions on movement and may seem harsh but in the absence of such measures for many Trinidadians, it would be business as normal with its own inherent dangers. Further spread of COVID-19 would be detrimental to the country, particularly with current levels of vaccine hesitancy. In a situation where vaccines are easily available but people are not taking them, it is up to those in authority to protect citizens from something worse happening.
The death toll from COVID as of yesterday was 1215. Guardian Media hopes that the spread of the virus can be curbed and no other family will have to experience the pain of losing a loved one to the coronavirus.
The nation now waits to see if any new measures will come with the extended SoE but it is clear that the situation would have been much worse without some form of restriction.