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Which will it be, Extend the PAUSE or REOPEN?

Submitted by Observing

Back in March 2020 the GoB outlined a series of steps to address the Covid -19 challenge by entering Stage 3 and announcing a lockdown after 24 cases were recorded. These were all imported.

Fast forward to December 3, 2020 where we had 281 total cases (24 active) and 7 deaths. We were still managing well under the circumstances.

Fast forward again to December 31, 2020 where ten new cases were announced and the first signal of worry kicked in.

This led to the period Jan 1st to 4th 2021 where we added 297 new cases and then onto January 26, 2021 when we prepared to “pause.”

Since the pause we have had 520 more positive cases, 11 more deaths and an average positivity rate between 4% and 9% with spikes as high as 15% on some days.

Now with the national pause set to expire we wait with bated breath to see what happens

  • Former president of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Eddy Abed has made clear that “the private sector can’t take another lock down” (Feb 12, 2021)
  • President of the Barbados Private Sector Association (BPSA) Edward Clarke suggested that only in “extreme circumstances” should such drastic measures be taken. (Feb 10, 2021)
  • Chamber of Commerce president Trisha Tannis warns Barbadians to brace for the possibility of more job losses
  • However, Dr. Adrian Lorde says that an extension to the lockdown may be necessary
  • We still record between 25 and 40+ cases each day with regrettable deaths in between.

So, which will it be? What should we choose?

Extend the pause out of caution and in the interest of public health or, reopen with the known risk and the hope of economic gain?

253 responses to “Which will it be, Extend the PAUSE or REOPEN?”

  1. John Avatar
    John

    What exactly will the vaccine do?

    I get the impression it won’t stop you catching COVID or spreading it once you have caught it but it will prevent you from getting really sick if you happen to catch COVID.

    Am I right or wrong?

    If I am right, there is no point to locking down, stanning home or pausing unless it continues to the end of time.

    Time to grow up and get moving!!

  2. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    I think Mia Motley is trying to be like Tori Lightfoot the Chicago Mayor and Barbajans are no Chicagoans with Black Lives Matter runnings

  3. John A Avatar
    John A

    We need to reopen next week but with some changes.

    Mandatory mask wearing with a $500 fine forth with or 30 days at Dodds for offenders.

    Breach of the above on private transport. $500 for the passenger and $500 for the driver along with $1000 charge for the owner all per offence.

    Businesses not adhering to the protocol $10,000 fine per breach per day.

    If we have a problem address the problem do not cripple what’s left of an economy that is barely holding on. We know even in the pause we had offenders selling from back doors, were they fined or imprisoned ? If so how much? If we accept that a lockdown is the end result of failed protocols that were not enforced, then surely we know what needs to be done going forward this time.

  4. John Avatar
    John

    I had to be back and forth between the US over a period of years a while back and every flu season I got a flu shot.

    They did not stop me getting flu but ….. I used to get on an aeroplane and get off with flu.

    That stopped.

    Up to today I don’t get flu as often as I used to before I had the flu shots but I still get some horrible flu.

    Last year I figured I had the COVID in February/March but it was probably a bad bout of flu.

    I suspect that may be how the COVID vaccine will work, it won’t stop you getting COVID, or spreading if you get it but it may reduce the number of times you get it.

  5. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

  6. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    There are many flu viruses, the annual shot only protects against the four expected strains.

    I agree with your interpretation of the Covid 19 vaccine.

  7. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    @John AFebruary 13, 2021 5:37 PM

    Exactly, we need severe punishment, especially for those civil servants who triggered the West cost clusters as sex workers and the bus crawl cluster. We are still waiting for our governments to punish the culprits severely. In China, the participants of the bus crawl would have been in a labour camp long ago.

    I therefore suggest that government copies Chinese methods. How about a public flogging in Heroes’ Square and a labor camp at Richard Drax’s for entertainment? I’m willing to bet that with such measures, the COVID21 numbers will be close to zero in 10 days.

  8. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    Just a not so nice report:
    https://metro.co.uk/2021/02/12/brits-describe-prison-camp-conditions-at-barbados-covid-facility-14069497/

    Government must do everything to punish these evil slanderers.

  9. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    The Arawak indians were wiped out by the common cold. Barbados reminds me of a prison community where Covid can spread like a wildfire.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xbpCvV9dAs

  10. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    Black Bitch Crazy Aka Redneck Crazy

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zlnQq5Um7w

  11. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlLf1S1LQmE

  12. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    GOVERNMENT HEALTH WARNING

    Covid can give you diarrhea with mucus and shit

  13. Wily Coyote Avatar
    Wily Coyote

    The country Tourism is SCREWED, BLAME THE SUPREME LEADER.

  14. John Avatar
    John

    We need to use our heads with COVID because it appears to me that long term it needs to be treated like flu.

    Like flu it isn’t going away.

    Like flu it mutates.

    Like flu it will have no vaccine.

    So how do we deal with it?

    Like flu!!

  15. John Avatar
    John

    … maybe the hdroxychloroquinone will work on flu too … maybe even the common cold!!

  16. John A Avatar
    John A

    @John

    You forget one thing.

    Like flu we open our business and live with it as it is going no where in any hurry. At the same time we bring heavy fines for breaches of protocol including mandatory masks wearing.

    Enforce the laws and stop dealing with the end result of our failures to act which of course is the lockdowns. We too like to put the cart before the horse in Bim.

  17. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    What about the economy stupid?
    Xcccccccccccc

    23 deaths and counting

  18. John Avatar
    John

  19. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    Sadly the pause is likely to continue until the end of the month.

    And very likely many more people will die in the next 15 days.

  20. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    @ Wily Coyote February 13, 2021 7:49 PM

    Well, our situation is not so bad. The worldwide vaccination campaign will save us. All the VIPs in the Caribbean have already been vaccinated. LOL. LOL. LOL. The common people will follow soon … Thanks to our Supreme Leader.

  21. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @Cuhdear Bajan February 13, 2021 8:44 PM

    Looking that way since they seems to starting the PR machine but I hope not cause we need to learn to live with this thing.

    Just finished watching Lisa Lorde’s interview with Dr. Corey Forde. Mostly a friendly PR type of interview and very sketchy on details and serious questions.

  22. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    COVID-19 UPDATE: 114 cases, 29 recoveries, two deaths
    The Best-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory reported 114 positive cases of COVID-19, which include results from samples collected between January 29 and February 12, 2021.
    With the appropriate reagent now in place, the laboratory is in the process of clearing the backlog created due to the temporary use of manual extraction in the processing of samples.

    ​These results were identified from among 2,720 tests conducted by the lab on Friday, February 12.

    ​There were 29 recoveries, which bring the number of active cases to 422. Two persons passed away from COVID-19, a 45-year-old Trinidadian woman and a 75-year-old Barbadian woman, both with pre-existing non-communicable diseases. The Trinidadian passed on Thursday, February 11, but was inadvertently omitted from the total. The death toll from the viral illness is now 23.

    The 114 cases comprise 60 women and 54 men. Four of them had already been at the Harrison Point Isolation Facility undergoing assessment to determine whether their positive PCR test result showed that they were newly positive, or had COVID-19 in the past and were no longer infectious. The other 110 cases include 109 Barbadians.

    The total number of persons diagnosed as positive at Her Majesty’s Prisons Dodds remains at 363. Of this total, 361 have recovered, and the remaining two inmates are included in the active cases.

    To date, Barbados has recorded 2,061 confirmed cases – 893 females and 1,168 males – and 1,616 persons have recovered.

    The public health laboratory has completed 112,556 tests, since February 2020. (BGIS)
    https://barbadostoday.bb/2021/02/13/covid-19-update-114-cases-29-recoveries-two-deaths/

  23. John Avatar
    John

    Cuhdear BajanFebruary 13, 2021 8:44 PM

    Sadly the pause is likely to continue until the end of the month.

    And very likely many more people will die in the next 15 days.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    How many persons died in 2019 in January and February in Barbados compared with January and February 2020 and January and February 2021?

    I know you have all these stats to hand.

  24. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    What I want to see is a full panel Q&A session with PM, Ministers, BAMP, Doctors, Nurses, etc for at least 2 hours with no presentations and they only answer questions from start to finish.

  25. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    The virus spreads because the population, especially our public servants, does not follow the protocol. Too many locals offering sex services to tourists, too many public servants at the bus crawl. The best government can do nothing about that. If I remember correctly, we had the same problem with HIV in the 1980s because of our sex-addicted Barbadian men. Even today, the HIV rate in the Caribbean is much higher than in the first world.

    Our government should now introduce hard measures and punish the bus crawlers draconically, with life imprisonment and penal labour if necessary. Our population wants blood. They shall have it.

    We must push back the epidemic at all costs. Even if that means suspending the next elections for five years, suspending the courts for the duration of the pandemic and giving our prime minister dictatorial powers.

    Trust our government!

  26. John Avatar
    John

    Check this site.

    Looks like since 2000, there has been a constant rate of increase y = mx + c

    A dead straight line.

    No perturbation due to COVID in 2020.

    The rate of increase will in all likelihood match the rate of increase of NCD’s.

    https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/BRB/barbados/death-rate

  27. John Avatar
    John

    NOTE: All 2020 and later data are UN projections and DO NOT include any impacts of the COVID-19 virus.

    Ooops, missed that.

    So 7 deaths in 2020 out of a population of 280K, or 0.25 deaths per thousand.

    But we need to see all deaths for 2020 and see if they match the straight line or are higher .. or lower!!

  28. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    % of the test results which were covid positive in recent days
    13.65
    7.59
    17.20
    4.90

    I hope that we can keep it below 5% every day for the next week or two.

    Wash hands
    Wear mask
    Keep 6 feet away from others, including if at all possible others who live in your home. We are not asking you to do this for the rest of your life, but for the next 2 weeks so that we can open back up

  29. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @Tron February 13, 2021 9:12 PM

    Yardfowl, go ask you masters for statistics on where and how people got the virus from and while you are at it, ask how it get in the prison and spread so fast.

    After you get that information, come back with some useful measures instead of talking nonsense. You might not even be on this piece of rock.

  30. John Avatar
    John

    The lowest death rate we have ever had was in 1998, 7.472 deaths per 1000 persons.

    In 2019, before the advent of COVID, the death rate had risen to 9.042 deaths per 1000 persons.

    So in 2019, almost 3 more deaths compared with 1998.

    NCD’s.!!!!!!!!!!!

  31. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    @ Critical Analyzer February 13, 2021 9:22 PM

    Pardon me!

    As I write this message, I am on our great island. Unlike our DLP grandees who kiss the feet of whites in Florida and Canada.

  32. John Avatar
    John

    We should be spending the bulk of the health $$ and effort on NCD’s, not COVID!!

  33. John Avatar
    John

    Instead of penalising people for not wearing masks, we should be penalising them for not getting off their asses!!

  34. lyallsmall Avatar
    lyallsmall

    Cuhdear Bajan re. your post on February 13, 2021 9:20 PM

    You said ” % of the test results which were covid positive in recent days; 13.65 ; 7.59 ; 17.20 ; 4.90. I hope that we can keep it below 5% every day for the next week or two”.

    I wonder how meaningful the individual calculations of percentage positivity of Covid-19 test results based on daily tests carried out over the past 6 weeks or so can be, given that there have been significant backlogs in testing over that time period because of certain reagents running out. When the testing catches up ( it shouldn’t take too long ) the percentage positivity rate should more accurately reflect the true position, I think.

  35. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    Do those daily test results from Best dos Santos include people who have been retested three or four times? Passengers missed flights because they were waiting on results which were not forthcoming by the time their flights were leaving which meant they had to be retested to meet the 72 hour limit that was imposed at their respective home destinations. If it happened once that was bad enough but for some it meant three or four times before they could get a result.

  36. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    daily test numbers…….

  37. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    Just in
    +++
    A man in France is critically ill with the coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa four months after he was previously infected with the virus — the first recorded reinfection case involving the contagious mutation, according to his doctors.

    After experiencing a mild infection in September, the 58-year-old man with a history of asthma was hospitalized last month and remains in critical condition, according to a paper shared Friday by the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. The authors wrote that cases of reinfection like this “remain rare albeit probably underestimated,” urging further investigation into cross-immunity between variants and the effectiveness of vaccines against them

    The news comes as reports of the variant, called B. 1.351, have escalated globally, including 13 cases in five states, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With the increased prevalence of the mutation, scientists have expressed concern that the variant, and two others first identified in the United Kingdom and Brazil, may become a predominant source of infection and elude coronavirus vaccines developed before the variants were detected

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/02/13/reinfection-south-africa-variant/

  38. David Avatar
    David

    Attached are the usual charts for the week ending last night. I have added St Lucia to the 5 countries that I usually track in the Caribbean charts and the colour scheme was changed to accommodate this. Re. the Caribbean charts; Jamaica’s active cases are showing a distinct worrying upward. Grenada has generally maintained active cases at a low level with minor spikes while Barbados’ active cases fluctuates at a medium level. The St Lucia chart shows an upward trending. Dr. Corey Forde gave a very sober but stark assessment of Covid-19’s current status in Barbados tonight. All of us must follow the protocols closely for Barbados get back to some measure of control. Perhaps we should find out what Trinidad is doing to fuel its apparent success in consistently reducing active cases from mid November – Lyall Small
  39. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Cuddear…it was bound to happen…you have IGNORANT excuses for leaders who practice classism and allowed the very group who are the most infected and transmittable only because they see them as first class citizens because they have a few dollars…, to descend on the island and infect the whole place hold parties and do all the dirty things they are accustomed…so yes, you will get rising deaths, because of your ignorant leaders. And until the other countries stop the planes from flying in daily, the deaths won’t stop.

  40. David Avatar
    David

    Doc: More young people ill
    Head of the Infection Prevention and Control Programme, Dr Corey Forde, is warning Barbadians that the “tide is turning” as it relates to COVID-19 infections, disclosing that more young people without pre-existing conditions are becoming severely ill.
    Last night Forde, who is in charge of the COVID-19 isolation facilities, painted a grim picture of the pandemic, revealing that the country recorded three deaths in the last 24 hours (up to Saturday), carrying the total number of COVID-19-related deaths to 24. He also said the disease had started to hit home at the medical fraternity as at least one health care professional was now among the seriously ill.
    “The myth that there are only old people in the ICU is going to be shaken today. In the primary isolation area we have persons between the ages of 37 and 77 years old. Some of these persons have no comorbidities. There are 18 people that are currently at primary care, seven females and 11 males. Three of these persons are currently intubated, which includes one health care professional and this is really heart-wrenching for us,” said Forde.
    He noted that in secondary isolation, the numbers were getting higher as more people were getting ill. Forde said in the first wave of the pandemic, most people did not know someone who had COVID-19 but now the average Barbadian had knowledge of someone with the deadly disease. He warned that if the country ever gets to a stage where the average citizen knows someone who died, then Barbados would be “up a creek”.
    “Our secondary facility is now practically an ICU because there are persons, though not critical, severely ill. We are now clocking another 23 persons in there, which now brings it to a total of 41 very ill people that I have at Harrison Point,” he said, noting that a 25-year-old,
    up until recently, was included in the number of seriously ill.
    Speaking frankly and with a tone of seriousness during the nationally televised interview, Forde said: “The tide has changed in Barbados and we are at a very critical stage of this outbreak in this country and the average Barbadian has to understand that if they do not follow these protocols, if they don’t follow the rules and regulations, if they don’t stay put, we are going to be in trouble.
    “We are now at a stage where our own health care workers are dying, our health care workers are being affected and that is where the rubber meets the road because these are the people who are going to protect you from getting into trouble.”
    Noting that Barbadians had become complacent, Forde lamented that if this continued, the medical system could find itself overwhelmed.
    “What people don’t understand is that when this rattles the health care system, it rattles us as health care workers.” (CLM)

    Source: Nation

  41. David Avatar
    David

    Medical fraternity urging Bajans to take vaccine
    As Barbados continues to record increasing COVID-19 cases, more calls are being made for Barbadians to take the vaccine.
    In a statement from the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Minister of Health Jeffrey Bostic said the COVID-19 vaccine was now a part of the country’s arsenal in fighting the disease.
    He said the World Health Organisation (WHO) indicated that the vaccine had a high level of efficacy and recommended its usage, even in places where the South African variant was reported.
    Although research was still ongoing for its suitability for those under 18, he said it was recommended for people over 65.
    “This is important given the fact that senior citizens constitute a large percentage of the Barbadian population,” Bostic said.
    In addition, he added that WHO recommendations also addressed the storage requirements of the vaccine. Unlike other vaccines, the Oxford-Astra Zeneca vaccine does not require
    deep, subzero temperatures, which he said made the vaccine appropriate for use in tropical and developing countries with limited storage capacity.
    He reiterated that although taking the vaccine was optional, members of the medical fraternity endorsed the exercise.
    “While being vaccinated is completely voluntary and a personal choice, the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners, the nurses of Barbados, other health professionals and ministry officials hope that every Barbadian will take this opportunity to protect themselves and their loved ones from the illness, its more virulent forms and reduce the risk of death; this is what the vaccine offers.”
    President of the Barbados Nurses’ Association, Joannah Waterman, was among those who received the vaccine recently and she encouraged Barbadians to do the same.
    “So far I have only experienced very mild effects of tiredness and a slight discomfort by the sight of injection and I feel great.
    “While taking the vaccine
    is not mandatory the expectation is that based on science, the predominant number of health care professionals, nurses and doctors will assist our nation by self-uptake and encouraging our citizens to take the vaccine,” she said.
    (TG/PR)

    Source: Nation

  42. David Avatar
    David

    NOT ON TABLE
    No plans for another moratorium from financial institutions
    By Shawn Cumberbatch
    shawncumberbatch@nationnews.com
    Individuals and businesses banking on another countrywide ease for mortgages and other loan payments are unlikely to get one at this time.
    With unemployment still high and Barbados in its second national lockdown, commercial bank representatives said another moratorium was currently not in their plans.
    They are, however, urging Barbadians who run into challenges to contact their specific financial institutions for relief.
    When COVID-19 reached Barbados last year, causing tourism to collapse and driving the economy into recession, commercial banks and other private financiers agreed to allow customers to delay servicing their loans for up to six months. That period ended on September 30 last year.
    Information from the Central Bank indicates that up to the end of December there were $300 million in loans still under the moratorium, down from $2.6 billion in May last year.
    Donna Wellington, who is president of the Barbados Bankers Association and CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank’s managing director for Barbados and Eastern Caribbean, said it was too early to be talking about another comprehensive moratorium like last year’s.
    “It is certainly too soon, and with one week into a lockdown, this kind of thinking certainly would be premature and requires time to pass
    as well as the concurrence of our regulator,” she told the Sunday Sun last week.
    The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) said in a statement that “our approach has moved to looking at relief on a case-by-case basis”.
    “RBC’s COVID-19 deferral programme came to an end on September 30, 2020. At this time there are no plans to reintroduce a formal relief package. However, if clients are experiencing financial hardship, they can reach out to an RBC representative to see what options may be available to them,” the bank said.
    Individual help
    Scotiabank officials also said they were now offering customer relief on an individual basis.
    “We at Scotiabank are cognisant of the impact of the prevailing environment to some customers who may still be concerned about their financial wellbeing during this time,” the bank stated.
    “If customers continue to be financially impacted by the pandemic and are unable to resume regular payments, we have been working with them on a case-by-case basis to provide further financial solutions that best suit their current realities.”
    Credit unions also participated in the moratorium last year, but president of the Barbados Co-operative & Credit Union League Ltd, Hally Haynes, said it was now up to individual cooperatives to work out such relief for their members.
    Haynes said talks would have to be held among credit unions to determine if they wanted to offer assistance as agreed by the whole movement.
    Information from the Central Bank outlined that in April last year there were about 70 000
    accounts that were subject to moratoria and this number fell to 55 000 by the end of last June.
    In his recent review of Barbados economic performance in 2020, Central Bank Governor Cleviston Haynes said “new lending for the April to December period was lower than in 2019, but lower repayments resulting from the moratorium of payments dampened the decline in loans”.
    He noted that “as financial institutions rolled back the moratoria, some loans were restructured on a case-by-case basis in an effort to provide manageable repayment programmes for customers”.
    The Central Bank’s latest provisional data showed there was a $374.3 million decline in personal loans from commercial banks and finance and trust companies last year when compared with 2019.

    Source: Nation

  43. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “tide is turning” as it relates to COVID-19 infections, disclosing that more young people without pre-existing conditions are becoming severely ill.’

    the virus followed a distinct pattern with no deviations…don’t know why this seems like a new reveal to some….the science is not the problem…it’s the fools who make up their own versions who are causing deaths..

  44. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    A loan repayment holiday is not the responsibility of the banks and other financial institutions; it is one for the GOVERNMENT, they will do as they are told.
    The prime minister is also minister of finance. She can make that announcement tomorrow. Stop being bullied by big business.

  45. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @Hal Austin February 14, 2021 6:34 AM

    Government does not have that right and if they try to do it, the financial institutions will take her to court.

    What the government needs to do is come to the people and state clearly what is the plan going forward and on what timeline. This uncertainty is killing people too.

  46. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    Watching and observing with sadness
    A repeat of what has happened in the bigger international countries expect that barbados is very small and the land space which adds to household congestion would make the problem worse and the virus hard to fight

  47. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @Critical

    With respect, you are wrong. Government DOES have that power and should implement it as soon as possible. It is crisis economics 101.
    As to taking the government to court, as long as legislation is properly framed and passes through the correct parliamentary stages, then the courts cannot overturn it.
    We do not have judge-made law. This is not the US with its constitutional Supreme Court. A loan repayment and rent holiday should be top of the government’s CoVid economic policy.
    It is not because of incompetence, not lack of authority.

  48. John Avatar
    John

    Lies at the very top displayed in the recent impeachment trial in the US … incidentally, Trump was easily acquitted as expected.

    The media is doing the whole world a disservice with COVID.

    Wonder who is controlling the media?

  49. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    Govt never understood the fight they would have on their hands
    Up to present no economic Covid policy has been laid out which can help people
    Less we forget that local financial institutions have been hurt when govt restructure the debt
    Those institutions would not sit back and allow govt to have a hands on and clear control presently on how their financial institutions conducts business in this crisis which would allow govt policies to cause them to fail

  50. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    John is applying the Science of prejudice and corruption in political thought for power by rightwing trash using overt and covert racist populist psyops and subliminal brainwashing. He is testimony of the Trump bullshit that was propagated between November to January. We see all of you. At least the Cunts are out of Power in White Amerikkka for a while.

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