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Submitted by William Parker

I wish to congratulate the BLP government on their handling of the Covid 19 in 2020.

Now that the various “versions” of the original Virus has reached here and the infection rate and deaths are spiralling out of control it is apparent to some, including me, that the government has no answers and is reacting and not pro-acting.

I understand the need for the current lockdown and we all know that 2 weeks is just a start and it will be needed for a lot longer.

However the shutting on the mini marts and way side vendors leaves a lot of us bewildered as the logic behind it. In the area that I live R&R convenience, Mikes Mini Mart, EZ mini Mart and all the others are closed. These were locally owned shops where the poor, and not so poor, could get a little credit until the NIS cheque arrives, when the Post Office reopens, and walk a short distance home in the fresh air.

Now these people have to get an occasional bus to Massy in Oistins, and mix with those in the shop and be infected not only by the current shoppers but those who were there one or two hours ago. Are you telling us that it is safer for a person, who does not have a car, to catch a ZR and travel to Oistins to get a few items than to visit the corner shop?

The word that I have heard from more than one person is that in the last shut down the Major Supermarkets lost a lot of revenue because people switched to minimarts and a lot of way side vendors started. Is the way to make sure that the large foreign owned companies got more of the pie? It certainly seems so.

You have closed them on weekends so their overall sales will increase and their overheads will decrease. Bajans have been very good in following the new rules, and rightfully so, but there is a growing undercurrent of frustration and if the government is not careful there will be mass disobedience. This will hurt everyone. I hope that you can take a pause and consider the additional hardships you are causing a lot of Barbadians.

Thank you. I am a proud Bajan and supporter of the BL&P in the last few elections.


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725 responses to “To BLP Administration: Re. Covid 19 protocols”


  1. @ JohnA; @ Hal
    You both exposed what I have said since the departure of the Czar. Mottley went for politics and optics . She tried to please all interest groups. Poor leadership.
    We are too damn pampered. The island should have been shutdown for six weeks and everybody outside of the most vulnerable and real frontline workers should have been the focus. I really can’t blame her because when you spoil children they behave badly anywhere. and wherever they go. And the whining corporate private sector has been the most unpatriotic group.
    Mottley needs to be a leader and not a public relations consultant.


  2. @ William

    Thank you. PR is appealing for those who do not want to think. Policy-making is a bit more difficult. Have you noticed how Dr George has been removed?


  3. Skinner

    You, of all people supported this government on this issue until recently it seems..

    The nature of this pandemic does not portend a straight line way out. Even China has been having flare ups.

    Indeed, up until recently the government by your own judgement had handled it well.

    Mugabe is in no eminent political trouble, currently. Whereas Boris Johnson has knives seeking his back.

    Your predilection for finding common cause with an idiot may come to define self.


  4. “And the whining corporate private sector has been the most unpatriotic group.”

    she needs to act like a grown up and the leader that BLACK people elected and put those whiny little racists in their place or tell them go to Australia and work in pig pens………..before they BRING HER and the WHOLE COUNTRY DOWN…

    regardless of her close affiliation…..no one has time for either of them..


  5. @ John February 25, 2021 8:49 AM
    “They’re trying to figure out what Indians may be doing right and how to mimic that in other countries that are still suffering.

    Maybe people are boiling their water!!”
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    So what are you recommending to Bajans, today?

    To forget about the ‘risky’ vaccine from the same India and simply boil the water (even the water used for bathing and other domestic purposes)?

    Should the Bajans just ignore their government’s advice and protocols and simply adopt the boiling of water as the readymade panacea for Covid as you suggest is happening in India one of the filthiest places on the planet and where personal and public hygiene practised by the majority population leave too much to be desired far less emulate.

    Only a couple days ago you were singing the praises of the BWA to high Hygieia heaven.

    Now, today, you are discrediting them as bogus peddlers of unclean water.

    Instead of importing vaccines from India should the Bajan government now import ‘boiled’ water in plastic bottles from the same India?

    As our BU Donna has recommended, you ought to seek some kind of psychiatric treatment to help you manage your schizophrenia., both social and intellectual.

  6. Disgusting Lies & Propaganda TV Avatar
    Disgusting Lies & Propaganda TV

    @John oy your jokes are getting stale….time to work on some new material for BU

    For the sake of comparison, Barbados is not even the only country in CARICOM that is going through this spike in cases. St Lucia, St Vincent, Antigua and Grenada saw a spike in cases virtually the same time ( in early January 2021). St Lucia actually has more confirmed cases (but less active cases) than Barbados. The months of October, November and December leads up to Christmas & the Winter tourist season, which usually are months of heighten economic activity in the region. There was no corresponding rise in cases leading up to November and December and would explain the complacency to this virus at the time. Accounting for the incubation period, the Covid-19 Bomb (so to speak) hit around the week of Christmas 2020,.and several CARICOM countries are now felling the shockwave and fallout. On hindsight, if there was any JUSTIFICATION for border closures it would had to be done in early December 2020 which, at that point in time, would have been a BIG non sequitur. Govt would had to explain the intentional damage to the economy when the cases numbers did not justify for such.

    Observing Trinidad’s situation, they went through a spike in cases between Sept & Oct 2020 and were able to progressively bring down the the active case numbers over a 3/4 months period leading into Jan\ Feb 2021. So TIME is the essence in the Covid fight. However Govt has to weigh the using of lockdowns ( that can take months to have full effect) against the damage that it will cause to the microeconomy. This is why govt cannot take BAMPs recommendations exclusively. It is a fluid situation where govt has to wiggle through a rock and a hard place without gaining gashes or scratches.


  7. @ Hal

    As I said those that don’t want to pay or can’t go to the poloyclinic.


  8. Court of Appeal orders release of
    Jamaican

    The Barbados Court of Appeal today allowed the appeal brought by the Jamaican visitor through his attorneys Andrew Pilgrim Q.C. and Michelle Russell.

    Chief Justice Patterson Cheltenham in handing down the ruling said Scott should be freed by the prison once all health protocols are satisfied.

    The 49-year-old has spent two months at HMP Dodds which a panel of Appeal judges including Madam Justice Margaret Reifer and Justice Rejendra Narine deemed to be time served.

    Scott had been sentenced to six months in prison by Chief Justice Ian Weekes last December after he was unable to pay a $6 000 fine following a guilty plea to contravening Paragraph 14 of the Emergency Management (COVID-19) Curfew (No.4) Directive 2020.

    He had left quarantine at the St Lucy District Hospital without reasonable explanation.

    He told the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court back then that he left the premises on December 7, 2020, to purchase “Fanta and other stuff” at a shop.


  9. @ Angela

    He was not tested about his ability to pay the fine. The chief magistrate is a bully. The Jamaican man should be compensated and the chief magistrate given a written warning.


  10. Oh dear! Pachamama seems to be taking care of my business for me. Some serious shite wrong with that Hal Austin! And if his ass licker Baje has a problem with our assessment, let him understand that the displays of my jackassery will continue for as long as Hal Austin’s displays of his assholery.

    On a more rational note, I agree with the writer of this piece wholeheartedly. On the outdoor vendors, mini – mart and small shop closures, the weekend closures and the shortened opening hours. The former causes people to have to catch ZRs instead of walking. The latter causes congestion. Common sense.

    I have not heard anything from government that would explain the benefits of this policy.


  11. Jamaican lawyers are nothing like Bajan lawyers, ya don’t want to anger them when they know you’re violating the Black man’s rights like ya do to all Black people in Barbados…while he should have known better because it was a want and not a need…it did not warrant 6 months in prison…when the bitches bend over backwards to make sure tourists never serve that kind of time…

    ..they jeopardize the court process and dispense with justice to keep tourists out of prison…..and Black people in…yall are going to shut down that human rights violating racist shit….take time barney..


  12. Barbados govt donates 1000 doses of vaccine to Belize

    Footnote

    Notwithstanding the distance, India and Belize enjoy friendly, warm, and cordial relations. Belize traditionally supports India on most issues, in the UN and other multilateral fora, and vice versa. India has extended assistance to Belize in a number of areas, including by way of disaster relief and for development

  13. Disgusting Lies & Propaganda TV Avatar
    Disgusting Lies & Propaganda TV

    @JohnA it is true that the vaccination exercise needs to be more decentralized. However, with only 50,000 vaccinations, giving private doctors access and having people to essentially pay for vaccinations is definitely not the answer at THIS point in time. I would think that the goal is to vaccinate as much of vulnerable as fast as possible.


  14. You do Barbados a disservice by comparing to others islands in the Caribbean managing spike in Covid numbers. Leadership is about separating yourself from the pick.


  15. I understand that we are not accustomed to quarantine and all of that. . . . We have to make adjustments . . . . We are going to be wearing these masks till 2022 at least . . . so get it in our DNA. It is about survival. I need to send a strong message because there is no good reason for you to be doing this. You had a craving and you acted on your craving,” the magistrate lamented before asking Scott whether he was in a position to pay a fine.

    He responded that he was not.

    Source: Barbados Today


  16. It is not for the magistrate to ask the accused if he is in a position to pay a fine. Any sensible person would say no, if s/he felt it would reduce any fine.
    The legal responsibility of the magistrate is to fine the man once convicted and, if necessary, give him time to pay. If he failed to pay then he would be subject to further penalty.
    The chief magistrate cannot anticipate who can and cannot pay fines. He must keep his personal views to himself and not abuse his office.


  17. Donna
    No government is above criticism and Mugabe should be justly criticized when warranted, as we reserve the right to so do.

    However, when that man comes here every day to give unwarranted criticisms for criticism”s sake that must be beaten back.

    To manage an ecosystem , which is Barbados, with all the forces coming at you from all directions, errors will be made, especially during a pandemic where they are many unknown variables.

    And in the case of the sidekick Skinner, even Atherley, the leader of opposition, so called, to say that the government handled the pandemic well for most of the last year but as soon as there’s a significant spike to then condemn the government seems a bit weak-kneed. Maybe that support wasn’t genuine in the first place.

  18. Disgusting Lies & Propaganda TV Avatar
    Disgusting Lies & Propaganda TV

    @David BU so what did the leadership of Barbados (a small island) do?. PM Mottley wrote DIRECTLY to the PM of the biggest vaccine machinery in the WORLD!!!!!!!. It was recognized VERY EARLY that BIG GUNS were needed!!!!!. Some of those guns were brought less than a month after she wrote the letter to PM Modi!!!!! It is more commendable when countries bigger than Barbados in this same region, did not receive any vaccines!!!!!!
    People need to process the world situation as it stands with Covid-19. There are nearly 200 countries in the world, COVID-19 has penetrated nearly ALL of them. The majority of them have community spread including all the First World countries!!!!. This virus is the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany or the Roman Army at the height of the Roman Empire in Europe!!!!!!!. What was their fate? Over time they were defeated. The common trend is that community spread is an EVENTUALITY. That is not to say that there we no missteps in the specific tactics, but the general strategy is to manage the spread of a pervasive virus while trying to do as little damage to the microeconomy as possible. That will not be perfect in a country like Barbados that have a govt and people who had little experience managing disasters far less a PANDEMIC!!!!


  19. @ Donna
    “And in the case of the sidekick Skinner, even Atherley, the leader of opposition, so called, to say that the government handled the pandemic well for most of the last year but as soon as there’s a significant spike to then condemn the government seems a bit weak-kneed. Maybe that support wasn’t genuine in the first place.”
    I am nobody’s side kick and you have obviously not read my last post. I said I am. It blaming the PM. I said she is trying to please everybody.
    This is what William Skinner wrote:

    William Skinner February 25, 2021 9:34 AM

    @ JohnA; @ Hal
    You both exposed what I have said since the departure of the Czar. Mottley went for politics and optics . She tried to please all interest groups. Poor leadership.
    We are too damn pampered. The island should have been shutdown for six weeks and everybody outside of the most vulnerable and real frontline workers should have been the focus. I really can’t blame her because when you spoil children they behave badly anywhere. and wherever they go. And the whining corporate private sector has been the most unpatriotic group.
    Mottley needs to be a leader and not a public relations consultant.
    You are in the business of putting me in boxes. I have never called you a dude kick. I don’t need to.
    Are you aware of the term critical support?

    Read it again. I specifically said: “I really can’t blame her”


  20. @ Donna
    Should have been I have never called you a side kick. Not dude. Apologies.


  21. It withstanding the move to proactively search out vaccines outside COVAX, the crux of the criticism being leveled is mainly restricted to protocols around quarantine and testing management.


  22. @ Donna
    I apologise , those remarks should have directed at @ Pacha. Thank you.


  23. Was the Jamaican free because the CJ felt the 6 month was too long. Hence the reduction to time served if two months?


  24. MillerFebruary 25, 2021 10:12 AM

    @ John February 25, 2021 8:49 AM
    “They’re trying to figure out what Indians may be doing right and how to mimic that in other countries that are still suffering.

    Maybe people are boiling their water!!”
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    So what are you recommending to Bajans, today?

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

    If any of your water comes from the “desal” plant, boil it!!

    To the GOB, if you are looking to lock down something, lockdown the desal plant.

    Hire someone from Singapore who practices the science of water treatment daily to review the procedures at the “desal” plant.

    If it turns out that water is one way in which it is spread, this particular GOB will go down in history as the most uncaring GOB in history.

    It will have caused pain and suffering beyond comprehension when it could simply have applied a little common sense.


  25. @ Pacha
    For all your brilliant erudition you don’t know what critical support means?
    Obviously you don’t know what week kneed is either.
    As for side kick, I would suggest you don’t know that either
    Apparently you are the only independent voice on BU. You are we also the most genuine in your pronouncements.
    @ Donna
    Once again my apologies. Thank you.


  26. @ William

    I don’t blame the boss lady either it is her advisers that need an introduction to the proverbial rod of correction and the chamber of commerce maguffies too!


  27. ….. bring me questions I got answers!!

    NEEEEEEEEEEEEXT!!


  28. I too agreed that the government seemed to be handling the Covid situation well up until dec.
    but if they were testing the way PTL said – 2/3 days for the pre tested incoming negatives – then it was only a mirage and it was only a matter of time that we would arrived at where we are today


  29. The African Union will pay three times more for Russia’s Sputnik V jab than it is paying for the Oxford/AstraZeneca and Novavax vaccines, according to people familiar with the procurement process.

    The $9.75 price per dose for 300m shots of the Russian vaccine, developed by the state-run Gamaleya Institute, undermines Moscow’s argument that it is offering affordable jabs to countries priced out of deals with western pharmaceutical groups…..(Quote)


  30. PM speaks to the Nation tonight at 7.30

  31. Disgusting Lies & Propaganda TV Avatar
    Disgusting Lies & Propaganda TV

    “and of course there is the issue of water supply.
    India has cholera and a host of other diseases which are spread by water!!”

    @John Boy, by this definition, re Covid, the USA has a water supply FAR poorer than India and is in some way “backward”. I knew you would come around with the realization that CHUMP in 4 shorts years made the good old USA a “backward” country. There may be hope for you yet!!!!


  32. What did the PM “do” that was so brilliant in keeping the virus off barbados shores
    If memory serves correct the earlier portocols where more address to lockdowns to locals while allowing the borders to stay open
    Not only were the borders left open but COVID infected cruise liners were docked in Carlisle bay for weeks while use of the Bay provided sewage to be dumped into the waters leaving miles of contamination and possibility of some of the contaminants driven to our shores by way of ocean currants
    Now explain how such a policy could have been one that would have secured the safety of our environment and the people


  33. Skinner

    You always seem to be attached to words. We care not too much bout dem.

    BTW

    Doyen means the most respected or experienced person in a given field.

    In the praxis of politics and on BU we mistakenly called you that and accepted correction.

    So we know not the rudiments of “erudition” in the Queen’s language but are sure that that one nearer to her will tell you that.


  34. Disgusting Lies & Propaganda TVFebruary 25, 2021 12:57 PM

    “and of course there is the issue of water supply.
    India has cholera and a host of other diseases which are spread by water!!”

    @John Boy, by this definition, re Covid, the USA has a water supply FAR poorer than India and is in some way “backward”. I knew you would come around with the realization that CHUMP in 4 shorts years made the good old USA a “backward” country. There may be hope for you yet!!!!

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

    Actually, no!!!!

    Some states have very little problem.

    Same as in India.

    You are making the standard and elementary mistake of lumping the whole of the US and India as they do when they speak of Africa.

    You could lump Singapore into the Far East and miss entirely the clues it provides.

    Each state/country is unique and has its own problems.

    Here’s what the distribution of COVID “cases” in India looks like by state.

    https://www.statista.com/statistics/1103458/india-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-cases-by-state/

    If you look you will see some Indian States barely register.


  35. You also have to keep separate deaths from “cases”.

    New York has numerous deaths.

    I’ve said from the beginning it was because it had an at risk population after 9/11.

    In fact the CDC claims up to 400K were affected by the ash and debris of the Twin Tower collapse.

    Many of these have now, 20 years on retired, and moved out of state to escape the punitive taxes.

    Florida and California are two states to which they have moved.


  36. What are the long term political effects of India Vaccine benevolence to small island nations
    I guess we will have to wait and see


  37. @ Quaker John

    We we differentiate between death WITH CoVid and death FROM CoVod?


  38. It isn’t Cuomo alone, it just so happened New York was a disaster waiting to happen and it also happened to have a disaster as a Governor.

    I suspect even if Cuomo had been a competent Governor, there would still have been multiple deaths, perhaps less than occurred, but maybe not much different.

    Keep Deaths and “cases” separate.

    In Barbados, keep water supply wells with zoning protection separate from those with none.

    For Singapore, Dominica and New Zealand, keep them separate.

    Do not think of COVID globally.

    Think local.


  39. In Africa as I have shown, the countries with the highest incidence of malaria are those with the lowest deaths.

    They also happen to use anti malarial medicine which happens to include hydroxychloroquinine.

    Put the countries into compartments in your cogitations!!

    … ie, use a little common sense.


  40. I am saying there are atleast two mechanisms that spread the virus.

    One is the air, the other is water.

    Incidentally, both are fluids!!


  41. … they flow!!!


  42. An obsession with PR.

    Barbados has surpassed 25 000 COVID-19 vaccinations, less than two weeks after receiving 100 000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine as a gift from India.
    Prime Minister Mia Mottley disclosed the achievement this morning as she marked the occasion by touring the Maurice Byer Polyclinic in St Peter along with Minister of Health Lt. Col. Jeffrey Bostic, coordinators of the National Vaccination Programme Major David Clarke and Dr Elizabeth Ferdinand and other officials, to observe the vaccination process.
    Mottley told reporters: “This is a moment we are grateful for and I want to thank those Barbadians who have come forward over the course of less than two weeks…The fact that we have been able to vaccinate just 12.5 per cent of the population is something that gives us comfort.”….(Quote)


  43. How the Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine Works

    By Jonathan Corum and Carl ZimmerUpdated Feb. 23, 2021

    RNA vs DNA

    The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is based on the virus’s genetic instructions for building the spike protein. But unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, which store the instructions in single-stranded RNA, the Oxford vaccine uses double-stranded DNA.
    DNA Inside an Adenovirus
    The researchers added the gene for the coronavirus spike protein to another virus called an adenovirus. Adenoviruses are common viruses that typically cause colds or flu-like symptoms. The Oxford-AstraZeneca team used a modified version of a chimpanzee adenovirus, known as ChAdOx1. It can enter cells, but it can’t replicate inside them.

    AZD1222 comes out of decades of research on adenovirus-based vaccines. In July, the first one was approved for general use — a vaccine for Ebola, made by Johnson & Johnson. Advanced clinical trials are underway for other diseases, including H.I.V. and Zika.

    The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for Covid-19 is more rugged than the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. DNA is not as fragile as RNA, and the adenovirus’s tough protein coat helps protect the genetic material inside. As a result, the Oxford vaccine doesn’t have to stay frozen. The vaccine is expected to last for at least six months when refrigerated at 38–46°F (2–8°C).
    Entering a Cell
    After the vaccine is injected into a person’s arm, the adenoviruses bump into cells and latch onto proteins on their surface. The cell engulfs the virus in a bubble and pulls it inside. Once inside, the adenovirus escapes from the bubble and travels to the nucleus, the chamber where the cell’s DNA is stored.

    Oxford-AstraZeneca 👍🏿


  44. @ John February 25, 2021 11:59 AM
    “If it turns out that water is one way in which it is spread, this particular GOB will go down in history as the most uncaring GOB in history.

    It will have caused pain and suffering beyond comprehension when it could simply have applied a little common sense.”
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    It’s a downright pity that you- the Doctor Johnny sitting on your pit toilet for an the intellectual throne in a “shithole place called Barbadoes- was unable to advise your idol Trump on the benefits of your patented Eureka technique of boiling water to kill off Covid-19 and his legion of mutants.

    For if you had been that proactive you would have saved his white-ass supremacist administration from being the laughing stock of the world.

    You would have saved hundred of thousands of Covid-infected souls from drinking virus-stained shitty water and prevented another Johnny called Trump the Kid of Skid marks from turning the once great America into the No.1 Covid-infected “Shithole” country on the planet.

  45. NorthernObserver Avatar

    @Pacha
    for different reasons,(you and I), an election call in 2020 was discussed. If I recall accurately, you believed the GoB required a mandate to continue at that point in time, due to Covid; I was of the belief to strike while the iron was hot (highly likely to be re-elected). It would appear today, they missed a golden opportunity to cement their hold for another 5 years?

    On another topic. How does one get land distribution into a wider base?

  46. NorthernObserver Avatar

    @WW&C
    you just cannot make some things up !!!! 🤣🤣🤣


  47. Schizophrenia is a complicated mental illness that can transform the way we understand ourselves and the world around us. And it may feel like nothing will be the same again.

    No cure, you in trouble 👿

  48. Disgusting Lies & Propaganda TV Avatar
    Disgusting Lies & Propaganda TV

    “I’ve said from the beginning it was because it had an at risk population after 9/11.
    In fact the CDC claims up to 400K were affected by the ash and debris of the Twin Tower collapse.”

    “One is the air, the other is water.
    Incidentally, both are fluids!!”

    John Boy you are indeed a stable genius (where have I heard that before?). So should we close the borders to the Atlantic Ocean? I mean the eastern seaboard of the USA and the UK are in the Atlantic and Barbados is in the Atlantic!!!!!. How about closing the borders to the Sahara dust cloud, we can never be too safe…


  49. MillerFebruary 25, 2021 2:51 PM

    @ John February 25, 2021 11:59 AM
    “If it turns out that water is one way in which it is spread, this particular GOB will go down in history as the most uncaring GOB in history.

    It will have caused pain and suffering beyond comprehension when it could simply have applied a little common sense.”
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    It’s a downright pity that you- the Doctor Johnny sitting on your pit toilet for an the intellectual throne in a “shithole place called Barbadoes- was unable to advise your idol Trump on the benefits of your patented Eureka technique of boiling water to kill off Covid-19 and his legion of mutants.

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

    I got deduced it from him, remember, the UV as a means of disinfecting?

    Pure genius.

    But on the subject of an uncaring GOB, I would add wicked, like Cuomo.

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