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To BLP Administration: Re. Covid 19 protocols

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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. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    @ angela cox February 28, 2021 6:47 AM

    RE: “If memory serves correct the debt did not start with the past govt. A 14 year govt run under OSA has always use debt as a revolving door to maintain the economy.

    I agree with you 100%.

    But, to bring some level of balance to the discussion, are you forgetting the former DLP administration incurred twice as much debt during its tenure than the “14 year govt run under OSA?”

  2. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    They are trying to hide informaton, but it’s still coming out.

  3. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    Grenada to open its Borders to tourism in April
    Grenada closed its borders in december 2020 to ensure the safety of its people
    A wise decision which has paid off dividends socially emotionally and yes financially
    So far Grenada accounts for 148 infections 147 recoveries and one death
    Yes that is a feat which is worth speaking of because cost wise the govt health cost to fighting the virus was a cost worthwhile in that the spike if had occured would have cost the Govt of Grenada millions of dollars which would in turn would be a cost most likely to be placed on the taxpayers shoulders
    Now compare Grenada situation and its now opening in April to barbados
    Here in barbados govt refusal to close its borders cost its numbers and death spikes and millions being poured into the health system as preventive not to mention the present including high price of vaccine which Mia spoke of
    Grenada now can easily sail out of its Port and waved the flag of success welcome tourist to a COVID free environment along with having the go ahead and a better portocol use of tourist entering grenada having the vaccine
    Meanwhile govt of Barbados resorts to the backward method of lockdowns and jail time for its citizens and ballooning health cost

  4. David Avatar
    David

    How one country slipped into a Covid disaster, one misstep at a time

    https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/28/europe/czech-republic-coronavirus-disaster-intl/index.html

  5. David Avatar
    David

    Grenada was forced to close its borders because of the flare up in COVID-19 cases at Sandals in December. This coincided with increased travel from the UK. Grenada caught a break.

  6. John Avatar
    John

    SargeantFebruary 28, 2021 12:09 AM

    @John
    The NEWater Singapore uses is reclaimed water aka sewage water, are you saying that Singapore anticipated the Corona virus and its treatment of that water foreshadowed the arrival of the virus?

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

    Of course not.

    Singapore had to adopt strategies that ensured a clean water supply that was large enough to meet its PLANNED needs.

    COVID came long and just bounced off!!

    The countries who have managed and planned their water resources the most skillfully are the countries which have shaken off COVID and got on with living.

    New Zealand and Australia I suggest are two more in the Singapore category.

    The countries which haven’t are left in their wake!!

    So some parts of America and GB are really shithole jurisdictions where water supply is concerned.

    Africa largely gets off because they have been dealing with Malaria for generations.

    I’ve got a feeling that’s why some states in India get off too because they have been also dealing with malaria for generations but need to dig a bit further.

    It’s like GP shows us all the time, some individuals have their lives in order and are ready and waiting expectantly for the next step.

    Others are in … well … sh!t.

  7. John Avatar
    John

    Singapore has been at it from the 60’s.

    For them, dealing with COVID is like rolling off a log.

  8. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    Grenada used commensense over the chasing of the Almighty dollar
    Now Grenada can reap a greater reward as tourist would be most likely be inclined to visit spots with smaller COVID numbers
    Another feat which Barbados govt must undertake and which now finds govt officials back tracking on the correct numbers of positivity increases and the decline by which barbados can say that the country is out of the woods
    Kudos to the Grenada govt for achieving numbers so small in that the country can showcase those numbers as a welcome relief for tourist coming to Grenada
    Meanwhile Barbados govt dash board climbs and govt use harsh language and threats against its people

  9. John Avatar
    John

    Cuhdear BajanFebruary 27, 2021 10:33 PM

    John if by the pill you mean the contraceptive pill I am long, long, long. past reproductive age.

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

    Not if you are under 74, fit, healthy and with all your constituent parts!

    https://www.oldest.org/people/pregnant-women/

  10. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    Artax

    But, to bring some level of balance to the discussion, are you forgetting the former DLP administration incurred twice as much debt during its tenure than the “14 year govt run under OSA?

    Xxxxxxxxccxxccccccc

    I also remember many problems that govt had to undertake and resolve with limited budget along with having to repay past debt left by the OSA govt
    I also remember the prison debt which was a recurring problem every year for govt having to find the funding
    I also remember the global meltdown which hamstrung govt from achieving required finances to help run the economy in an efficient manner because of global negatives situations attached to barbados and small island economies
    I also remember govt having to fight the problem of Ebola
    I also remember the hurricanes which ravished the islands
    Yes i also remember govt not going to the IMF to get loans wherby the economic pressure would be placed on the people as is happening now
    Yes there is plenty to remember but time has the recorded memory of telling the Truth
    I leave it here

  11. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Because we are eventually going to beat this dreaded disease, the passage of time was always an ally to Mia.

    The short game was always a difficult one and we did not emerge unscathed, but if Mia takes the lessons learned and apply them, she will emerge as a leader, heroine and genius.

    Time is her friend. She will win this one. Her detractors (on covid-19) will eventually be silenced.

    How big can she win? Remove the kinks in communications, protocol enforcement and the biased imposition of curfew penalties. Big, massive, tremendous, enormous, gigantic, stupendous …

    You go girl.

  12. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    Time wasted
    Time which emerges as one which Mia is trying to wrestle to the ground because of not keeping Covid out of the country in a timely fashion
    Grenada successfully used Time to help them fight the virus in a short time
    Come April Grenada opens its borders with newer and better windows of opportunities to let Tourist in
    When Grenada saw that the Covid horse was bolting for the door the govt did the most sensible thing and use double blots which block and stop the horse from further bolting

  13. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    For those who said that a country like Barbados cannot survive without open Borders u were wrong
    Grenada is open proof
    Mia Mottley is now proving to be gungho on all things that can go wrong

  14. GP Avatar
    GP

    SargeantFebruary 28, 2021 12:09 AM

    @John
    The NEWater Singapore uses is reclaimed water aka sewage water, are you saying that Singapore anticipated the Corona virus and its treatment of that water foreshadowed the arrival of the virus?

    HERE IS A DUMMY SEEKING TO CONTRADICT THE SCHOLAR
    THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF COCKROACH AT FOWL COCK DANCE
    THIS IS AN EXAMPLE EXAMPLE OF JACKASS AT RACE HORSE RACE
    THIS IS SIMPLY HILARIOUS

  15. Disgusting Lies & Propaganda TV Avatar
    Disgusting Lies & Propaganda TV

    For John Boy

    https://www.interreg-central.eu/Content.Node/New-Covid-19-and-water.html

    Also download the PDF document here to read

    https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-2019-nCoV-IPC-WASH-2020.4

  16. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    @ angela cox February 28, 2021 8:12 AM

    RE: “I also remember the global meltdown which hamstrung govt from achieving required finances to help run the economy in an efficient manner because of global negatives situations attached to barbados and small island economies.”

    If the global meltdown HAMSTRUNG govt from achieving required finances to help run the economy in an efficient manner,” then, perhaps you may care to explain how the DEBT increased two or three fold, if the “past debt left by the OSA govt was repaid?”

    RE: “I also remember the prison debt which was a recurring problem every year for govt having to find the funding.”

    Are you suggesting the annual prison debt repayment made a significant contribution to the increase in the national debt? Please explain further.

    RE: “I also remember govt having to fight the problem of Ebola.”

    I noticed you’re always mentioning Ebola, but, as far as I can remember, that virus did not pose any immediate threat to Barbados and the Caribbean as you seem to be suggesting.

    Since there weren’t any recorded cases of EVD in the region and, as such, the risk assessment was low, could you please provide us with the amount of debt the former administration incurred as a result of Ebola?

    RE: “Yes i also remember govt not going to the IMF to get loans whereby the economic pressure would be placed on the people as is happening now.”

    Yes, the DEMS did not enter an arrangement with the IMF. However, I remember the 24 credit rating downgrades, as a result of poor economic policies, which also placed economic pressure on the people as well?

    So, “yes, there is plenty to remember but time has the recorded memory of telling the Truth. I leave it here” as well.

  17. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    GP @Sargeant

    HERE IS A DUMMY SEEKING TO CONTRADICT THE SCHOLAR
    THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF COCKROACH AT FOWL COCK DANCE
    THIS IS AN EXAMPLE EXAMPLE OF JACKASS AT RACE HORSE RACE
    THIS IS SIMPLY HILARIOUS
    Xccccccc.

    Wuhloss what a hearty belly laff on this Sunday morning
    Hs. Ha .ha.

  18. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    Artax

    Past govt having to sustain a faltering economy on a limited budget please state what were the “poor” economic policies that lead to the downgrade bearing in mind that govt refused to enter long term unsustainable debt and an economy bulldozed by the negative impact of a global economy
    Mia recently boasted that the country has 2.6billion dollars in borrowed money all accomplished in two years yet u forego what debt barbados is under presently along with govt stating no reasonable policy of repayment
    At this point what govt left behind is paltry to what this administration have in hand present mostly made up borrowed funds and chasing the race horse called COVID

  19. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “Grenada used commensense over the chasing of the Almighty dollar.”

    that’s the long and short of it…pimping for tourists dollars because the half-brains are not functioning up to par to do better….causes the pile up of dead bodies…..and starvation etc.

  20. David Avatar
    David

    DLP says Government’s vaccine plan is ‘unclear and misleading’ – DLP says Government’s vaccine plan is ‘unclear and misleading’: https://barbadostoday.bb/2021/02/27/dlp-says-governments-vaccine-plan-is-unclear-and-misleading/

  21. Disgusting Lies & Propaganda TV Avatar
    Disgusting Lies & Propaganda TV

    The plan is unclear and misleading or the DLP spokesperson on health is himself confused? Barbados was donated 100,000 doses of a DOUBLE DOSE vaccine. Subtracting the donations to other CARICOM countries, it means just less than 50,000 persons would be vaccinated in Barbados. I am thinking govt would obviously pay the upfront cost for more vaccines, they are looking at ways to recoup that cost. The persons that have already been vaccinated don’t have to wait 12 weeks for that second dose, that second dose is already here.

    Then there is the issue of global demand versus supply of vaccines in general. That is the main reason COVAX was established so that the poorer nations were not “squeezed out” of getting vaccines. We must understand that it was a small miracle that Barbados got vaccines approx 2 months after they were developed. None the less govt’s can try to buy vaccines outside the COVAX mechanism, and hope to get them here as soon as possible. Seeing the pace of vaccine distribution, 12 weeks (3 months) is a conservative estimate.

  22. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    WURA-War-on-UFebruary 28, 2021 9:53 AM

    “Grenada used commensense over the chasing of the Almighty dollar.”

    that’s the long and short of it…pimping for tourists dollars because the half-brains are not functioning up to par to do better….causes the pile up of dead bodies…..and starvation etc

    Correct

  23. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    At least one can reasonably say that Grenada a little spice island is one of the few along with Dominica pursued an economic path which would pay off for their economy long run as they stood bold faced and said to COVID not up in here
    Yes not up.in here words that Mottley used as a battering ram to fight high levels of crime in barbados
    But words which she hid in her back pocket refusing to use as a weapon against COVID but rather listen to the meandering self interest tones of Corporate Barbados which said “Why Not up in here.”
    Go figure

  24. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    and the vaccines keep coming..lol

    been hearing for a while now that this one has potential..we wait and see.

    https://thegrio.com/2021/02/28/johnson-and-johnson-vaccine-cleared/

    “The U.S. is getting a third vaccine to prevent COVID-19, a one-and-done option that health experts expect to help speed vaccinations.”

  25. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    Did not Mottley says the second days would be here in weeks and knowing Mottley she would not have left PR strategy out of the loop of avoiding bajans not to see the delivery via media outlets
    This govt lack of transparency would back fire leaving questions to be asked leading them tp doubt and confusion

  26. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    a
    In an address to the nation on the state of COVID-19 on the island, she said 2,863 people had received the jab, though she expects the number of vaccinations per week to increase soon.

    Mottley revealed that of the 100,000 doses that arrived here on Tuesday as a gift from the Indian government, 92,000 were left for national use after some 8,000 doses were donated to CARICOM neighbours in the Southern and Eastern Caribbean.

    She also indicated that a portion of the vaccines here will be stored so that the second dose can be administered within the next five to ten weeks, while Government hunts for additional vaccines and awaits an additional shipment under the global COVAX initiative.

    She said: “Most of them will get their second dose I am being told in ten weeks’ time,

  27. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    I see the procurement of vaccines as a major accomplishment.

    I was no rush to be vaccinated, but now that I am trying to do so I am running into a dead end. I am becoming frustrated..
    .”If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.”

    I have seen comparisons being made to other countries; if you look closely, then Barbados is doing a much better job than the comparator country.

    “Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.”

    That 2×3 country needs to give itself a big pat on the back. I am envious

  28. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Should probably rewrite, but the point is.
    Great job on procuring and distributing vaccines. This goes in the win column.

    To borrow a phrase, that ‘cannot be refuted’.

  29. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    I hope I will also hear these vaccine praisers will be just as quick to say they were wrong and premature to jump on the vaccine perfect solution bandwagon if the vaccine train goes off the rails later this year due to unforeseen circumstances.

  30. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    CA,

    There are no guarantees in life. Who knows what will happen?

  31. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    “I hope I will also hear these vaccine praisers will be just as quick to say they were wrong and premature to jump on the vaccine perfect solution bandwagon if the vaccine train goes off the rails later this year due to unforeseen circumstances”

    CA
    And if it stays on the rail, will you admit that you were wrong and late to the party.

    Your current position is no different from Mariposa cry for a lockdown in the early days of December. She was hoping to be right, and she was right for a very short time

    These are calculated risks. There was a time I was leary of being vaccinated and now I welcome and am desirous of doing so. The risks still exists, but I have shifted my risk needle to preferring to be vaccinated.

  32. Disgusting Lies & Propaganda TV Avatar
    Disgusting Lies & Propaganda TV

    @CA it will be a safe bet that you will be hoping in vain. Most of the leg work was getting a vaccine through a Phase 3 trial. Multiple vaccine producers have used slightly different technology but are still getting the same high efficacy rates. It indicates that the virus itself was not difficult to make a vaccine for. Three vaccines have now been approved for use by the FDA, Two vaccines (including the Oxford vaccines) have been approved by the WHO for EMERGENCY USE for the sole reason to combat a pervasive PANDEMIC.

    This same tech is (in relative terms) easily modifiable to combat variants and for boosters later in the year and in the future. The next task is for global supply to catch up with demand and to catch up with the viral spread. At the same time specific trials on children under 16 and pregnant women would be done but these groups are not known to be specifically susceptible to the Sars-Cov2 virus.

  33. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    What is a short Time to others can be measured in a time frame of circumstances and situations which the people of Barbados has to and will undergo during the COVID crisis on the island
    Time frame made up of a relentless policy of govt stubbornness
    Time frame which has led to death
    What may seem short to those who never had to face the trials of COVID becomes an ongoing feature placed within the minds of those who have faced COVID
    having to deal with death and the continuing negative effects of no taste no smell and long term fatigue
    All of the above which will be placed in the lives of those who have confronted COVID

  34. GP Avatar
    GP

    AC
    SHUT UP DO
    THE GOVERNMENT HAS DONE RELATIVELY WELL WITH RESPECT TO ITS MANAGEMENT OF THE PANDEMIC

    IT HAS NOT BEEN PERFECT BECAUSE THERE HAVE BEEN SEVERAL THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN DONE INCORRECTLY

    BUT YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT PUBLIC HEALTH , AND THEREFORE HAVE VERY LITTLE TO ADD.

    SHUT UP AND LISTEN AND LEARN

  35. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @DL&P TV
    Yours@9.09 am

    In military terms that is what is called a surgical strike, John’s trial balloon has been brought to earth as if attached to a giant anvil.

    Let him argue with WHO or the CDC, but don’t discount it, he will mount some kind of defense as the island scholar keeps reminding us that WHO is led by someone who has no public health training but that didn’t stop Scott Atlas from advising their hero.

  36. GP Avatar
    GP

    the island scholar keeps reminding us that WHO is led by someone who has no public health training AND HAS DONE SO CORRECTLY

    RE but that didn’t stop Scott Atlas from advising their hero. WHAT IS MUCH MORE IMPORTANT IS THAT A BARBADOS SCHOLAR HAS GIVEN SIGNIFICANT ADVICE THAT HAS IMPACTED AT LEAST TWO CRRIBEAN ISLANDS THAT I KNOW ABOUT

  37. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Mia is in the situation where all her covid-19 decisions carry an element of risk, become policy and are well documented.

    Instead of being the startled and immobile deer caught in the headlights she has the courage to make these risky and tough decisions.

    Covid-19 is not a yes/no situation. All decisions come with an element of risk and uncertainty to begin with. Once decisions are made, success is also determined on how her decisions are implemented and followed. Like a mother, she must accept responsibility long after these decisions are given birth to.

    By now she must be aware that there are kinks in the system and, most likely, she will fix them.

    Unlike Mia, it takes no courage to be an armchair quarterback. In fact, given the element of risk in all her Covid decisions, being in the armchair is a very comfortable position. Second guessing is now treated as serious analysis.

    I tire, but I have Mia’s back on this covid-19 issue.

  38. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    The shipment, consisting of 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines, arrived at 7 am GMT Wednesday on an Emirates flight at Kotoka International Airport, in Ghana’s capital Accra.

    https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/24/africa/ghana-covax-vaccine-intl/index.html

  39. john2 Avatar
    john2

    Donna

    The SPOT ON two

  40. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    The best attack on Mia that I can muster…. I tried

    I find it quite disconcerting that I am forced to sing in the same choir as Lorenzo. Let’s get this covid-19 licked, so that I can go back to the good old days criticising ̶A̶l̶i̶ ̶B̶a̶b̶a̶ Auntie Mia and her thirty thieves.

    More seriously, I am talking about myself so I can use this word…. If called a Mia ‘yardfowl’, I will laugh and accept it.

    Let’s whip Covid do that we can get back to normal programming.

    Have a great day

  41. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    @critical
    There are always risks. However, the vaccines acquire by Barbados are already on the battlefield.
    https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2020/12/11/australia-cancels-order-for-vaccine-as-trial-stumbles

  42. john2 Avatar
    john2

    having to deal with death and the continuing negative effects of no taste no smell and long term fatigue
    All of the above which will be placed in the lives of those who have confronted COVID.
    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    These are not continuing effects, they are temporary. and everyone that is affect with covid does not have them.
    Stop TRYING to mislead the blog.

  43. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    “CSL said it would not progress to phase 2/3 clinical trials. It said a small component of the vaccine comes from the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, and while that posed no risk of infection, some trial participants had false positive tests for HIV.

    The potential for this to happen was anticipated before the trial, and participants had been pre-warned, CSL said.”

    Wondering how the warning was given
    A) you could test positive for HIV
    B) There is a one in a million chance of testing positive for HIV

    Given the stigma attached to HIV, Iam surprised that the protocol was approved by a regulatory agency or an IRB.

  44. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    A good read
    https://www.bioworld.com/articles/501223-csl-university-of-queensland-quit-covid-19-vaccine-trials-due-to-hiv-antibody-response

  45. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @ac
    “that govt refused to enter long term unsustainable debt”
    Really?
    Borrowing is borrowing, and the resultant debt is debt. Whether the source is the IMF or some other bi-lateral group, or the NIS or any local source, the currency of the debt maybe different, but It is ALL debt.
    Constantly attempting to convince YOURSELF, the former administration did not enter into a mountain of long term unsustainable debt is INCORRECT. You already know those “Facts” were tested on the electorate.
    You are far more effective when you handle non-quantitative issues. And which to your credit, you have traditionally tended to avoid.

  46. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “Given the stigma attached to HIV, Iam surprised that the protocol was approved by a regulatory agency or an IRB.”

    this is the wash cycle, so it’s coming out..that is why no one should rush, but it’s still a personal choice.

  47. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    am sure wickum is happy to hear about the HIV false positives.

  48. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Heard they to tossed it out, can’t use that.

  49. John Avatar
    John

    Always go to the gold standard!!

  50. John Avatar
    John

    Another way of handling the Covid

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