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Hard Times, Hard Decisions

The recent revision of the Covid 19 directives saw the country receiving a cruise ship on Monday and auto mart convenience stores along with supermarkets are expected to reopen on Sundays. The entertainment group hard hit by Covid 19 directives has started a strong lobby to be able to restart some level of event promotions.…

The recent revision of the Covid 19 directives saw the country receiving a cruise ship on Monday and auto mart convenience stores along with supermarkets are expected to reopen on Sundays. The entertainment group hard hit by Covid 19 directives has started a strong lobby to be able to restart some level of event promotions. The Haywire Weekend being promoted by a foreign travel travel company on the weekend of 2 July to July 6 in Barbados has given impetus to the entertainer’s lobby.

It is no secret the local economy is service based and significantly dependent on tourism. Raging Covid 19 pandemic or not, at some point- like all countries across the globe- we have to find a way to manage the risk of having to live with Covid 19. The global strategy of choice to mitigate against the rate of Covid 19 infection is to achieve ‘herd immunity’, a situation where about 70% of the population are vaccinated. There are no guarantees as the Seychelles experience has revealed. Although 60% of that country is vaccinated it has been experiencing a rise in Covid 19 infections. Seychelles is also dependent on tourism.

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.

Reopening the country to increase economic activity is fraught with risk. Daily we observe a minority of persons in the country who carelessly or deliberately violate public health protocols established to curb the spread of the virus. With the virus continuing to mutate to more virulent forms there is a high level of responsibility required by citizens and government to make reopening the country work to locals and visitors. We have made our beds by morphing to a service based economy and have no choice but to lie in it. 

We have two significant challenges ahead of us. Ensuring the screening process at ports of entry is fit for purpose and the demand by visitors calling for workers in the hospitality sector to be fully vaccinated. There is also the scenario where vaccinated employees may employers to work in a 100% vaccinated workplace. Already a weakness in the travel protocol has been identified – unvaccinated children under 18 entering Barbados with fully vaccinated parents being allowed to adhere to fully vaccinated guidelines. And there is the challenge of employers ‘forcing’ employees to be vaccinated. 

Citizens have rights, employers have rights and there is the dictum that limits the free choice of individuals when it conflicts with the rights of the collective. Some hard decisions will have to be made and the blogmaster is fearful given the unruly mindset prevailing in the country, we do not possess the maturity to navigate this stage of the Covid 19 journey with minimum fallout. In other words the loud voice of political talking heads and egotistical social commentators will grab the opportunity to choke traditional and social media newsfeeds to push narrow interest narratives. The current debate about our social values and public morals is an example.

Those employees who prefer to exercise a personal right not to be vaccinated should be paid severance. Unvaccinated children travelling with fully vaccinated parents should have to observe the quarantine period stipulated for the unvaccinated. In the unprecedented situation we find ourselves these are hard decisions we will have to make.

108 responses to “Hard Times, Hard Decisions”

  1. David Avatar
    David

    Covid hits hard
    The Social Partnership body established to monitor Barbados’ economic reform doubts Government will be able to achieve its main fiscal target this year.
    In its latest report on Barbados’ economic reform programme, the seven-member Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation programme (BERT) Monitoring Committee yesterday said it was “particularly concerned” about the ability to meet the primary balance performance target of zero per cent for the 2021/22 fiscal year.
    The committee said its doubt was based on three main factors related to tourism, corporation tax revenue and Government’s expected increased spending.
    It elaborated that the country would be challenged by quarantine restrictions for people travelling from major tourism source markets, particularly the United Kingdom and Canada, to Barbados.
    The body also flagged “the expectation that the overperformance of corporation tax seen in the current fiscal year is unlikely to be repeated in 2021/22 due to a combination of the [European Union] tax blacklisting inhibiting new business, the reduced profitability anticipated by businesses in 2020 due to the pandemic and a number of large transaction-based tax payments that are unlikely to be repeated”.
    It also pointed to “the additional spending that the Government . . . will need to incur in its continued response to the pandemic, including the humanitarian response in light of the continued elevated levels of unemployment and continued
    implementation of the vaccination programme”.
    New dashboard
    The committee said it also anticipated seeing results from a new Management and Accounting Unit Dashboard “which will be used to publish the financial reporting information of the country’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs)”.
    “We also look forward to further progress being made in the planned review and transformation of the SOEs in order to improve the financial reporting, operating efficiency and service levels across these enterprises,” it said.
    The committee said that despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Government “has managed to achieve the majority of its performance targets and, in particular, the primary balance surplus of minus one per cent of GDP and the growth in net international reserves to levels well above the programme target”. “The severity of the impact of COVID-19 and the resultant significant levels of unemployment, coupled with the shrinking of GDP (down 18 per cent, according to the latest Central Bank report), continue to be the principal risks to the programme,” it added.
    The report, which was based on information available up to the end of March 31 this year, pointed out that the only performance criteria that Government did not meet related to its financing of public institutions.
    Under Barbados’ Extended Fund Facility with the International Monetary Fund, such transfers and grants are not to exceed $444 million, but they reached $530 million under the period reported.
    The committee said the
    need for additional transfers and grants “related mainly to the reduction in revenue experienced by several of the state-owned enterprises due to the impact of COVID19 combined with additional expenditure requirements to address the pandemic”.
    “The major recipients of supplemental funding were the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, which required $200 million in total funding during the year, and the Transport Board, where $46 million was advanced overall,” it reported.
    “The other significant recipient of transfers was the University of the West Indies, [to which] $103 million was advanced; however that was in line with expectations for that institution.” (SC)

    SOURCE: NATION

  2. David Avatar
    David

    Unit aiding over 11 000 weekly
    More than $25 million was allocated to helping over 11 000 Barbadians through the Household Mitigation Unit (HMU) over the past two years.
    These include people laid off following Government’s retrenchment programme in 2019, others that were negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and families which were already living below the poverty line and whose issues were compounded by the fallout of the virus.
    Special Advisor on Poverty to the Prime Minister, Corey Lane, told the Weekend Nation that the mandate of the unit, which was originally established to help the former Government workers, was altered following the onset of the coronavirus outbreak in Barbados last year.
    Lane explained that initially the unit was assisting 1 100 retrenched Government workers reintegrate into the world of work, providing assistance with job applications and skills training.
    Lane added that the pandemic put a damper on many businesses and as a result hundreds of people from the private sector were also laid off. Based on a certain criteria, the unit assisted an additional 4 000 retrenched workers.
    At no expense of Government, Lane said, the benefactors received assistance on a regular basis in the form of hampers, vouchers, back-to-school supplies and items from local charities, private individuals and corporate Barbados.
    He said that as the fallout from the pandemic intensified, there was a need to do more and the unit worked in collaboration with the Ministry of People’s Empowerment and Elder Affairs to implement the Barbados Vulnerable Family
    Survival Programme (BVFSP).
    The families that qualified for assistance through this initiative had to meet certain requirements, that including not being a beneficiary of any other social service entity.
    Lane said there were many households in need and the project had to be expanded from giving $600 to 1 500 people for three months in the first instance to about 4 400 people for over a 12-month period.
    “We had about another 300 or so people we could not accommodate because of budgetary constraints but were assisted by the Sandy Lane Charitable Trust. We created a secure database to determine the people already on welfare and in the BVFSP and we were able to select people then for vouchers who are in neither of the programmes. So there were quite a number of people who were receiving help from the trust.
    “So across Barbados there are well over 10 000 people being assisted on a weekly basis.” He added that Government allocated $20 million to that programme and an additional $5 million was raised from donations from corporate Barbados, private people and the diaspora.
    Lane said that the HMU was in the process of conducting a review which should be completed by mid-month and presented to Cabinet, to assess the stage all the clients are at.
    “When the assessment is done the information would be presented to the Prime Minister and her Cabinet and they would make a decision going forward (whether to extend the programme or not). So far, we have over 33 per cent of people indicating that they are going back out to work.”
    He said if the programme is extended, Government may have to pull from
    budgets already allocated to other sectors to facilitate those in need.
    (SB)

    SOURCE: NATION

  3. David Avatar
    David

    Atherley cautions Govt as travel picks up

    By Colville Mounsey colvillemounsey@nationnews.com
    As Government forges ahead with plans to woo vaccinated tourists to Barbados, Opposition Leader Joseph Atherley is urging the Mia Amor Mottley administration to heed the lessons of previous attempts, warning that the island simply cannot afford any more slip-ups at this time.
    Atherley, who was weighing in on the return of cruise tourism as well as reports of increased traffic at the airport, pointed out that much of the effort towards a return to travel within the context of COVID-19 appears to be centred around the global vaccination thrust. However, he warned Government to be mindful that the jab was no silver bullet for the pandemic.
    “I have to assume that Government is guided in this case by the best advice of the medical professionals. The Government obviously took a decision to reopen the economy, but they must only do so to the extent that the protocols with respect to testing and quarantining are strictly adhered to and properly monitored. One would recall that previously at the end of last year when they allowed tourists to come in here and did not have the requisite monitoring mechanisms in place to ensure that people stuck to the quarantine regime and all of Barbados paid a heavy price, one which we cannot afford again,” said Atherley.
    He added: “We must start from the perspective that the most important priority is the preservation of health and life and then any other consideration becomes secondary. I am hoping that the Government would have learnt from their mistakes last December when we had people coming to private facilities to self-quarantine even though facilities were available, and we had some spread that emanated from that type of thing. If you are telling me now that people can come on cruise ships, then the monitoring has to be done extremely well.”
    With more source market countries resuming travel because of higher vaccination numbers and Government adjusting the quarantine regime for vaccinated tourists to 24 hours, travel agents have been reporting strong bookings for this year into 2022. On Monday, Barbados welcomed the return of a passenger-laden cruise ship for the first time in 15 months with the arrival of Celebrity Millennium at the Bridgetown Port.
    However, Atherley contended that with examples such as the Seychelles, a tourism-dependent nation which was among the first to achieve herd immunity but is still hard hit by COVID-19 spread, Government must understand that vaccinations provide only limited cover.
    “We should be concerned by that type of reference and that type of experience. Vaccinations do not make you immune totally to
    contracting that virus and I think we are all aware of this fact. So we cannot simply be only reliant on cover from the vaccines. We must have the requisite regimes and I cannot stress enough that they must be fully enforced so that Barbadians are protected,” he said.
    The Opposition Leader said he certainly understood the economics behind the decision and therefore he is not against the tourism reboot.

    SOURCE: NATION

  4. David Avatar
    David

    Lawyers weigh in on vaccine debate

    The debate over whether an employer can insist that a worker get vaccinated is raging on.
    The issue has been dominating public discussion since the national campaign to have the majority of Barbadians immunised with some people opting not to be injected.
    Yesterday on Starcom’s Getting Down to Brass Tacks radio call in programme, the topic resurfaced with Queen’s Counsel Hal Gollop holding one position while another caller, who identified himself as a lawyer held another. The issue continued from this week when management of Coral Reef Resort sent a letter to its staff enticing them to take the vaccine with a chance for two of them to win $500 each.
    Minister of Labour Colin Jordan said it was not illegal for employers to offer such incentives adding that management should be careful not to disadvantage a worker who did not qualify for the incentive.
    Gollop said the employers had a primary obligation to provide a safe workplace for employees and he believed they were operating within the law if they decided that a person must be vaccinated to work and they would be on firm ground in a pandemic.
    “ . . . In situations like these, philosophically individual rights give way to group rights. The COVID situation presents a pandemic and . . . if the way points towards the fact that in being vaccinated you will give the employer an opportunity to satisfy that requirement
    of providing a safe system of work and, conversely, if all the evidence, the learning . . . point to the fact that a person who does not get himself vaccinated presents a risk to the employers satisfying that obligation to provide for his employees a safe system of work, in my opinion, the employer is in a position to demand that any workers, working in his workplace be vaccinated,” Gollop told listeners on the programme.
    Not a straight situation
    He explained that if it could be shown that an unvaccinated person causes the virus to affect the institution and cause people to suffer, because the employer compromised his obligation and allowed them into the workplace, then the employer would be liable to all those infected people.
    “So it is not a straight situation where you say a man has a right to decide he is not getting vaccinated. There are other duties and … when the issue arises where you have to make a choice between individual and group rights ,which employer is going to allow an individual to put his business in jeopardy?” Gollop asked.
    However, another caller who said he was a lawyer, disagreed with Gollop stating that the vaccine was not approved wholesale by the Food and Drug Administration but for emergency purposes.
    He said while the group rights would trump the individual rights in a pandemic, an employer could not force an employee to say whether or not
    they were vaccinated but could try persuasive measures to get them to do so.
    “An employer cannot insist on knowing a person’s medical record,” he said.
    The caller said it would have been better to point out that if the protocols that were in place for hand sanitising, wearing of masks and social distancing were not followed then that could be seen as grounds for dismissal. Those protocols, the man said, had been well documented to show that they help prevent the spread of COVID. ( AC)

    SOURCE: NATION

  5. David Avatar
    David

    Promoters submit Crop Over proposals

    Promoters have shared their ideas about events for the Crop Over Festival to Government.
    President of the Entertainers Association of Barbados (EAB) Rudy Maloney told Weekend Buzz, “We had a meeting with the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) where we outlined our interests and a number of proposals were put forward to the Ministry of Health and Government. So we are awaiting word now.
    “But I think all the proposals were very positive and I am just hoping we will get the approval, so the NCF can then launch a date on when Crop Over will be happening,” Maloney said.
    On April 7, minister in the Prime Minister’s office with responsibility for Culture, John King, said that the Government would showcase a new look for the annual festival, which had to be cancelled last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
    King noted that although more people were vaccinated, he said it was not foolproof and said the festival had to change.
    He said details on the roll-out would have been publicised by the end of April, but so far no concrete plan has been announced.
    “We know the vaccines do not actually stop people from getting COVID so we have to be clear on that. Crop Over, as people envisioned it in the past with all the things going on, cannot be in the same way that we envisioned it,” King
    told reporters.
    However, last week, Minister of Health Jeffrey Bostic acknowledged that they were considering events both virtual and in-person.
    “I can see a mixture of things happening, in terms of virtual events and then some live and in-person events that can be controlled by whatever mechanism is available.
    “But it is important to state that this will be decided by the extent of the pandemic within the country at a particular point in time,” Bostic said. (TG)

    SOURCE: NATION NEWS

  6. lawson Avatar
    lawson

    Years ago I went to a chemical spill in a hospital, after we investigated it we waited for a hazmat crew to arrive. When they did make it there we joked where are your canaries , to which they replied you are the canaries. Just like you dont want to be the first to swim across a river in Africa if you have the money to hold out little longer till more people are vaccinated and you see what the effects are on countries that have to re-open you may avoid mistakes , blunders or another shutdown. Being cautious is not a sign of incompetence on the contrary its what a good leader does, no rash decisions or decisions influenced by pressure or political gain just whats right for its people thats why they are voted in and well paid. When the young bull said to his father ,lets run down the hill and get some of those cows and the dad says son …lets walk down and get them all Slow and steady wins the race.

  7. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    Two passengers aboard the cruise ship Celebrity Millennium tested positive for COVID yesterday. This is the vessel that was in Barbados earlier this week.

  8. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    The tittle should be Hard Times, Stupid Decisions.

    Too many bad decisions and totalitarian country type decisions are being made in the name of public health.
    Lawyers are opining on a person’s private health matters when they should keep quiet or push for the public health authorities to make a proclamation and start the debate on rights. The employee has rights too, not just the employers and patrons.

    What I want to hear from the lawyers and the public health officials is
    1) If an employer forces an employee to take a vaccine and they become vaccine injured, disabled or dies, what level of damages the employee can claim.
    2) Why does our CMO has absolutely no policy on any of the cheap early intervention treatments (http://covidoutpatientcare.com/) now backed by numerous robust peer reviewed studies?

  9. David Avatar
    David

    Read of the development in the early newsfeed. One suspects it will be the major topic of discussion today, another press conference maybe?

  10. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @peterlawrencethompson June 11, 2021 7:20 AM

    The dog and pony show is only just starting, soon the people will start running around again like chickens with their heads chopped off.

    Our leaders and public health authorities are too arrogant to admit publicly they followed bad science and implemented seriously bad treatment protocols turning a virus that was the equivalence of a bad flu into a public health nightmare.

  11. John2 Avatar
    John2

    It was not a bad fly earlier this year when we had the Outbreak and Were racking up the deaths

  12. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    During a pandemic the law gives way for employers asked for proof of a vaccine action certificate
    However the employer cannot make demands on the employee/s to be vaccinate
    As in some cases the employee put incentives in place which can give the employee a choice between employed and being vaccinated

  13. David Avatar
    David

    This will eventually be tested in court, until it is all will be giving their OPINIONS including the lawyers.

  14. TLSN Avatar
    TLSN

    Stories such as this will not attract visitors to the island. Where there is an economic and social vacuum crime will fill in the void.

    https://www.nationnews.com/2021/05/05/ten-injured-man-custody/

  15. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @John2 June 11, 2021 8:08 AM

    It would not have even reached a bad flu status and definitely not a major pandemic if the early interventions some doctors were having great success with were not suppressed in favor of the vaccine push.

  16. David Avatar
    David

    @CA

    How do you speculate the government could have pursued a public health policy detached from the establishment I.e. WHO, CDC, BAMP etc.

  17. TLSN Avatar
    TLSN

    More bad news.

    Note the description of this young man. They use pleasant words to describe certain features of his brown DNA; but use negative descriptions of his more pronounced negro features.

    https://www.nationnews.com/2021/06/10/wanted-kiastan-hallen-clarke/

  18. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    DavidJune 11, 2021 8:30 AM

    This will eventually be tested in court, until it is all will be giving their OPINIONS including the lawyers.

    Xxxxxxx
    International countries have already place a legal directive on this problem
    Xxxxxx
    Why is it that govt is once again being tardy on putting pieces of legislation in place with special directives for the employer and employee to adhere
    Needles to say govt knows this is a political football and would rather sit on the side line and shout across the field sending all kind of mixed messages to the Umpire and player
    Govt needs to move swift and fast with a set of policies which will make for a better understanding on this issue

  19. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @David June 11, 2021 8:30 AM

    This will not get tested in court.

    You should say ‘Everyone except the doctors are giving their opinion’ and I don’t ever expect to hear any doctors comment on it in public either. The doctors know the vaccines are fraught with problems and have not undergone proper testing necessary to qualify for anything except emergency approval.

  20. David Avatar
    David

    @CA

    You are aware BAMP President sits on the COVID 19 Advisory Board?d

  21. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ David

    Sooner or later it will come down to one single decision and it will be economic activity vs health risk. Dress the decision up all you want, give it a fancy name, but in the end that will be the decision that will have to be made before the SS Barbados implodes on the reef of financial ruin.

    So lets say the travellers insist they only stay at hotels where the staff are fully vaccinated what then? So yes the workers have a choice to be vaccinated but what happens if that choice causes the hotel to get no business what then? Will the PM in a tourist dependant economy mandate vaccinations by law? Before you say she cant do that remember she has a 30 to 0 majority.

    Now lets look at the UK where we are still on Amber. There they are seeing an increase in cases made up by over 90% of the indian variant. What will that mean now for us?

    So yes we can sit here and pontificate about employee rights and travel rules, but in the end guess what will be governments formula for the decision? Yep economy vs health risk. That decision to a large extent will however be made for them to some extent based on traveller demands and virus developments

  22. David Avatar
    David

    You will note the blog predicted we will see the usual characters with narrow agendas shelling out the usual. So far has anyone responded to the current challenge to repeat. How does a tourism dependent country deal with the fact some visitors are asking to be accommodated and served by employees who are vaccinated?

  23. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @David June 11, 2021 8:49 AM

    That is the first job of government. The DLP got zero seats because they spectacularly failed to do that. WHO, CDC and BAMP are not the decision makers. WHO, CDC and BAMP can only publish their recommendations based on what they cherry pick to look at.

    It is government’s and the CMO’s/ public health agency resposibilty during a pandemic to review at all the information, research papers and statistics out there or they themselves gather, consult with BAMP if they need additional opinions to make their own decisions.

    If our government is unwilling to do that, we should stop the republic nonsense talk and go back to being a colony of somebody because we would not have the ability or trust in ourselves to make sensible decisions for ourselves. We came up with our own BERT program. We have a ton of doctors in this country with tons of qualifications, why can we not figure our a better way to deal with this pandemic than the unscientific nonsense we have been doing over the last year?

  24. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @David June 11, 2021 9:06 AM
    Simple, we tell them we have health privacy here and inform them that if you have been vaccinated, you have nothing to worry about or you can stay home.

    Our biggest deterrent to tourists is the incarceration center for positive cases we have. Our policy should be if you test positive, we give our your choice of early treatment drugs and supplements cocktail and come back if you get worse otherwise enjoy your vacation.

  25. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ David

    I am hoping the BTA, the unions and the tourism minister can meet and arrive at a solution for the hotel workers.

    Look let’s be honest there will never be a vaccine that is 100% effective against all variants and mutations. Not going to happen ! In the meantime we can only do the best we can and get this economy going again. Businesses can not take another 6 months of this trust me when I say this.

  26. Disgusting Lies & Propaganda TV Avatar
    Disgusting Lies & Propaganda TV

    I cringe when people dismiss this virus as “just a flu”. It is an instant sign that they don’t comprehend why this virus is a serious public health emergency. Was the Spanish flu “just a flu” too? Why did “just a flu” kill tens of millions of people? Well COVID-19 is the 21st Century Spanish flu. The flu has reared its head as pandemics several times over the past 100 years. They have just been less deadly. If you understand why the Spanish flu was deadly you can comprehend the COVID-19 problem
    I also cringe when the current COVID-19 vaccines as dismissed as “experimental”. As if “Big Pharma” just concocted a water and vitamin mix and “paid off” the WHO or FDA to get approval. The currently APPROVED vaccines have passed through PHASE 3 TRIALS i.e. the stage where the vaccine was tested on ten of thousands of trial participants to which efficacy was found to be very high. On further assessment, the FDA or WHO gave those vaccines “EMERGENCY” use authorization. As yet MOST of those approved vaccines have not been SPECIFICALLY been tested on children or pregnant women but they have not be found to be specifically susceptible to the virus. That why the vaccines are not MANDATORY. It is a choice for anyone including children and pregnant women to take the vaccine.
    I also blame some of the medical professional on some of the messaging but some people are only processing certain information to reinforce their NEGATIVITY BIAS to towards the vaccine. All a vaccine does is present the immune system a safe way to recognize the virus. Far safer than if that immunity was acquired on actual exposure to the virus it self. The vaccine doesn’t stay in the body per se, it is the acquired immunity that persists. This persistence is prolonged after the second dose. Immunity also depends on the virus and the way the vaccine presents the virus. So using this understand, someone can still catch the virus it is just that the odds of spreading and develop severe symptoms are DRAMATICALLY low. The immune system knows what to look for very soon after the person is infected with the live virus. A vaccine is not a forcefield where virions are destroyed on contact. The immune system does not work that way. This is how flu shots\boosters work to protect persons from those minor flu variants.

    I listened to Brass Tacks on both occasions Hal Gollop spoke. The questions I have are.

    1) How far can an employer ensure a safe system of work. I am thinking that insisting employees take a vaccine \ drug MAY be
    crossing that line. I am thinking guidance can be taken from the stance on other vaccines. ​In my mind since the MOH has declared the COVID-19 vaccines not MANDATORY, the employer would be on shaky ground to demand MANDATORY taking of the COVID 19 vaccine.

    2) Also with the limited supply of vaccines how would an employer handle a state where employees DO want the vaccine but only some where able to be vaccinated. Some of those employees may be irritated where after you demand my insistence to a vaccine how can you allow unvaccinated employees to continue to work. .Should the employer put those unvaccinated workers on leave until they get vaccinated?

  27. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @David June 11, 2021 8:58 AM
    As far as I am concerned, the whole Advisory Board needs to be disbanded. They have done nothing but constantly miss the ball.

    This virus is simple to deal with,
    1) Mandate all people with any type of flu like symptoms stay home, not go to work and avoid crowded places.
    2) Send an early treatment protocol recommendation to all BAMP members. They can take their from from this wonderful site that has consolidated every successful early intervention in one place complete with references. http://covidoutpatientcare.com/

  28. John2 Avatar
    John2

    AM

    @David June 11, 2021 9:06 AM
    Simple, we tell them we have health privacy here and inform them that if you have been vaccinated, you have nothing to worry about or you can stay home.

    Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    Or they Can pat more for the special services

  29. John2 Avatar
    John2

    The airports are already loaded
    Everythung seems to be back ti normal except everyone is still wearing masks

    Do they insist that all the airline , tsa etc people be vaccinated?

  30. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    If I fly to Barbados I have to follow rules as per testing for COVID before I can mingle with family or the general public, what rules are in place for tourists arriving on cruise ships?

  31. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @Disgusting Lies & Propaganda TV June 11, 2021 9:24 AM
    I cringe at how many would not be dead now if hydroxychloroquine effectiveness had not been blocked, ridiculed and denied by stupid people with narrow political agendas.

    FYI, Most people who died from the Spanish did not die from the flu virus but from secondary bacterial infections. Antibiotics were not around yet. If the 1918 flu had occurred today, the death toll would not have been that high because we now have the understanding to treat possible secondary bacterial infection.

    Don’t you understand many in the medical fraternity have figured out how to treat COVID since May/June 2020 but they have great difficulty to get the word out because all focus is on vaccines.

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

    @ Analyzer even if using YOUR “explanation” for the deaths from Spanish Flu, it is would have been a causal factor. Medical advancements NOW (and after the experience of the Spanish flu and other pandemics) would have reduced the deaths from the Spanish flu. But in a modern world we are still affected by flu outbreaks. COVID-19 is literally not a disease cause by an influenza virus. It is a coronavirus variant. COVID-19 will become the coronavirus equivalent to “the flu”. Flu viruses mutate, some become prevalent, booster shots are developed to combat them, the immune system develops an immunity to that variant.

  33. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    A Prayer for Comm(Unity)

  34. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    @David, what exactly will be tested in court!

    How will the employer be “liable” if the comp. is effectively complying with a directive of the government … at least that will surely be a line of argument!

    I agree that an individual should have the right to REFUSE the vaccination and can test his/her decision right up to (or after) any possible termination … but again what exactly is being adjudicated (rhetorical) …

    As the two legal views noted there is settled precedent re collective/individual rights and a govt’s emergency legislative power/statutes can further completely trump the personal will in cases of a pandemic national threat.

    I disagree with @Critical on his stance re use of ‘hydrox’ as no hindsight analysis has validated how effective that would have been in mass usage… so to suggest it would have saved all those lives is absolutely not in concert with evidence from the many trials done (and some aborted). It showed efficacy with some people, yes indeed …. and some covid patients also DIED after using it.

    I agree with him tho re “…we tell them we have health privacy here and inform them that if you have been vaccinated, you have nothing to worry about or you can stay home.”

    All the folks on that cruise were reported as ‘fully vaccinated” … yet 2 tested positive…. in sum, our hotel/service industry workers still have the onus on THEMSELVES to use all the safety protocols regardless.

    They – unvaccinated- can do LESS harm to a vaccinated visitor than the traveler can do to them !

    I gone.

  35. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “Two passengers aboard the cruise ship Celebrity Millennium tested positive for COVID yesterday. This is the vessel that was in Barbados earlier this week”

    i posted my comment and did not even realize the ship was already on the island.

  36. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Don’t know who these people think they are, but the Black population better be looking out for own their health and starting looking at alternatives other than working in a nonproductive tourism industry…AND DETER THEIR CHILDREN FROM EVER GETTING INVOLVED, there are tens of thousands of viable alternatives out there..

  37. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    DavidJune 11, 2021 9:06 AM

    You will note the blog predicted we will see the usual characters with narrow agendas shelling out the usual. So far has anyone responded to the current challenge to repeat. How does a tourism dependent country deal with the fact some visitors are asking to be accommodated and served by employees who are vaccinated?
    Xxxxxxxxx
    Did not Mia say many hands make for light work
    When questioned about the size of her cabinet and the longgated attachments of Consultants
    So why then are u proposing that a country should figure out these unheard problems
    My question to Mia what purpose is having these many hands if the work is too hard for them to solve
    Govt took upon itself once again to bolt out of the stable wearing double blinders
    One would have belive that govt would have pursued policies with legal apparatus that would not have doubt or unanswerable questions on this issue

  38. BUFAN Avatar
    BUFAN

    Foolish Questions 101

    Will these “fully vaccinated staff only” demanding tourist be spending their dollars exclusively with all inclusive properties?
    Does this demand extend to the all attractions and activities available and offered to tourists?
    Will hoteliers requiring fully vaccinated staff, guarantee a Covid free experience to their fully vaccinated guests?
    How long will it take before the “fully vaccinated country” requirement makes an appearance?

  39. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    David
    I wait to see if more than 2 out of 600 people on board, with 95% fully vaccinated, tests positive. If the 2 (who share the same room) are the only positive cases and both experience mild symptoms, then that augurs well for the vaccines’ efficacy against being re-infected and being gravely if re-infected.

  40. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Critical Analyzer, the right-wing nut still believes he knows more than all the experts.

    Yeah, and Trump won the election.

    That should be enough to dun up his credibility.

  41. David Avatar
    David

    @enuff

    An interesting development, we need to hear more.

  42. bajanfreeparty Avatar
    bajanfreeparty

    MiaVirass19 can’t wait to launder to get back to laundering money and land , the Banks are on alert, BBDLP just cant wait to go to Jail, We shall seek every means to tag and bags these lowlife Ministers and lawyers, They will need to send a full empty plane with 2 floors for them all! MiaVirass19 better find all they signed for and all the numbers and money better add up,135 years in Jail sounds nice! she can take her father and brother also!

  43. John2 Avatar
    John2

    Mask + social distancing = enuff

    If You are vaccinated then You have more than enuff protection if you follow the above protocols / the unvacxinated person follow the protocols.

    There is no need for special treatment
    Just follow the protocols always

  44. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @Donna June 11, 2021 4:10 PM

    I would much prefer you to call me a libertarian nut (Definition: https://www.libertarianism.org/what-is-a-libertarian)

    Also be extremely careful what you say about me being a right-wing nut for my unusual views because you will most likely have to eat those words and I would not want you to choke trying to swallow them when you are forced to admit my genius before the end of the year.

    I follow the entire science, not the cherry-picked science most people do. I first seek to read and understand the science, come up with my questions and research their answers. Have you done any of that or do you swallow every word the CMO, WHO, CDC and FDA tell you without question.

  45. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    ONLY WHITE PEOPLE LIVES MATTER.

  46. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    I rest my case.

    😂

  47. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Another newbie,

    https://www.nationnews.com/2021/06/11/btmi-appoints-interim-chief-executive-office/

  48. David Avatar
    David

    BTMI issues statement after 2 Celebrity Millennium passengers test positive for COVID

    https://www.nationnews.com/2021/06/11/btmi-issues-statement-2-celebrity-millennium-passengers-test-positive-covid/

  49. David Avatar
    David

    COVID-19 UPDATE: No new cases, 18 in isolation: https://barbadostoday.bb/2021/06/11/covid-19-update-no-new-cases-18-in-isolation/

  50. GreenMonkey Avatar
    GreenMonkey

    Dr Pierre Kory, pulmonary and critical care specialist, explains why Ivermectin will not be allowed to be an effective treatment for Covid-19(84). Dr Kory: “It’s not about the data. There is something else. There is that thing that we can see and feel out there that is just squashing, distorting, suppressing the efficacy of Ivermectin, and it’s egregious.”

    The above video is a short extract from a longer interview posted at covid19criticalcare(DOT)com/videos-and-press/flccc-releases/covid-ivermectin-and-the-crime-of-the-century-podcast-with-dr-pierre-kory/

    Extract from Dr Kory’s bio:
    Pierre Kory is the former Chief of the Critical Care Service and Medical Director of the Trauma and Life Support Center at the University of Wisconsin. He is considered one of the world pioneers in the use of ultrasound by physicians in the diagnosis and treatment of critically ill patients. He helped develop and run the first national courses in Critical Care Ultrasonography in the U.S., and served as a Director of these courses with the American College of Chest Physicians for several years. He is also the senior editor of the most popular textbook in the field titled “Point of Care Ultrasound,” now in its 2nd edition and that has been translated into 7 languages worldwide. He has led over 100 courses nationally and internationally, teaching physicians this now-standard skill in his specialty.

    Dr. Kory was also one of the U.S. pioneers in the research, development, and teaching of performing therapeutic hypothermia to treat post-cardiac arrest patients. In 2005, his hospital was the first in New York City to begin regularly treating patients with therapeutic hypothermia. He then served as an expert panel member for New York City’s Project Hypothermia, a collaborative project between the Fire Department of New York and Emergency Medical Services. This project created cooling protocols within a network of 44 regional hospitals – along with a triage and transport system that directed patients to centers of excellence in hypothermia treatment – of which his hospital was one of the first.

    Known as a Master Educator, Dr. Kory has won numerous departmental and divisional teaching awards in every hospital he has worked. He has delivered hundreds of courses and invited lectures throughout his career.

    Continued at: covid19criticalcare(DOT)com/about/flccc-alliance-contributions-to-the-field-of-medicine/

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