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BU Covid Dash – Safe Zones Long Talk

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In recent months the developed world has forged ahead with implementing measures to ensure citizens get on with the business of living, albeit not at pre-Covid 19 level. We watch our TVs daily and marvel at the sight of thousands of spectators crammed into sports stadia, persons reporting to work, travelling on business, leisure and other ‘getting back to normal’ activities.

Regrettably Barbados continues to be a country divided on how mirror what is happening in the developed world. The medical association (BAMP), teachers associations, political parties and not to forget the idiots.

It is interesting to note head of the BCCI Tricia Tannis has thrown support behind the safe zone concept. Head of the BAMP confirmed at the recent press briefing although vaccinated and unvaccinated persons can spread the virus, unvaccinated do it more efficiently. With Christmas shopping window about to open in a couple weeks and tourist winter seasons open, the shortening of the curfew period has not come as a surprise. What we will see in the weeks to come, if government continues to waffle on the implementation of safe zones the private sector will take the initiative to implement.

We need to ignite commercial activity in the country. The time to stop dithering is with us.

Enclosed are charts for week ending today. We still haven’t gone into a robust declining trend yet.ย  There is still a lot of Covid-19 in the community.ย  Vaccinations are increasing steadily. Deaths continue to be worrisome. Covid looks like it will with us for a little while longer – Source: Lyall Small

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244 responses to “BU Covid Dash – Safe Zones Long Talk”

  1. Kammie Holder Avatar
    Kammie Holder

    This is the type of journalism lacking in Barbados. Sadly, no one is focusing on why the infection rate among Pa Pa and Ma Ma is so high when they do not leave home.

    Why is the GOB not spending millions on behavioural change initiatives to decrease NCDs.

    WHO study 2015 to 2019 offered up as many as 49,000 Bajans suffer from a NCD.

    The below are #LoopNews Barbados articles over the last 96 hours.

    During the period Friday, November 5, to Thursday, November 11, 21 COVID-19 deaths occurred in Barbados.
    The two main comorbidities reported were diabetes and hypertension. The others were cancer, kidney disease and dementia. Underlying illnesses or comorbidities were found in 86 per cent of the deceased.

    Thirteen of those with comorbidities or 62 per cent had more than one comorbidity.
    The ages of the deceased ranged from 46 to 91, with the median age being 76. There were 16 men and 5 women.
    Seventeen individuals or 81 per cent of the deceased were unvaccinated. Two persons were partially vaccinated and two were fully vaccinated.
    As of November 11, the local death toll due to Sars-CoV-2 stands at 191.

    Days after Jamaica reported that nearly half of the more than 2,000 Jamaicans who have died from COVID-19 since the first case was confirmed there in March last year had diabetes, Barbados’ Chief Medical Officer Dr Kenneth George is saying that an analysis of local COVID deaths paints a similar picture where most of the deceased locally had comorbidities.

    Fresh off his leave, he told the media, on the sidelines of a presentation of technical equipment and PPE from PAHO at the Dayrells Road headquarters:
    “That’s correct and unfortunately, most of the deaths, when we speak about comorbid conditions, let me simplify that, a comorbid condition is a condition that adds risk to you with respect to an event. So a comorbid condition in Barbados is usually obesity – that’s a big one – hypertension and diabetes. And what we have seen and what we have reported to the persons in Barbados, is that these persons are at greater risk.”
    He stressed that unvaccinated persons with underlying comorbidities, including these non-communicable diseases, have a greater chance of developing complications if they contract COVID-19.

    “Their outcomes, particularly when unvaccinated, are not good.”
    Premature death amongst unvaccinated worrying

    With many people voicing concerns about the younger ages amongst COVID-related deceased in recent weeks, some as young as 25 years old and 30 years old, and in one week when 25 people died in October, the mean age was 68 years old, Dr George admitted that health workers too are focused on this worrisome trend.

    “We in public health say that a death should not occur before the age of 70, if it occurs before the age of 70 it is kind of like a life cut short, and the challenge we are having is we’re seeing persons under the age of 70 that frequently have other diseases…”

    Barbados recorded 25 COVID-related deaths during the period Friday, October 22, to Thursday, October 28, there were 14 women and 11 men, and their ages ranged from 40 to 97. Underlying illnesses or comorbidities were found in 88 per cent of the deceased, with 15 persons or 60 per cent of the individuals having more than one comorbidity. That is, only 12 per cent of the deceased had no underlying conditions.

    The two main comorbidities reported in that week were diabetes and hypertension. The other underlying medical conditions were asthma, dementia, Parkinsonโ€™s, kidney disease, and Alzheimer’s and other psychiatric disorders, according to the Ministry of Health. Twenty-two out of those 25 deceased were unvaccinated.

    Dr George stressed that the ministry and government of Barbados have always been mindful of this high-risk and vulnerable group within the society and prioritised the elderly and those with non-communicable diseases from the start of the local immunisation programme. And he takes solace in the fact that he believes Barbadians have been answering the call to get the jab.
    So even now as the country adopts its “very forward-looking booster policy of allowing persons to get a third dose,” he assured, “our priority will always be to get the unvaccinated to come across to be vaccinated.”

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

    US donated money medicines and medical supplies to QEH this morning, that lessens the load and stress on the economy..

  3. John A Avatar
    John A

    First how can you have a safe zone where unvaccinated people are allowed to work?

    Secondly how can you have a safe zone where the unvaxxed customer can roam freely? No wonder the government one only last 9 days and had to be adjourned to put it politely.

    On the other hand what BAMP and the Dental association are promoting is a true safe zone. No entry without proof of vaxx or you will be tested by Antigen rapid test at your expense.

    Also BAMP’S point about encouraging self testing is a valid one. Why encourage people to come to a public clinic or Gp to clog the system, when they can do the same Antigen swab in their home and then only come to the GP or polyclinic if their home test is positive? I was in the USA a while back and went into a drug store there and bought a home Antigen test because I felt i was catching something. It proved to be nothing In the end but I had piece of mind. In the USA only the approved brands are available for purchase in the pharmacies too, so as a customer I didn’t have to worry about buying some substandard crap there either.

    Clearly what we are doing is not working. We had curfews, protocols and everything else yet our percentage to infected is still over 15%!

    I saw let’s implement reverse controls now and if the hard ears few don’t want to get vaxxed, then stand home cause either you will not be admitted to businesses or you will pay the cost of a rapid Antigen test at the door.

    We either move now or we kiss this winter season goodbye! That is plain talk with no politics or tap dancing to it!

  4. GP Avatar
    GP

    RE I saY letโ€™s implement reverse controls now and if the hard ears few donโ€™t want to get vaxxed, then stand home cause either you will not be admitted to businesses or you will pay the cost of a rapid Antigen test at the door.

    THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HAS BEEN FORETOLD WILL HAPPEN AS AN EDICT OF ANTICHRIST IN REVELATION.EXACTLY
    WE ARE JUST DOING PRACTICE RUNS HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE
    WHEN THE ANTICHRIST IS REVEALED AFTER THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH AS TAUGHT IN 2 THESSALONIANS 2, THE WORLD WILL BE WELL PRACTICED, AND THE ACTUAL MARK OF THE BEAST WILL BE SMOOTHLY IMPLEMENTED.

    THERE WILL BE NO HEM AND HAWING THEN.
    ANTICHRIST WILL BRING OUT HIS MARK- WHICH WILL BE HIS SEAL – A COUNTERFEIT OF THE SEAL OFFERED BY GOD THE FATHER
    WHY DONT WE COPPY BRANDON AND STEP UP AND COMPLETE THE PRACTICE EXERCISES?

  5. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    I got the feeling a while back that fools just want to feel special by promoting those who are not vaccinated stay home,so what’s so specail about going to malls and stores that mostly sell inferior quality shite anyway, or go to restaurants where ya can EASILY BECOME INFECTED WITH THE VIRUS as happened to a FULLY VACCINATED person recently……..best to stay home and save ya money to benefit you in the end..

    and the same fools are not realizing that the first groups who took the vaccines as far back as february, are now more or less UNVACCINATED themselves..unless they opt for a booster because efficacy has dwindled and waned SIGNIFICANTLY by vaccine….why fools still focus on the unvaccinated is not even a mystery..,…there are those miseducated who yearn to feel special above others….but Covid is the great equalizer..

    just had to cancel a few appointments cause i told them straight up, infection rates are WAY TOO HIGH to be going around other people…don’t care if all ya employees are vaccinated are not, they are still carriers..

  6. African Online Publishing Copyright โ“’ 2021. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright โ“’ 2021. All Rights Reserved

    Ignorance kills people..

    https://youtu.be/guoYPK0XmC8?t=2

  7. John A Avatar
    John A

    This is also about providing a safe zone for the visitors whose foreign exchange we badly need! Ask the hoteliers what the first question those booking from the UK ask and they will tell you this. ARE ALL YOUR WORKERS FULLY VAXXED?

    You want their money you dance to the tune as Brown has already done in Antigua. Fully vaxxed welcome with no protocols for Jan 1st with all the industry fully vaxxed

  8. David Avatar
    David

    @John A

    We need Mia to forget 2023 and show some leadership.

  9. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    That is for those who absolutely refuse to move away from dependency, slavery, low salaries tourism and refuse to diversify because they know why…

    .people who have removed themselves from the dependency system in the last 2 years are doing just fine because they refuse to allow a dead colonial product like tourism to define their lives, future, existence and survival….that’s for those still in dependency slave mode……people are moving on..

    https://www.nationnews.com/2021/11/13/astrazeneca-take-profits-covid-19-vaccine/

    it was clear that AstraZeneca was donating those vaccines at cost….but that did not stop the Radical crooks from trying a scam..๐Ÿคฃ..๐Ÿคฃ๐Ÿคฃ

  10. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    NB: definition of ENDEMIC..

    ..something like the mnority PARASITES feeding off Black lives….ya have to rid the place of them, not easily removed..

    the virus is going nowhere until they develop a vaccine to STOP INFECTION…..transmission.

    Full Definition of endemic (Entry 1 of 2)
    1a: belonging or native to a particular people or country
    b: characteristic of or prevalent in a particular field, area, or environment
    problems endemic to translation
    the self-indulgence endemic in the film industry
    2: restricted or peculiar to a locality or region
    endemic diseases
    an endemic species
    endemic noun
    enยทโ€‹demยทโ€‹ic | \ en-หˆde-mik , in- \
    Definition of endemic (Entry 2 of 2)
    an organism that is restricted or peculiar to a locality or region : an endemic organism

  11. John Avatar
    John

    John ANovember 13, 2021 6:26 PM

    This is also about providing a safe zone for the visitors whose foreign exchange we badly need! Ask the hoteliers what the first question those booking from the UK ask and they will tell you this. ARE ALL YOUR WORKERS FULLY VAXXED?

    You want their money you dance to the tune as Brown has already done in Antigua. Fully vaxxed welcome with no protocols for Jan 1st with all the industry fully vaxxed

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

    Suppose tourists start asking will I get COVID from taking a seabath around your hotel?

    Or this.

    Can you show me the test results for the nearshore waters around your hotel?

    Or this.

    If you do not know the answers, can you tell me where it is safe to take a seabath?

    It is utterly irresponsible for hoteliers to encourage visitors to even come without knowing the status of the quality of the nearshore waters around their hotel.

    Vaccinations do not prevent infection as is patently obvious and generally accepted.

    All they do is lessen the severity of the illness.

    So why would it matter to a tourist if anyone at the hotel is vaccinated?

  12. John Avatar
    John

    Don’t worry John A

    Barring floods or some unforseen events the chances of getting the virus will have decreased significantly by December.

    The Southern Corridor which the MOH says is where cases are concentrated should see a drop in cases.

    Just pray there are no floods!!

    https://imgur.com/uY7CG1F

  13. John Avatar
    John

    The decrease in cases in the graph will occur with or without vaccines!!

  14. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    When all is said and done the economy would call the shots
    As tourist numbers begin to fall and countries feel the economic fall out from isolating the unvaccinated tourist
    All the talk about safe zones would quickly vanished

  15. John Avatar
    John

    What may happen the way the cases are increasing in the UK and Europe is that peeps from our major markets may not be able or inclined to travel.

    All the long talk about safe zones will then have been just that, long talk.

  16. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    I know of a friend unvaccinated went all the way to.italy to attend a wedding
    I ask if an experience of difficulties occurred because if COVID the answer was no
    Protocols put in place were mostly adhered where the visitor was going on tours or other
    local events
    There were no hullabaloo about safety zones
    This govt seems to have a ferocious appetite to send messages of fear and division

  17. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    Meanwhile Fla is getting rid of the fear which Covid had unleashed on every man woman boy and girl

    WSVN) news fla – Changes are coming to schools in South Florida.

    Students of all ages will no longer be required to wear masks on Miami-Dade and Broward County Public Schools following a vote from the Broward County School Board and an announcement by Miami-Dade County Schoolsโ€™ superintendent.

    Starting Friday, masks will be optional for all students in Miami-Dade County Public Schools, but parents must complete the opt-out form.

    โ€œConditions are very good, but they may shift if we donโ€™t do the right thing,โ€ said Miami-Dade Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. โ€œWe will maintain all other protocols in our schools โ€” the social distancing, utilizing non-traditional spaces, ensuring the deep sanitization cycles in our schools.

  18. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    David
    Could it be also wagered that in retrospect you would have never been minded that commercial operations should have been curtailed at all, regardless of the lives lost? Anything to keep the false economy going. Is there to be no other measurement of reality?

    And if your answer is a predictable no, then how are lives two years ago in any way more valuable than they are now? Who are the ones, and how many, are you willing to sacrifice, in trying to erect economic metrics which mek sense to you? Are the entirety of the Mottley regime to be decapitated to go back to business as normal?

    You’re watching what’s happening in socalled developed countries but those circumstances are much more complex than you suggest. In any event far more social supports were offered, for they can so do. Your extreme recklessness in throwing people overboard in furtherance of business interests is not dissimilar to what the worst dictators have done.

    Let us repeat. These authoritarian, fascist, oligarchic, edicts as long supported by you, aimed at making soldiers out of average and poor people, to under threat of death surrender their lives for the sake of an economy which predominately serves elites must be the product of a criminal mind regardless to who so espouses it.

    We say let the damn economy die. The people should only be concerned about preserving their lives and not be forced into risking their safety to mek a dollar. This, sounds like a form of slavery!

  19. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    Curfew fro 12pm to six pm
    I take note that govt plans of pleasing the tourist has made way for the politics of inclusion to save the economy
    Meanwhile COVID runs rampant across the island

  20. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ Pacha, @ John A
    Note Dr.Mascoll has stated that COVID has carried the economy back to 1997.
    @ David
    We are now learning that in a crisis statesmanship matters more than politics.
    Peace

  21. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Skinner
    Where is the talk then about some lost decade? Seems, if Mascoll, is right, there would have been three lost decades.

    We must put people’s lives first whether they are vaccinated or not. Not economy! Not the business elites. And we must continue so to do until this crisis is resolved.

  22. David Avatar
    David

    @Pacha

    Let us agree that for SIDs managing Covid 19 will have different considerations. False economy or not it is the only game in town for the moment.

  23. David Avatar
    David

    School principals have been reported to want face to face classes resumed asap. In all the political palaver, we forget two vulnerable groups , seniors and children.

  24. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    David
    Let us have the elites on the firing line dying from Covid first then political calculations will instantly change.

    The capitalist predetermination of yours less inclined to ask them to die as cannon fodder in a war in which poor people have no interests.

  25. David Avatar
    David

    @Pacha

    What information do you have to suggest elites are being affected differently?

  26. David Avatar
    David

    BAMP happy for dialogue on safe zones

    President of the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP) Dr Lynda Williams says her organisation is satisfied that Government has begun the necessary steps to address the concerns highlighted in the legislation for the safe zones in the health sector, which had to be rolled back two days after being implemented last Monday.
    Williams, who was part of a virtual nationally televised COVID-19 press update yesterday, said she was happy Government was taking the concerns of the medical fraternity seriously while ensuring they were part of the consultative process in refining the measures.
    In voicing their concerns last week, BAMP noted there was a pressing need to get clarity on unvaccinated patients, many of whom had begun to cancel appointments following the roll-out of the safe zones. Concerns over lack of consultation, as well as arguments that the measures altered the terms and conditions of employees, were also points of major contention.
    โ€œBAMP made a call earlier this week [last week] for the draft on safe zones to be looked at again. Our primary interest is the publicโ€™s health and the health and safety of the medical fraternity. In order for health measures to work, people must buy into them, whether it is the general public, unions, everyone. We are grateful for the continuing consultative process with all parties.
    โ€œWe were concerned, as was the public, that the concept of a medical safe zone was not fully understood. With respect to health care, no patient should ever be disadvantaged. We are now satisfied that this legislation was not intended to and does not bar any patient from attending health care and that vaccinated or unvaccinated, health care will be available to all,โ€ Williams said.
    She also called for heightened surveillance for all accessing health care, noting that there are now less invasive rapid testing measures that
    can facilitate this. She pointed out that with the large number of health care providers across the island, it was important that the status of individuals be known at all times.
    โ€œWe believe that there must be surveillance at health care facilities, which means that we look for people who are infected even before they become sick. We are glad to hear that the test which will be used in the future will be less invasive, such as a nasal self-swab, which is supervised. This would be as a rapid test. We believe that some measure of knowing your status is really important in this fight,โ€ she said.
    The president also urged Barbadians to get tested to know their status, but more importantly to do so if they felt even the slightest bit under the weather. (CLM)

    Source: Nation

  27. David Avatar
    David

    Forde: Help protect the elderly

    The recent outbreak of COVID-19 infections at the Geriatric Hospital is now under control, head of the COVID-19 isolation facilities, Dr Corey Forde, has reported.
    However, the infectious disease specialist said had it not been for the high level of those vaccinated at the elderly care facility, the story might have been much different.
    Speaking during a virtual COVID-19 press briefing yesterday, Forde said that almost all of the patients have been vaccinated and that variable contributed to his teamโ€™s ability to swiftly tackle the outbreak.
    However, he urged young people in Barbados to be more responsible and help protect the elderly.
    โ€œWe were able to manage as many patients swiftly and skilfully as we could in the Geriatric Hospital and now we are out of that particular zone. I think that this is testimony to the importance of vaccinations, given that all of those patients were vaccinated. I say that in context of what we achieved recently. We actually went into two nursing homes and the picture is the same. We were able to go into those facilities and save the elderly people there. One has to remember that in the earlier part of this pandemic, many elderly people died in nursing homes across the globe,โ€ Forde said.
    Forde again made an impassioned plea to young people to drop the cavalier attitude as it relates to the spread of the disease and think about their elderly loved ones at home. He said the statistics were showing that the number of elderly people coming into the facility had been increasing each month even though many of them do not leave home to expose themselves to the virus.
    โ€œIn August, we had . . . one person who was 80 years of age coming into the facility. In September, there were 23, in October, there were 42, and so far for November we have 18 persons. Those numbers may not seem big to you, but to me they are significant because these are people who are least likely to
    be able to help themselves. It is the younger person in the house who may go out and bring back the disease for old granny or grandpa. Although we have saved the far majority of these individuals, it is still very painful and hurtful to see elderly people in this situation,โ€ he said.
    โ€œWe will do all we possibly can to assist them, but you have to help me.
    You [young people] have to help all the doctors, nurses, housekeepers working across the health system in making wrong things right. For all of you who have your grandparents at home, for all of you who have your mothers and fathers at home, who are elderly, I want you to do two things for me. If they get ill, get them tested and if they are positive, then get them to the health care system early.โ€
    Forde also gave an update on the state of affairs at the Harrison Point facility, noting there were still too many people getting ill.
    โ€œIn the Primary Isolation A, we have a total of 30 people in that area, of which 20 are on non-invasive ventilation, while four are on invasive ventilation. In terms of the Primary Isolation B, we have ten persons on oxygen, while in our new high-dependency unit we have 73 persons, of which the majority are on oxygen and have severe disease,โ€ he said.
    (CLM)

  28. David Avatar
    David

    Safe, but for whom?

    Importantly, the directive is deafeningly and unhelpfully silent on the question of the funding of these tests.

    By Garth Patterson

    The Governmentโ€™s stated objectives in establishing safe zones are well understood.
    It is, unquestionably, imperative that we achieve a critical mass of fully vaccinated people, roughly 90 per cent of the population, according to recent estimates, to restore the health and vitality of our people and economy. To do so, we must convert most of our population of currently unvaccinated persons to the ranks of the vaccinated.
    The establishment of โ€œsafe zonesโ€ in the health sector is an important step in that process. But the Emergency Management (COVID-19) (Safe Zones) Directive, 2021, which came into effect on November 8, 2021, and is aimed at designating all health service institutions (hospitals, nursing homes, polyclinics, and private medical and dental clinics) as safe zones, has almost completely missed the mark.
    The directive seems to have been deliberately crafted to avoid, at all costs, implementing any form of vaccine mandate, which is the most obvious, most direct, method of creating a socalled โ€œsafe zoneโ€. The safety of persons entering or working in the safe zone is best assured by requiring everyone to provide proof of vaccination (sometimes euphemistically called โ€œvaccine passportsโ€). I mistakenly assumed when the Government first announced this initiative that that is what it had in mind. But it appears that nothing could be further from the truth.
    Costly testing
    The directive does not mandate vaccinations at all. Instead, it imposes very intrusive and costly periodic testing requirements for all employees working in a health service institution, whether vaccinated or not, and creates offences carrying the penalty of imprisonment or hefty fines on health care employees who fail to get tested and on health care institutions that fail to ensure that their employees are tested.
    It imposes no vaccination or testing requirements for patients attending the health care institutions; no vaccine mandates for unvaccinated health care workers; and no requirement for vaccination passports, which are successfully being implemented across the globe, for persons entering the safe zones.
    In fact, the directive, in its current form, has only served to ignite the ire of the medical profession, whose members are justifiably outraged at measures that are seemingly designed to punish the people making the most sacrifices on the front lines of this pandemic, by imposing unnecessary and costly testing requirements to appease a certain political constituency, namely the unvaccinated.
    Financial burden
    The medical and health care professionals who are vaccinated will in no way benefit from these mandatory testing requirements but will likely be the ones bearing the bulk of the financial burden of testing and will have significant exposure to the risk of criminal sanctions if they inadvertently allow an untested employee to attend work within a safe zone.
    Vaccinated patients who attend these health service institutions will, similarly, not be any better off, since the greatest risk to their safety comes from unvaccinated persons, whether they are other patients or health care workers, who are free to enter and operate within the safe zones (subject to periodic testing, in the case of health care employees). In effect, the directive operates punitively against persons working in the health sector, while ignoring the unvaccinated recipients of health care services.
    Presumably, the Governmentโ€™s rationale for imposing these testing requirements on employees was, in part, motivated by the desire to indirectly coerce unvaccinated employees to get vaccinated. However, unvaccinated employees within the safe zones will not, in any meaningful way, be incentivised by the directive to get vaccinated, since the requirement to be tested will still apply even if they are vaccinated. The only consequence of not getting vaccinated is that an unvaccinated employee must test more frequently than his vaccinated counterpart.
    That is unlikely to produce a sufficient inducement for unvaccinated employees to get vaccinated.
    From the reaction of members of the medical profession, who have called for the suspension of the directive, they feel victimised by the directive, and justifiably so. The regime of testing that it imposes will significantly increase the administrative bureaucracy and costs of providing critical health care.
    Importantly, the directive is deafeningly and unhelpfully silent on the question of the funding of these tests โ€“ whether it is the employee or the health service institution that
    must bear the costs of this periodic testing.
    Employees might reasonably argue that the requirement for them to incur this cost is not covered by their contract of employment and that it should, therefore, be absorbed by the health service institution as a reasonable cost of doing business. How is that fair to those owners or operators of health service institutions who are doing all they can to ensure that they and the people they employ are vaccinated?
    Lack legal substance
    Moreover, concerns have been raised that the mechanics of the directive collide with provisions of existing labour and health and safety legislation. While many of those concerns lack any real legal substance, the confusion could have been avoided by more precise drafting that leaves no doubt or ambiguities regarding the operation of its provisions in relation to existing laws or contractual provisions.
    Also, uncertainty exists regarding the liability of a health service institution for excluding an employee from the workplace for not being tested. Is it still obliged to pay the salary of the employee; and can the employee sue for wrongful dismissal? The short answer is that an employer will not usually be liable for breach of contract for complying with the law.
    However, to the extent that the relationship between employers and their employees is adversely impacted by the directive, the Government should have ensured that the provisions of the directive were expressed to override any conflicting provisions of the relevant employment contracts.
    The fallout from the implementation of the directive has, predictably, been swift and pervasive. By insisting on a regime of testing as an indirect means of โ€œencouragingโ€ employees to get vaccinated, the Government is seemingly contorting itself to avoid doing the obvious right thing.
    It has decided that there will be no vaccine mandates, whether directly or indirectly, and is sticking to that position regardless of the human or social costs. The right of the unvaccinated to remain unvaccinated and, by extension, to continue to pose a serious public health risk and a human resource and financial drain on the Barbados population and economy appears, from the Governmentโ€™s perspective, to be paramount and must be protected at all costs.
    But what of the rights of the vaccinated?
    Made the sacrifice
    Those civic-minded, public healthcompliant, socially and medically responsible members of society who have made the sacrifice of being vaccinated for their own good and for the good of the wider society. What of the rights of the front-line medical and health care professionals and workers who have followed the science and taken vaccines? Do those rights count for nothing? In creating the health service institution safe zone, was consideration being given to their safety and well-being?
    To his credit, the Minister of Health has been responsive to the concerns raised about the directive and has reportedly agreed to put it on hold while the problems identified are being reviewed. He will likely face insurmountable challenges in trying to fashion a solution that addresses the competing concerns of all the stakeholders while achieving the public health imperatives. The resolution lies in addressing the issue of vaccination head-on and learning from the experiences of other countries where mandatory vaccination programmes, in one form or the other, have been successfully implemented.
    In my humble opinion, this unsafe zone directive should be scrapped and replaced with legislation that unequivocally requires all persons (including patients ) who enter the safe zone (with appropriate medical and religious exemptions and exceptions in life-threatening emergencies) to produce proof of vaccination. Period.
    Anything less might comfortably be dismissed as mere political appeasement, the object of which is, predominantly, to ensure the safety of votes. The Government must get it right and stop beating about the bush when it comes to mandating vaccines. There really is too much at stake.

    Garth Patterson QC is an attorney at law.

  29. David Avatar
    David

    Safe zones and the pandemic

    By Colville Mounsey colvillemounsey@
    nationnews.com

    It was last month that Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley announced plans to introduce the concept of COVID-19 safe zones, and while its roll-out has been more akin to a start and stutter approach, many believe this to be the next step in the evolutionary path towards living with the virus.
    While the concept was by no means new within the context of the two-year-old global pandemic, its design is geared at offering some level of compromise on the deeply polarising issue of vaccinations.
    The twin-island republic of Trinidad and Tobago had announced months earlier that it was going this route. In October, officials in that jurisdiction put in place the TT Safe Zone plan, under which multiple businesses, including restaurants, bars, casinos, cinemas, theatres, and gyms, can open for in-person services at 50 per cent capacity, as long as employees and customers have proof of being fully vaccinated.
    It is certainly way too early to glean any data pointing to success or failure of the measures applied by Barbadosโ€™ southern neighbour.
    Mottley had said to the nation that her administration would be adopting a phased approach to the implementation of safe zones, starting first with the health sector.
    Louder calls
    Her announcement coincided with increasingly louder calls from the business community for the implementation of mandatory vaccines. The Barbados Chamber of Commerce & Industry, the Barbados Private Sector Association and the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association, were among the entities pressing Government to take action in light of the deadly third wave.
    The pressure on Government was on both fronts, as Barbados continued to be swept up in an anti-vax movement which had taken root globally. The labour movement, though coming out in support of vaccinations, made their position clear that they were on the side of the individualโ€™s right to choose.
    The Prime Minister made it clear that she was not going to let this issue divide the country under her watch, noting that one of the drawbacks of sharing a small land space, was that lines of division would likely linger long after the pandemic was over.
    On October 11, Mottley revealed that safe zones, where vaccinated people could work, socialise and entertain, were coming. In a national address she said it was the best way forward in the absence of a mandatory vaccination policy for Barbados as the Government had no intention of forcing people to put anything into their bodies.
    As Barbadians awaited the full parameters of the roll-out, concerns were immediately raised that the move not only had the potential to be divisive, but it was simply mandatory vaccination by another name. Some felt that the binary choice between vaccination and regular testing was not much of a choice at all. Initially, the legislation for the safe zones were expected to be ready by the beginning of November, but after a one-week setback, the measures were made official last Monday.
    The order, which was gazetted two Saturdays ago, states that the safe zones apply to all governmental and nongovernmental health care providers and requires that unvaccinated persons operating within these sectors must be tested for COVID-19 every seven days, while fully vaccinated persons are required to be tested every 42 days.
    The owner or operator or person in charge of an institution shall not permit an employee who fails to comply with this directive to enter the institution or to remain within the precincts thereof. Failure to comply could result in a $50 000 fine, a term of one year in prison or both.
    It initially included health service institutions such as nursing homes, private hospitals, senior citizensโ€™ homes, maternity homes, offices of registered paramedical professionals, all COVID-19 testing sites, quarantine and isolation facilities, and all other nongovernmental organisations which provided health services The directive also gives the Prime Minister the power, on the advice of the Chief Medical Officer, to issue a directive designating any area, business or establishment a safe zone to which only persons who comply with the provisions of the directive may go or may transact business.
    However, two days later, the measures were rolled back after members of the medical fraternity voiced serious concerns about the regulations. Topping the list of issues was clarity on unvaccinated patients, many of whom began to cancel appointments following the roll-out of the safe zones. Concerns over lack of consultation, as well as arguments that the measures altered the terms and conditions of employe

  30. David Avatar
    David

    Botched roll-out of safe zones

    On November 6, 2021, the Government enacted the Emergency Management (COVID-19) Safe Zones Directive 2021 to establish safe zones within the health care industry.
    Persons had sent me a copy of the draft proposals for the safe zones which were leaked a few weeks ago. I found the majority of the proposals in the draft were fair.
    However, I was disappointed that many of the fairer proposals contained in the draft were not included within the directive.
    It is also curious that the directive was enacted without any prior consultation with the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP), the Barbados Nurses Association or the trade unions when the provisions directly impact their members. I also do not understand why a distinction was made between low- and high-risk unvaccinated workers yet the same testing frequency applied to both groups. And why only test a small portion of the vaccinated employees?
    The most bothersome aspect of the directive is that employees within the safe zones are prohibited from entering the workplace unless they are fully vaccinated or produce a negative COVID-19 result test. Yet these very workers are required to provide services to unvaccinated and untested patients who enter the safe zones. I do not believe that persons seeking medical services should be precluded from treatment due to being unvaccinated or not having a prior negative COVID-19 result.
    I am simply saying you cannot force this testing mandate on employees, claiming it is the only way to keep them safe, when you also allow them to provide services to unvaccinated and untested patients. To do so represents a double standard and means either that the employers are wilfully failing in their duty to provide a safe place of work or alternatively it provides support to the position that employees can remain safe once they wear adequate PPE and adhere to the tried and true protocols.
    If the latter is true, then these testing mandates within the safe zones are unnecessary and may simply be a form of vaccine coercion by another name.
    Furthermore, how can we penalise health care workers who worked tirelessly at great personal sacrifice for the entirety of the pandemic despite being unvaccinated and without regular testing. Even when there was a period of shortage of PPE (remember the complaints from the polyclinic workers) they were still encouraged to work and told that they would be safe. If their employers were fine with them working prior to the availability of vaccines and without being tested, then it is hypocrisy
    to now claim they can only work safely if they are vaccinated and tested regularly.
    Voicing concerns
    It is also convenient that BAMP is only now voicing concerns on the safe zones when the Government announced its intentions from as early as October 11, 2021. Why did the outcry only occur after their offices were affected by widespread cancellations from unvaccinated patients?
    Finally, some have said that the Safe Zones Directive breached provisions within the Employment Prevention Of Discrimination Act
    and the Employment Rights Act (ERA). I disagree.
    Section 22 of the Discrimination Act states that a breach of the act is not committed where an action is done to comply with another enactment.
    Unlike the SHAW Act, which is very general in nature, the Safe Zones Directive contained very specific provisions regarding the testing and treatment of workers within these zones, so that compliance with the directive would not breach the Discrimination Act. Similarly, there is no breach of the ERA since Section 29 contemplates situations where an employee cannot remain employed because to do so would breach existing laws. There is also case law which addresses instances where an employer makes a unilateral change to a contract to comply with a newly passed law. It is also important to note that neither of these statutes applies to Crown employees.
    I can only hope that the many issues with the directive will be corrected now that Government is going back to the drawing board.

    Michelle M. Russell is an attorney at law with a passion for employment Law and labour matters and is a social activist.
    Email: mrussell.ja@gmail.com

    Source: Nation

  31. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    2 children need to shut up FFS and let big people deal with the reality

    It is not the end of the world and the biblical idiot should talk his crap with other bible nutters or better still read up the bible to think and shut up as most others do

    Covid is not spread in water for the gazillionth time and this numpty should let paid scientists deal with it

    the issue with Covid is not the spread but people surviving it and vaccines and immunities are developing

  32. David Avatar
    David

    The BAMP president admitted yesterday that their interest is conservative by design which conflicts with governmentโ€™s interest of managing public health concerns with economic considerations. The issue is that after almost two years we should be further along.

  33. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    Governments primary interest with it’s peoples and businesses is their income stream for their tax cut

  34. Lawson Avatar
    Lawson

    As I said before most rich people are vaccinated because they dont like it when death comes in between them and what they own, as much as I believe in natural immunity the noose is tightening and for a tourist area to survive people will have to be vaxed.

  35. GP - EX SCHOLAR Avatar
    GP – EX SCHOLAR

    ANOTHER DAY
    SAME BULLSHIT

    RE The BAMP president admitted yesterday that their interest is conservative by design which conflicts with governmentโ€™s interest of managing public health concerns with economic considerations. The issue is that after almost two years we should be further along.

    Q. REALLY? HOW DOES ONE ADEQUATELY managE public health concerns with economic considerations? BY LONG TALK? BY BULL SHIT? BY LEGISLATION OF MANDATES? BY UNINSPIRING LEADERSHIP IN BOTH PUBLIC HEALTH AND GOVERNMENT? BY CONCENTRATED BULLSHIT BY THE ILLITERATI ON BU?

    MANY FOLK TALKING A LOAD OF BULL SHIT AND LOUDLY– ESPECIALLY LAWYERS
    THESE CORRUPT JOKERS CAN NOT DO THEIR OWN WORK WELL AS IS EVIDENT BY THE CHAOS IN THE COURTS
    YET THEY WANT TO RUN THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND MEDICAL RESPONSE TO A MEDICAL PROBLEM
    MIA MUCKLEY HAS SCREWED UP THE RESPONSE TO COVID BY FOLLOWING THE EDICTS AND MANDATES OF DIABOLICAL AND GREEDY MEN ABROAD.

    RE The issue is that after almost two years we should be further along.
    BUT WHAT DO YOU EXPECT WHEN THE ADVICE OF TWO OF THE BEST BRAINS PRODUCED IN BARBADOS WENT UNHEARD ?

    IN 1985 IT HAD TAKEN 9 YEARS WHEN VICTOR JOHNSON MET UP WITH THE EX-SCHOLAR DR GP WHO ADVISED HIM HOW TO SOLVE THE GOVERNMENTS PRESSING PROBLEM OF THE DAY

    IN 2020 TWO OF THE BEST BRAINS PRODUCED IN BARBADOS GAVE THEIR VIEWS
    THE BU ILLUMINATI MOCKED AND SCOFFED AND CONTINUE TO DO SO, AND THIER IS NO VICTOR JOHNSON TO ADVISE THE MINISTER OF HEALTH ON THE WAY TO GO——JUST ONLY A VERY DEAD THOUGH FULLY VACCINATED JOHNSON

    AS THEY SAY IN THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN THE INJUNCTION TO PROCEED IN SOLEMN PROCESSION………”LET US PROCEED IN PEACE” TO WHICH I ADD……MANY HOPEFULLY WILL REST THEREIN.

    LET US THEREFORE NOW SING
    OH HOW SWEET TO MOCK IN BU
    FOLLOW THE MORONS AT THIER WORD
    JUST TO WEEP UPON THE BEACHES
    AS THE PEOPLE DIE IN FEAR

    THE RUM SHOP TOO SWEET THOUGH—–TOO SWEET

  36. GP - EX SCHOLAR Avatar
    GP – EX SCHOLAR

    NONE OF YOU WILL GIVE A LONG TALK TO REFUTE THIS POST FROM GREEN MONKEY
    AND NONE OF YOU CAN
    BUT I AM WILLING TO MOCK ALL THOSE WHO TRY

    CDC Admits Crushing Rights of Naturally Immune Without Proof They Transmit the Virus
    After formal demand, the CDC concedes it does not have proof of a single instance of a naturally immune individual spreading the virus.

    By Aaron Siri

    You would assume that if the CDC was going to crush the civil and individual rights of those with natural immunity by having them expelled from school, fired from their jobs, separated from the military, and worse, the CDC would have proof of at least one instance of an unvaccinated, naturally immune individual transmitting the COVID-19 virus to another individual. If you thought this, you would be wrong.

    My firm, on behalf of ICAN, asked the CDC for precisely this proof (see below). ICAN wanted to see proof of any instance in which someone who previously had COVID-19 became reinfected with and transmitted the virus to someone else. The CDCโ€™s incredible response is that it does not have a single document reflecting that this has ever occurred. Not one. (See below.)

    In contrast, there are endless documents reflecting cases of vaccinated individuals becoming infected with and transmitting the virus to others. Such as this study. And this study. And this study. And this study. It goes on and onโ€ฆ

    But it gets worse. The CDCโ€™s excuse for not having a shred of evidence of the naturally immune transmitting the virus is that โ€œthis information is not collected.โ€ What?! No proof! But yet the CDC is actively crushing the rights of millions of naturally immune individuals in this country if they do not get the vaccine on the assumption they can transmit the virus. But despite clear proof the vaccinated spread the virus, the CDC lifts restrictions on the vaccinated?! That is dystopian.

    More:
    https://aaronsiri.substack.com/p/cdc-admits-crushing-rights-of-naturally

  37. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “Anything to keep the false economy going. Is there to be no other measurement of reality?”

    clearly not…the people have to now create their own reality and leave the government stuck with their dead go nowhere product…since it’s all they know and all they want to know…no one has any obligation to remain stuck in a matrix of Black destruction…there is no law that says that they must..and no one can make them..

  38. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    “NONE OF YOU WILL GIVE A LONG TALK TO REFUTE THIS POST FROM GREEN MONKEY
    AND NONE OF YOU CAN
    BUT I AM WILLING TO MOCK ALL THOSE WHO TRY”

    after half a second or less God told me to tell you this

    Vaccines and Natural Immunity both provide protection against the invading virus
    neither are 100%
    neither negates the effects of either
    so both options are desirable

    so try and mock me boy
    you will surely stumble and fall as God will will cramp and paralyse your brain
    try to be original instead of quoting your usual crap

    btw you don’t even know who even got the Covid Blues when you were sick and sad and lost the love you had

    and you don’t even know what your immunity is

    did anyone else catch it from you

  39. TLSN Avatar
    TLSN

    ” ……for a tourist area to survive people will have to be vaxed.”

    The villagers, natives or whatever you want to call them remain a backward breed. We are approaching nigh on two years of this pandemic and their solutions to transform the economy remains stunted.

    This government desire to keep our tourism market running at all costs is an embarrassment. They have shown contempt and negligence throughout their period of governance.

    This safe zone nonsense is a creation of the private sector which as we know is controlled by members of the minority communities. I noted they appropriated the Barbadian trident in their “safe zone” logo. Therby, giving the illusion that this is government policy.

    Should social unrest ever visit this country they may have made themselves as sitting targets. We will soon become a republic however there appears to be certain groups who appear to operate under their own agenda. Mia needs to understand this and ensure that these groups operate within the law. We do not want to witness the recent clashes in South Africa where riots took place where businessess were destroyed.

  40. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “We say let the damn economy die. The people should only be concerned about preserving their lives and not be forced into risking their safety to mek a dollar. This, sounds like a form of slavery!”

    i second that emotion….we saw this coming YEARS AGO…hence coulld ACCURATELY describe the end result….the people caused NONE OF WHAT IS HAPPENING….let the criminals involved deal with their own fallout out from DECADES OF RAPING THE ECONOMY…….am adamant that no family member of mine in the present or future shoudl pay for racists, thieves, embezzlers and their black face enablers……

  41. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Waru

    People like David what to hold unto capitalism’s rightness in making winners and losers.

    But are now again insisting that the losers must give their very lives to protect corporate profit, GDP metrics.

    This fascist argument is unacceptable!

  42. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Want

  43. GP Avatar
    GP

    IT IS WRITTEN IN ACTS I7 VV30 AND 31 THUS….
    30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.โ€

  44. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    “He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

    So what happened after Jesus died and some people thought they saw him in visions

    The spirit of Bob Marley lives on in the hearts and minds of people who love his music

    The Bible is one path for guidance in life but there are many paths

    You need to get over yourself and your childish ego boy

  45. theogazerts Avatar
    theogazerts

    Going to take a quick and short stroll down the racial avenue..
    It always bother me when the faces in our newspaper, business initiatives and deals and now our medical practice suggest we are a majority non-black community.
    Done

  46. David Avatar
    David

    @Pacha

    The blogmaster has been accused of worse.

  47. David Avatar
    David

    Tried to research the position of the DLP and PDP to determine if there is a separation in policies to set them apart. None was found only the usual rhetoric.

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

    “But are now again insisting that the losers must give their very lives to protect corporate profit, GDP metrics.

    This fascist argument is unacceptable”

    never going to happen, only the HARDCORE Slaves would agree to their own social and economic DEMISE and destruction, sensible people would see this as new ways and means to disenfranchise, oppresss and discriminate against the Black Afrikan population for another HALF CENTURY while ROBBING THEM AGAIN…or for how long the local and foreign criminals can get away with it again……the PEOPLE ARE ON TO ALL THESE BEASTS…it’s not a done deal for them, they have overdone it..

  49. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    David

    Have you not centered your arguments on economy?

    Have you not jumped on every move to get a return to business as usual even with the most draconian measures espoused?

    And in doing so, have your tendencies not morphed into what Trump and his fascist friends were saying early on?

  50. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    We just don’t know anymore. What we can confirm is that ya governments are extremely dangerous to Black lives and the hardest thing is to know. They are not begging you for votes to empower or enrich Black lives they have proven that for over 50 years and especially lately..

    GP…not sure if this is what you were speaking about.

    “Straight from the Government

    The British government has spilled the beans about that fact that once you get double jabbed, you will never again be able to acquire full natural immunity.

    In its Week 42 โ€œCOVID-19 vaccine surveillance report,โ€ the U.K. Health Security Agency admitted on page 23 that โ€œN antibody levels appear to be lower in people who acquire infection following two doses of vaccination.โ€ It goes on to explain that this antibody drop is basically permanent.

    Whatโ€™s this mean?

    We know the vaccines do not stop infection or transmission of the virus (in fact, the report shows elsewhere that vaccinated adults are now being infected at much HIGHER rates than the unvaccinated).

    What the British are saying is they are now finding the vaccine interferes with your bodyโ€™s innate ability after infection to produce antibodies against not just the spike protein but other pieces of the virus. Specifically, vaccinated people donโ€™t seem to be producing antibodies to the nucleocapsid protein, the shell of the virus, which are a crucial part of the response in unvaccinated people.

    In the long term, people who take the vaccine will be far more vulnerable to any mutations in the spike protein that might come along, even if they have already been infected and recovered once, or more than once.

    The unvaccinated, meanwhile, will procure lasting, if not permanent, immunity to all strains of the alleged virus after being infected with it naturally even just once.

    Read it for yourself.. Page 24.

    https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1027511/Vaccine-surveillance-report-week-42.pdf

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