It is painfully obvious to all fair-thinking Guyanese that more need to be done to address the Covid-19 pandemic.
It would not be unreasonable to conclude that the current administration has somewhat abandoned the interest of citizens when it comes to the fight against COVID-19. In other words, it is apparent that in the war against the virus, Guyanese are on our own. Never mind the government’s media advertisements advising the public to wear masks, maintain social distancing, and practise hand-washing, it is clear, judging by the decisions being made by the regime, that the PPP government is merely paying lip service to the idea of stopping the spread of the deadly disease, while on the other hand, government takes actions that will not help to fight the scourge of the virus, instead, the administration’s self-serving policies and agendas can only make the pandemic-situation worse.
The virus that causes COVID-19 has proven to be dangerous, highly transmissible, deadly, and frighteningly adaptable. Guyanese know that many infected persons become critically ill and end up in hospital, often in an intensive care unit. Many such victims must depend on oxygen or mechanical ventilators since they are unable to breathe on their own. Such is the danger of the disease.
The deadly contagiousness of the virus is now well established. In a little more than a year since the first case, there have been more than 96,200,000 known infections worldwide, which have resulted in national healthcare systems, in numerous territories, becoming overwhelmed. To date, some 2,000,600 persons have died. In the hardest hit countries — among them the United States and neighbouring Brazil — some 4,000 people die every day. As of Sunday Guyana has confirmed over 7,298 cases of those, 172 people have lost their lives.
The coronavirus that causes COVID-19, as is the case with all viruses, is highly adaptable. Viruses adapt or change into new variants; scientists call this process mutation. As viruses move from one individual to another, they may mutate by picking up genetic material from an individual. A virus may mutate too, by getting rid of genetic material, or exchanging such material with other viruses. Whenever viruses mutate, there is always the possibility that the new variant could become more deadly, more contagious, or even resistant to treatment or vaccines. Considering those facts, it is frightening that more dangerous variants of the virus have been identified in the UK, China, and the U.S, among other territories, even as a terrifying new variant now ravages parts of neighbouring Brazil.
While responsible governments and caring healthcare authorities around the world continue to try to slow the spread of the virus by instituting and enforcing lockdowns and restrictions on assembly, movement, and other forms of physical interactions, Guyana’s PPP government is doing the opposite, pursuing a dangerous policy of ignoring scientific recommendations aimed at containing and mitigating the spread of COVID-19. Guyana’s government is opening up everything!
The PPP has significantly relaxed the curfew that was put in place in early April 2020 by the David Granger government, and strictly enforced by the APNU+AFC administration. Worse, the vestige of a curfew that remains in the law is generally not enforced by the PPP government.
The government has reopened schools and airports, reintroduced indoor dining in selected restaurants and bars, and government is simply not enforcing regulations that require the wearing of masks in public-transportation vehicles, and by vendors. Additionally, law enforcement personnel as well as senior PPP government officials are routinely seen socialising, without masks, with their cohorts at their favourite hangouts. Evidently, as relates to COVID-19 regulations, lawlessness reigns in Guyana.
The results of the PPP government’s poor management are clear.
