There should be a two-week lockdown because covid cases are rising

Apr 20, 2021 Letters

Dear Editor

There has been a proposal in the public domain about a two-week lockdown. Logistics here plays a big role, but we must first analyse a number of other factors and whether or not it is feasible to have a lockdown in Guyana, while accounting for expenditure and encompassing a macro, long term perspective of lowering / eradicating the virus:

1. Covid-19 has an incubation period of 14 days (the time it would take the body to display symptoms)
2. A complete lockdown can decrease Covid-19 cases significantly
3. With mass vaccinations being rolled out, it becomes easier in a lockdown for herd immunity to be achieved.
4. We can have temporary facilities set up in a decentralised manner to deal with potential Covid-19 cases.
5. Contact tracing & isolation can become more effective and a more accurate percentage of infected cases can be produced.
6. Measures can be put in place to ensure that citizen’s benefit from subsidies in utilities, and have provisions set up for them to benefit from goods and services during the lockdown.

But let us look on the flip side:
1. A lockdown costs a lot of money, accounting for expenditure on essential goods and services for the two week period – goods like basic grocery and other items that many who live on pay check to pay check may not afford to ration for that two week period, then we need to look at subsiding utilities like water, electricity and telephone services. We would also need to ascertain how many facilities we have and how many we can temporarily convert into Covid-19 units to meet the potential influx of covid patients – then we need to take into account things like transportation, essential medical items like ventilators, beds, masks, vaccines, sanitisers and incentives for frontline workers.

2. Covid-19 does not have a period of day when it can infect anyone, it affects everyone at any time of the day, even in and out of the Covid curfew, so let’s assume that we have a complete lockdown and we open back and Covid cases begin to rise, as what happened with Barbados, the country will obviously lose billions.

3. The mentality of some Guyanese people are built on ignorance and generally it is innate in us to rebel against anything coercive – who’s to say that with a lockdown in place, there won’t be one or two ignorant people who would still leave their houses and have interactions with others like themselves?

4. We need to understand the interests of the private sector too, as their main purpose of existence is to make a profit. They are the ones who are going to be affected and we have clearly seen no encouragement from them to have a countrywide shutdown. So if it happens, how will they accept it? (Here is where political support will be tested.)

In conclusion, I am calling for a lockdown, and I would be more than happy to assist in proposing a plan on how to do so. Because Covid cases are rising and have been at their highest since September 2020, it’s time to put the people of this country first over anything else!

Yours truly,
Chandradev Harripersaud

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