Act before it is too late

Jan 06, 2022 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Kaieteur News – Two recent developments should be of extreme concern. The first is the high number of staff infected by the COVID-19 coronavirus at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation. The second is the decision of the Supreme Court to close for five days following possible exposure to the virus. It is also being rumoured that a number of staff of a certain public utility have been displaying COVID-like symptoms and dozens of its staff have been sent for testing.
These developments indicate possible extensive institutional infections. This is all the more so especially given the almost exponential rise in cases since December 28, 2021.
The rapid increases in cases, as was previously suggested, could have been because of the social interactions of Guyanese during the Christmas holidays or it can be because of the Omicron variant; or it can be both.
The decision of the Supreme Court of the Judicature which includes both the High Court and the Court of Appeal for six days is a positive development by a constitutional agency. It is not waiting on the government to issue any orders about closure but, in the face of exposure and the need to sanitise its facilities, it has taken purposeful and commendable action to close its doors for six days except for emergency cases.
The government is not going to order any lockdown, not even a partial one. It will not increase the curfew hours or tighten the regulations governing bars or restaurants. The government has been stubborn in tightening regulations and in even allowing vulnerable sections of the public service workforce to work at home or on rotation.
But given the present institutional spread, there may be no need for the government to order any lockdown. State agencies are likely to be forced to close their doors because large numbers of their employees are being infected. So while the government is reluctant to take measures to slowdown the spread of the virus, its infection of public service and public sector staff, could result in many government Ministries, agencies and departments being forced to close their doors. This of course will make the government look very silly because while it is refusing to shutdown government institutions, the virus will do this.
The real fear right now is that rapid increase in cases could overwhelm the public health system. Right now this is not happening and the numbers of hospitalisations and persons in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Units remain low. But surely this cannot be expected to last much longer. The more infections there are, the greater the likelihood of increased risk of severe cases requiring hospitalisation.
Preliminary data on the severity of infections is still inadequate to make general conclusions but there have been suggestions that while the Omicron variant is far more transmissible it is less virulent than the Delta variant and has resulted in less severe forms of the disease.
Natural immunity caused by persons being previously infected does not appear to significantly prevent infection. In fact, a number of reports suggest that the variant is known to have infected persons previously infected with other variants. One study reported by the New York Times indicates that while it attacks the upper respiratory tract, it is not as severe on the lungs. This is comforting news if it is true but still of concern to those sections of the population which are highly vulnerable.
The World Health Organization has also indicated that evidence tends to suggest a decoupling between cases and deaths, meaning that the death load is not as high as previous variants. But this finding is based on limited evidence mainly from South Africa.
Given the rapid rise in cases in Guyana, indicative of the possible presence of the Omicron virus in Guyana, and the variant’s known effect on children, parents should now be cautious about sending their children to school.
Socially responsible private sector entities should follow the lead of the Supreme Court and shut down their businesses or at least increase the testing of staff, until such time as this wave blows over. Institutional spread is not going to be limited to government entities and therefore the private sector should act before it is too late.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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