It is a new stage of despair and alarm when children end up dying from COVID-19

Jan 18, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – As if the increasing numbers of over 1000 positive reported cases of the COVID-19 virus was not alarming enough, we have read of children dying from this virus within the last few days, a 14-month-old baby, a 3-year-old child, a 3-month-old baby and a 6-year-old child. It is a new stage of despair and alarm when children end up being fatally affected by this virus as is happening now.

It is because of the desire of parents to protect their children, that there have been appeals to the Government and the Minister of Education to close the schools and resume the virtual learning. They have remained staunchly steadfast in their ill-advised and reckless decision so as not to do. There has to be something wrong. How can the reopening of schools for the helpless, unvaccinated children possibly be justified in view of what is transpiring in our country now with the escalating numbers and fatalities? On Sunday, there were several reportedly fully vaccinated persons who succumbed to this dreaded virus, with a majority in the 40-age range.

There has been no mention as to the vaccines, which these individuals would have received, when they received the vaccines and whether they were boosted or not. Surely, the time has come for a National State of Emergency. There have been zero measures undertaken by this Government to address or curtail the spread of this virus, which is claiming the lives of our precious children now.

If one were asked to identify one measure that has been put in place, it would be difficult to do so. There should be urgent press conferences held by the President and Minister of Health to address this situation, the immediate imposition of a strict curfew and closures of all the restaurants and bars. The Government would be wary of offending the business owners but the lives of the people of Guyana are at stake. The Government continues to remain indifferent and callous. Instead of cleaning the streets, government should be instituting measures geared towards protecting the people from this virus such as an immediate earlier curfew and closure of places of entertainment and recreation.

The Minister of Education needs to publicly appear instead of posting screenshots from behind a computer screen and address the issue of children attending school in person. This decision should be suspended immediately in view of the number of cases and the highly infectious nature of the Omicron variant. Until the Government ceases its sloth like approach and lack of concern, it is up to us as a nation to take every precaution. Maintain a distance, stay away from those not in your household, wear masks, avoid crowds, be fully vaccinated and boosted and for those who can, remain at home. There have been those who huddle together and remove masks for group pictures. Such pandering to vanity is a risk. Please stay safe my fellow Guyanese. Taking precautions means not only protecting yourself but those around you.

Yours truly,
Stephanie Isaacs