I would like to start this article by congratulating our leaders, both Government and Opposition alike, on the mature approach to the current COVID-19 pandemic. I have heard very little negative press and all steps taken have been in keeping with how most countries in our region are now responding to the crisis. We learnt from their mistakes and however drastic the measures seem, they are necessary.

I am not a doctor or a virologist, so I will not criticise any of the measures, even if I do not think they are correct. This is because I simply have not invested the time to train in this area, nor did I spend my youthful years in public health. I wish the critics of local policing and crime-fighting would adopt this thought process.

I would, however, like to point out other approaches being put forward by world leaders as possibilities we can consider. Israel’s Minister of Defence Naftali Bennett, in a recent speech purported that it is better to super quarantine the vulnerable, including both the elderly and people with underlying medical conditions, and let everybody else just catch the virus, get treated, and get past it.

In this way, when the virus reaches about 60 per cent of the population, antibodies would have been developed and the threat to the vulnerable would have passed. Then they can come back out. The process, he says, would take about three months, but not much longer.

I do not know if he is correct, but if he is, I think it is the most logical approach. Use the empty hotels for those who cannot be quarantined in their homes because of infrastructure limitations or crowded dwellings. Pay the hotels for their use as well, because trust me, the cost will be minimal in comparison to what the freezing of commerce is going to be in the long run.

And to what end?

As soon as they reopen the airports, the virus will come in again. Or do we really believe that we can keep the airports locked indefinitely?

So, when the layoffs start, what then? Are we going to distribute food like a refugee camp? We need tourism to survive.

Sometimes the reality is so horrible that we choose hopes and dreams instead. In the 1930s, former Prime Minister of England Neville Chamberlain, against all logic, tried to negotiate with a moron called Adolf Hitler, who was governing Germany.

It was obvious what Hitler intended and it was obvious that England could not allow it to happen. Chamberlain, however, continued trying, resulting in his embarrassment and the near destruction of Britain and Western Europe.

The reality here is that we are courting bankruptcy. So, maybe we need to think outside the box. Can we super quarantine our elderly? I think we can, if it is properly planned.

Can those considered non-vulnerable deal with having the illness? Well, the Israelis seem to think so, but they have been at war for over 70 years, so their level of tolerance for suffering is higher.

COVID-19 is not like Ebola, though Ebola kills eight out of every 10 people who contract it. I think that if we super quarantine our vulnerable, the rest could adjust to mask and glove-wearing as a new cultural norm. But I cannot express enough how important it is to super quarantine the vulnerable before we attempt it.

Back now to the word ‘drastic’ and how pleased I am to see that our prime minister is doing something that fits that description. He is a very responsible leader and that is great. Now we know he is capable of taking the hard decisions that may even come off as draconian.

So let us discuss crime. This current mindset is needed and has been needed for some time. Yet, it has not been adopted by our Government to deal with our crime problem.

Drastic action was needed when we became so rotten that mongrels abducted Jasmine Dean, who is disabled. Drastic action was needed when Corporal Fernando Daley’s mother was murdered because he dared to defend himself against criminals the week before. Drastic action was needed when over 1,300 people lost their lives last year. It was needed when a Clarendon gang rained down gunfire on policemen in a show of force last year — all caught on video — embarrassing the PM, you, me and the men who fought for our Independence. We looked powerless.

I am therefore suggesting that when this crisis passes, whether the PM uses the current approach or Israel Minister Bennett’s, that crime be visited in this drastic manner.

I will go further and outline these short-term drastic measures. First, extend the state of emergency to the entire island. The detention powers are what matter, not the checkpoints. Second, build a temporary detention centre to house detainees. This was done in the Cuban exodus crisis in Miami. Third, create a website with the names of all gang members in Jamaica. Fourth, task the police and army to fill the new centre with all the scum on that list.

Jasmine’s suffering deserves this reaction, as does Mrs Daley’s.

When innocents are suffering at the hands of evil, drastic action becomes necessary.

This is not a long-term strategy. I have already spoken on that. But if this attack on our people does not warrant a reaction such as described, then neither does this demon called COVID.

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