Dear Editor,

It takes someone raised by intelligent and practical parents to go against the grain of a misguided populace to express in stark terms the reality facing this country.

I share the comments of Glenn Tucker in his piece on the cruise ship returnees published in the Jamaica Observer on May 20, 2020, ‘Returning residents: At what cost?’

Too many Jamaicans expect to go worldwide seeking jobs without a hint of concern for the risks involved, and expect this cash-poor country to rush to their rescue when problems arise.

These people were better off on that cruise liner than many of their fellow Jamaicans here. With food and drinks aplenty and comfortable digs, what on Earth were they bawling about.

The same bleeding-heart sympathisers who pressured the Government to expend those millions of dollars to quarantine them in luxury hotels here will be the same ones crying over the additional taxes which will be inevitable to help replace the revenue shortfall.

There are thousands of foreigners stranded abroad and I’ll bet their governments are not in any hurry to bring them back home. I know because I am one of those and my Government has far more financial resources than Jamaica will ever have.

These are the times for basic common sense to prevail. If the country had locked down at the beginning of the worldwide spread of the virus in late January to early February there would possibly be no infections in the island, but the Government would be lambasted by all and sundry if it did.

We are still lucky to have so few deaths; this is no time to risk increasing that number.

MKSNR

mksnr@yahoo.ca