Jamaica’s medical fraternity must be having nightmares. Health Minister Christopher Tufton, Chief Medical Officer Jacquiline Bisasor-McKenzie, and the medical fraternity in general must be suffering from serious insomnia at the moment. The well-organised, and amazingly effective, common-sense, approach they so successfully implemented at the beginning of the COVID-19 season, with full backing of Government and Opposition, now appears to be seriously threatened.

And this cannot be their doing. They cannot be held responsible. There is every appearance that their effort and energies, their passion to keep this ogre of a virus under control, that was so successful, and which had complete national backing in word and deed, is now at odds with apparently more influential aspects of the Jamaican administration. Something appears to have gone wrong.

The Government needs to realise that once the number of active COVID-19 cases passes a certain critical number things will be on the verge of being out of control. Hospital space, medical personnel, available medicines, and all the other ingredients needed for effective COVID-19 control, that have been successful to date, and which could continue to be so, will become inadequate to address the situation. And, when that happens, the level of inadequacy itself will begin to further increase — a situation that we cannot even begin to imagine. The situation needs to be addressed.

What are the current factors that are there now which were not there before? Tourists arriving without any convincing guarantee of their being COVID-19-free. Returning Jamaicans going to home quarantine, with the only ‘safeguard’ being the level of responsibility of the quarantined. The allowance of larger gatherings, including at church services, some of which have become increasingly difficult to measure and contain. All of the above, and whatever else has been compromised, need to be reviewed and straightened out so that the measures taken will again become effective.

And that does not have to mean total lockdown, or that everything will need to come to a full stop. But no rationalising, in the dismissive sense, should be allowed in the examination.

Most of all, the calling of an election at this point may well be devastating. The national COVID-19 discipline has never been perfect, but the country needs to get back to the imperfect but effective approach of the earlier days. The message emanated by the stringency of the Government in those earlier times was probably the most effective deterrent. And with that stringency now diluted, to be talking about an election, given the prevailing scenario, with the near certainty that the needed COVID-19 vigilance will not carry through into election activities, may be disastrous.

We need to know that the Government has adjusted and maintained the national practice and tone of COVID-19 vigilance, and that sufficient emphasis is consistently demonstrated to the point of defining effective protocols, and sending an effective message, before an election is had.

Anyone who advocates that the election must be held before the increase in COVID-19 begins to affect the polls and diminish the Government’s popularity is, in fact, confessing that the popularity will rightfully decrease, since COVID-19 is going to dramatically increase. And the all-too-common shadow of party above country starts to again re-emerge.

If, on the other hand, the Government tightens up on its COVID-19 management policies and, again, brings it under control, then its popularity will certainly be maintained or increased. And, much more importantly, Jamaica will become a safer country.

Although a statement to the effect that “who can’t hear will feel” might resonate to some extent, what we really need to see, hear, and feel are the strain, energy, and effort as the Government stands up to the pressure coming from all quarters, both within and outside the tourist industry, and steers the country back along an acceptably safe COVID-19 trajectory.

There is no doubt that managing the COVID-19 crisis is difficult and demanding. But we can do better.

We cannot afford for the leadership of our little country to be compared with that of the country to our north that has over 100 times our population, and whose obsession with power and elections, and whose attempts at recreating a false reality has brought the greatest superpower, in terms of wealth, technology, and might, to the top of the COVID-19 casualty list.

Let that stay there, if it must; we don’t want it here. Let us redefine and realign our COVID-19 course.

Some things can be done

No matter how we feel for our fellow Jamaicans, we cannot afford to have such an influx of returning residents to the extent that we have tens of thousands under home quarantine with no guaranteed way of knowing definitively whether this precaution is being honoured.

We cannot allow tourist to flock here without a more assured way of knowing that the virus will not accompany them.

The tourist industry should be able to collectively finance and provide testing kits so that arriving tourists can be tested with short-term test result periods, and with an understanding that negative results are a prerequisite for them to continue with the vacation they intended to have here.

We Jamaicans are great on taking a foot when we get an inch. We need to go back to the ½ inch. The 50-max gathering restriction needs to be significantly reviewed.

Whatever the thinking is regarding the above, there is no doubt that these can be adjusted, improved, or completely re-proposed so that the optimal combination of practicality and effectiveness in dealing with COVID-19 can be implemented.

dpabrikian@yahoo.com