Dear Editor,

“Hypocrisy is the mother of all evil and racial prejudice is her favourite child”.

Don King’s salient comment came to mind as I heard that both the United States and United Kingdom have advised their citizens against unnecessary travel to Jamaica on the basis of the recent uptick in reported cases of COVID-19 on the island.

A look at the data from the three countries suggests that this is the height of hypocrisy.

To date, Jamaica has 1,870 reported cases of COVID-19 and 19 tragic deaths.

If Jamaica had the same number of reported cases and deaths on a per capita basis as the United States the figures for Jamaica would be 52,000 cases and 1,611 deaths.

If Jamaica had the same number of reported cases and deaths on a per capita basis as the United Kingdom the numbers would be 14,600 cases and 47 deaths.

These figures indicate that, all things being equal, the Jamaican Government and the Jamaican people have done a far better job of controlling this terrible pandemic than its critics in the US and the UK would have their citizens believe.

If the US and UK were seriously concerned about the health of their citizens they would be encouraging them to travel to Jamaica rather than discouraging them.

I’ll leave it to the reader to decide why they are acting in a way that appears to be counterproductive to the well-being of their citizens.

William “Bill” Johnson

billjohnsonpollster@gmail.com