It is not a matter of if, but when the Delta variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 lands in Jamaica. At the time of writing, 96 countries had confirmed the highly infectious variant on their shores.

Virologists say the more transmissible Delta variant is creating waves of cases in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Our major trading partner, the United States, reported last week that the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 accounted for 20 per cent of infections in the past three weeks.

Doubting Thomases will certainly scoff at the news that the Delta variant is wreaking havoc in 50 per cent of countries around the globe. Several might even find mirth in the name Delta. I can just hear them: “Cho, foolishness, delta is a term in geography that refer to wetlands.”

It is tragic that even though some 4.3 million people globally have succumbed to COVID-19 there are hordes of conspiracy theorists — many, right here in Jamaica — who preach that we should not take the COVID-19 vaccine and sermonise that all we need to do is pray and/or use various concoctions. The greater tragedy is that far too many among us buy into their moonshine.

Those of us, who have been educated, especially at significant public expense, have not only a responsibility, but a duty to vigorously inveigh against the imbibing of moonshine.

There are no ifs, buts, or maybes, the Delta variant will soon be on our doorstep. These headlines suggest sooner than many think.

Headline: ‘As it happened: Delta variant is about 40 per cent more transmissible’ ( BBC News, June 6, 2021)

Headline: ‘Spread of delta variant prompts new restrictions worldwide’ ( The Washington Post, June 28, 2021)

One does not need to be a virologist, epidemiologist, or have expertise in any field of medicine to recognise that Jamaica needs to be on high alert and be in a state of high preparation for the arrival of the Delta variant.

We should by now have learned many lessons from our good management and also instances of mismanagement of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Any objective assessment will reveal that the Andrew Holness-led Administration did a very creditable job in the management of the novel coronavirus pandemic for the first nine months following the arrival of the virus on our shores on March 10, 2020.

Recall that the Holness Administration received local, regional and global accolades during that period. Maybe those deserved recognitions discombobulated some.

However, the Government has fumbled and stumbled on several occasions since January of this year. Instances of preventable clumsiness have been costly. For example, less than four months ago reports of shortages of beds, medical grade oxygen, and critical staff, as well as related resources in many hospitals were plastered all over social and traditional media. The Administration should not allow a repeat.

I believe well-thinking Jamaicans would have possibly forgiven the Holness Administration for the hiccups, drop catches, blatant planning failures, and the few instances of incompetence. Folks know that there was and still is not any established template for the management of the pandemic.

Additionally, we are a forgiving bunch of people.

But the Holness Administration must not think it will be allowed to repeat the mistakes of the recent past and not suffer serious political consequences. Jamaican people do not like being taken for fools. The maxim, “once bitten, twice shy”, is also deeply ingrained in our experiential make-up.

In light of those realities, the Holness Administration should at this juncture outline to the country the measures that it has fine-tuned and is ready to operationalise to ensure that the cocks-up in March and February, especially, are full stops and not pauses.

Human resources

The current impasse between the Government and the Jamaica Medical Doctors Association (JMDA) is a very unfortunate temporary stop.

This is not a good look: ‘Doctors say they’re prepared to go to court over ‘breach of heads of agreement’. The story said, among other things: “The Jamaica Medical Doctors Association (JMDA) says if the Government holds a hard line and decides to continue to breach the heads of agreement and offer some members six-month contracts, it reserves the right to seek the intervention of the court.

“Over 100 doctors are reportedly aggrieved at planned changes to their contracts which provide work for them in the public health system.

“President of the JMDA Dr Mindi Fitz-Henley says the new contracts offer no job security.” (Nationwide News Network, June 24, 2021)

Absolutely no one with a modicum of sense signs a six-month contract in our current economic situation. Full stop!

It amazes me that, in the midst of a pandemic, which experts say is the worst in the last 100 years, there is even a contemplation of kicking front-line health professionals to the curb. This belies common sense, is politically unpalatable, and flies in the face of a basic function of government — that is to protect the citizens within its borders.

Those of us who use the public health system in this country know what it is like to wait for four, five and six hours before getting medical attention. Jamaicans who are in desperate need of medical attention are often told that being “short staff” — simply, there are not enough doctors and nurses, etc — is the reason for the punishing wait.

Here I am talking about the status quo before the novel coronavirus landed on our shores. You can do the maths, as the Americans say, and determine how much longer the wait time is now.

It is not speculation to say that hundreds of Jamaicans, all over the country, are in need of medical attention, but do not access it because they simply cannot endure the gruelling endurance test which they have to go through before they can see required medical personnel.

Do we need more Shanique Armstrongs? Has anyone noticed that every time a medical mission comes to Jamaica hundreds, sometimes thousands, of Jamaicans come out for medical help. I hardly think it’s because folks want to be attended to by someone from “farin”.

I have no special fondness for health workers above any other group of workers. There are health workers in our public health system who are deeply riveted in the so-called establishment who are not a credit to their profession. These are the ones who are often rude, unfeeling, and operate more like butchers than caregivers. Human foibles are what they are, irrespective of training and experience.

On the matter of the establishment, is it a fortress or an impregnable citadel? In February and March, the X-ray of our health system showed that many of its long-standing, underlying conditions had deteriorated. Did no one in the Ministry of Health and Wellness have the presence of mind to forecast that more doctors, nurses, and other health personnel would have been needed to allow for better treatment of our generational health challenges?

I think pauses are becoming full stops at the health ministry far too often.

The cocks-up in the national vaccination programme in recent times did not win the Holness Administration any political Brownie points. Jamaicans will tolerate a lot of things, but we don’t like, as we say in local parlance, “when yuh ramp wid wi life”.

Media reports that nurses who worked at vaccination blitz sites in March and April have still not been paid their stipend is not exactly a spoon full of sugar. These folks have financial and other obligations which do not take a recess because of COVID-19.

I could go on and cite other pauses that are taking on the characteristic of full stops.

Good going, but…

Between January and now, I think Tufton earned an overall C+ for his leadership and management of the crisis. I gave him an A for March to December 2020. Doubtless Tufton recognises that he has promises to keep and miles to go before he sleeps. The entire country does, as a matter of fact. Pardon my taking slight liberties with Robert Frost’s seminal poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.

On the matter of grading, I understand perfectly well that the blanket of collective responsibility covers the performance, or lack thereof, of an Administration, but, even so, I think, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Senator Kamina Johnson Smith deserves special commendation.

She has done a fantastic job by helping to source thousands — 50,000 from India; 75,000 from South Africa; 65,000 from Mexico — of doses of the life-saving COVID-19 vaccine.

Some may respond, “KMT, it is her job!” Yes, I agree, but if she were failing I am sure that would be trumpeted near and far. By the same token, her successes ought to be afforded tintinnabulation. I give her an A.

Howard Mitchell, chairman of the National Health Fund (NHF), the chief State agency tasked with with the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines, has, in my view, done a creditable job. For those who don’t think so, well, maybe you should try and source the medicine. People in the know tell me it is like searching for a needle in a haystack. They submit that having the funds to pay for the drug is only half the battle.

Then, of course, there are the fraudsters, suitcase masquerading, Brioni Vanquish II Suit-attired swindlers who aim their poisoned arrows at countries like Jamaica that are desperate to get supplies of the jab. Jamaica, I am told, has not been caught in any of the spider’s web, thanks to the diligent work of Mitchell, the NHF, and several others who take the time to meticulously check, double and triple check bona fides. I think the country owes a debt of gratitude to public spirited individuals like Mitchell. He could be as easily sitting on the verandah of a remote cabin way up in the Blue Mountains, but, instead, he has devoted himself in his retirement to public service. Nuff respect!

Still, quite frankly, I think Health Minister Christopher Tufton should at this point make one or two strategic shifts in his mix of personnel at the top of his ministry’s bureaucracy. He needs to remember that the buck stops with him.

The date?

Five Sundays ago I said, among other things, in my The Agenda piece: “Those who watch the swirling of the political tea leaves see, too, that the political lignum vitae is once again maturing, even though it is not ready to blossom.”

Last Wednesday one of my readers sent me an e-mail in which she quoted the mentioned excerpt and related sections from my article on May 30, 2021. She said, my hunch sent the People’s National Party (PNP) into a local government election frenzy. I rather doubt my faithful reader is correct. But if she is, I think people in the PNP should have read the article, and the mentioned snippet in particular, more carefully. As I know it, trees mature, then blossom, then bear fruit.

I was very clear. I said the, “political lignum vitae is once again maturing, even though it is not ready to blossom.”

I do not know when Prime Minister Andrew Holness will call the next local government elections. I merely look at the swirling of the political tea leaves, plus some other factors which should be obvious to others, and make an informed guesstimate.

PNP still not united

Last week the PNP had some team-building activities which were posted on social media. All well-thinking Jamaicans are happy to see this. I have said several times in this space that it is in the interest of our country and democracy for us to have an effective Opposition. If the PNP is going to convince us that it is united, however, it will have to speak with one voice.

This screaming headline in Loop Jamaica News, last Sunday, suggests that the PNP is anything but united: ‘Golding says PNP united and ready to lead Ja; Hanna begs to differ’.

The news item included this tweet from Lisa Hanna, who faced-off with Mark Golding in a bitter leadership contest last November: “They contrive & promote the false narrative that you’re not smart or nice enough. That you should apologise for taking tough decisions, or they will brand you aggressive, defiant & — yes — undermining. What is it for this time? The seat? Here we go again, extracting a pound of flesh,” Hanna tweeted on Friday.”

This does not exude unity to me.

Garfield Higgins is an educator and journalist. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or higgins160@yahoo.com.