PE­TER CHRISTO­PHER

Bar own­ers may not have a date for the re­open­ing of their es­tab­lish­ments but they are mak­ing prepa­ra­tions for that day.

In a re­lease yes­ter­day The Bar­keep­ers & Op­er­a­tors As­so­ci­a­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go (BOATT) an­nounced that 100% of their mem­ber­ship had been vac­ci­nat­ed while they es­ti­mat­ed that more than two thirds of the bar in­dus­try has done the same.

BOATT said in the re­lease, “We are al­most there!!!     The Bar­keep­ers & Op­er­a­tors As­so­ci­a­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go (BOATT) in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Min­istry of Health had its day of vac­ci­na­tion re­cent­ly.  We can proud­ly say that 100% of our mem­ber­ship is vac­ci­nat­ed and the to­tal vac­ci­nat­ed with­in the bar in­dus­try present­ly stands at ap­prox­i­mate­ly 70% with vac­ci­na­tions con­tin­u­ing dai­ly.”

Bars, along with restau­rants were closed on April 29. While Restau­rants were al­lowed to re­sume curb­side pick up and de­liv­ery ser­vice two weeks ago, there has been no word yet on the bar in­dus­try.

How­ev­er BOATT ex­pressed op­ti­mism in the re­lease.

“It has been a harsh and chal­leng­ing six­teen (16) months, but we are fi­nal­ly see­ing the prover­bial light at the end of the tun­nel, now is not the time to be nit­pick­ing about the past or present sit­u­a­tions but it’s a time to

en­cour­age, show and pro­mote your will­ing­ness and readi­ness to serve and op­er­ate in the ‘New Nor­mal’,” BOATT said.

The as­so­ci­a­tion al­so en­cour­aged the pub­lic “to have con­fi­dence in the vac­cine regime” and they called on all busi­ness­es in all sec­tors to en­cour­age the vac­ci­na­tion process.

“Vac­ci­na­tion cou­pled with full ad­her­ence and en­force­ment of the 3 W’s (Wear a mask, Wash your hands, Watch your dis­tance) is the on­ly way the cit­i­zens who are cur­rent­ly job­less can re­gain their dig­ni­ty, calm their men­tal sta­bil­i­ty, and once again feel part of so­ci­ety and con­tribute to the eco­nom­ic growth of Trinidad and To­ba­go and where busi­ness­es can once again flour­ish,” BOATT said.