Garvin Heerah -
Former Head of The National Operations Center
Senior Lecturer/Researcher Anglia Ruskin University UK/ SAMs TT)
Social Distancing has been with us a long time before March- April when this pandemic struck the world.
I draw reference to, Leviticus 13:45 “Anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of their face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’
Due to the effects of leprosy on the society and the way lepers were treated, they were already practicing social distancing. In this scripture we see where they had to wear ‘masks’ (cover the lower part of their face).
So the aspect of Social Distancing must not be treated with resistance and reservation as we are presently seeing. A long, long time ago, this practice was upon the earth.
We must therefore seek to adhere to the protocols that are being directed to us by the authorities. We must not compromise nor should we bend the rules.
Presently Trinidad and Tobago is facing the surge of a second wave of COVID-19. This second wave involves Community Spread. A dynamic that we had not seen before. We are now experiencing the frightening fact of young children being infected and the reliability of the contact tracing continues to be challenged. The main reason being the compliance, discipline and honesty of the citizens.
It is imperative that we raise the awareness among all our communities and citizens.
We must continue to be very vigilant and escalate the seriousness of the rising threat. As we observe the visible changes in the environment, we cannot be complacent and fall short in our protocols.
As the experts continue to delve into extended research, our present in country capacity is stretching at its seams and very soon, we may be at our limit regarding testing, accommodating and staff rotation.
All organisations, both private and public will have to review their roles and responsibilities. We will need to adjust our policies. We will need to examine and evaluate our response mechanisms and standardise our approach.
Should a member or co- worker be tested positive, what are the procedures and responses that we have in place. There are far reaching consequences of the extended circles of contact tracing and the effects on how this will affect production and our operations.
We as orgaisations should begin establishing our own hotlines and direct links with the MoE so as to alleviate all possible delays, in the event of a situation. This is to ensure that a rapid, professional response, assisted by our internal work place Crisis Management Team is exercised and implemented.
In closing I strongly advocate that all organisations hold emergency Meetings and begin to explore and address contingencies and ‘what ifs’.
In the meantime we know and can testify to the Power of Prayer. So as a praying nation and as Prayer Warriors we must prioritize our Prayer Focus on this new emerging threat.