As health authorities continue to plead with Guyanese to adhere to the national COVID-19 guidelines, there seems to be no significant heed by many citizens of the danger to which they are exposing themselves and other persons when they continue to blatantly disregard these rules.
Since the beginning of this year, the COVID-19 cases and death toll have continued to increase consistently. Guyana’s death toll now stands at 291, with 53 of those persons dying in April so far. This month has turned out to be the deadliest month since Guyana’s Patient Zero in March 2020.
While the Joint Services has finally begun to up its enforcement of the national curfew and guidelines which were put in place to help curb the spread of the deadly virus, some of its own ranks are violators themselves. The situation with its own ranks is so grave that the Joint Services has had to issue a warning to its own on Tuesday. In its warning, the hierarchy of the Joint Services said: “Members of the Joint Services have been partnering with civilians to hold events in contravention of the COVID-19 Regulations, with the civilians, on some occasions, assuming sole responsibility when the Police intervene. Condign action will be taken against the civilians as well as the members of the Joint Services whenever they are found culpable of breaching the laid down COVID-19 Regulations.”
This comes just as the Joint Services had finally stepped up, after much criticism of the lack of enforcement, to help health authorities manage the enforcement of the COVID-19 guidelines.
While, for many months, law enforcement officers have been dispersing crowds, not many persons were charged for breaching the guidelines. In one blatant instance, Joint Services ranks over on the West Coast of Demerara had to arrest and charge 14 persons who were among 200 at a party. Despite being wrong and breaking the law, some of these very persons took to social media, criticising the law enforcement officers’ actions. Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony was quite candid when he said Guyanese have dropped their guard in taking precautions and following national guidelines to protect themselves from COVID-19. He had also pointed to the level of complacency currently seen, which is contributing to rising cases.
There is no doubt non-adherence to precautions as outlined by health officials has reached an all-time high. Every day, persons are going about their daily routine as if they are not bothered at all about COVID-19 and its deadly effects.
We have supported, and continue to support, the move by Government to make it mandatory for persons to wear masks while out in public, which was implemented since August 2020. Authorities have made it clear that it is not the Government’s intention to have persons locked up or fined for not wearing a mask while out in public. However, now that law enforcement is getting tough for adherence to the guidelines, this is one of the areas in which they would also need to ensure full compliance.
It must be noted, too, that COVID-19 can be spread by people who do not have symptoms and do not know that they are infected. For this reason, it is important that everyone wears a mask in public settings, and practise social distancing. Everyone wants the virus to be contained, so that they can get on with their daily lives, but this would not be possible if citizens are complacent or continue to ignore the health guidelines.
We support the Health Minister’s statement when he said: “You will see more people being charged for not wearing masks, and those businesses that are not complying with the guidelines will see stricter penalties coming their way. All of this can be avoided if people do the right thing. If we keep violating these things and allowing people to do the wrong thing, we are going to see spread.”
