– stringent measures need to be policed by COVID-19 National Task Force
The random reopening of the country, following the COVID-19 curfew that had been in place for months, will see major adverse effects if guidelines and protols are not implement and enforced immediately.
This is according to Chairman of the Private Sector Commission, Captain Gerry Gouveia, who told the HGP Nightly News that stringent counter measures are necessary if Guyana is to cope with returning to a state of normalcy given the current situation in the environment.
He pointed out that the COVID-19 National Task Force must “police” protocols that should be put in place especially since the business community is now being afforded the opportunity of extending working hours to serve the populace.
“I am a very, very strong advocate for strong and stringent counter measures against this Covid-19 and so I believe that the COVID task for, the Ministry of Health must provide leadership to the population. I am seeing people congregating at the seawalls, I am seeing people in restaurants, I am seeing people around drinking at places without masks and protective gears. So we seem to have a very serious deficiency in enforcement because Guyana’s medical system does not have the capacity to deal with a massive outbreak of this virus.”
According to Gouveia, the businesses that are reopening their doors should be subjected to providing written procedures that satisfy the authorities’ requirements of operating in the country, before they are allowed to do so.
“…stringent measures to ensure that they (businesses) are doing the right things such as having their staff wearing masks, sanitising, etc. There are fundamental things that need to done. I am not against opening but I am just saying that if we do open and when we are opening, the stringency of the compliance measures and protocols must be in force.”
Captain Gouveia emphasised the importance of companies being held responsible for the safety of both their employees, their customers, and by extension, the populace.
“When we had four (4)cases we locked down the country but now we have about 300 and we are reopening back the country…Companies should submit some form of written procedures that they will use and these must be approved by the National COVID-19 Task Force. I believe that just randomly opening up our businesses without the kind of checks and balances to ensure that people are respecting the COVID-19 compliance procedures is of concern,” the PSC Chairman added.
