LEARNING to live with things we cannot control or change is hard.
Things like a neighbour’s drumming hobby that knows no bounds, your partner’s snoring, a late night decision to eat three slices of cake or a brand new virus that caused a global pandemic.
Unfortunately, we have to learn live with things. Despite our hearts deepest desires, the reality is Covid-19 isn’t going anywhere too soon.
At the start we did what we needed to do. We closed up tight and hoped for the best. It was the right decision at the time.
Now, I have always been in favour for taking whatever steps were necessary to curb the spread of Covid-19. Like most semi-intelligent people, I understood that if unchecked the virus would collapse our less than stellar healthcare system.
So I sucked it up, masked up, locked down, and reluctantly placed my faith into the hands of our Government.
Here we are a thousand years later, still living in a state of suspended animation while the world moves on without us.
Again, full disclosure, I used to roll my eyes hard at people who said we need to move on with things and learn to live with the virus.
So I am here today to admit I was a little wrong and they may have been a little right.
You see we cannot continue on the path we are on in terms of our economy.
This week my hairdresser closed her salon. The iconic Chaud restaurant closed its doors. Earlier this year, Splice Studios said goodbye, as have countless other small businesses.
Speaking on TTT this week President of the T&T Coalition of Services & Industries Mark Edghill said for small and micro enterprises the future is a bit grim and we can expect to see more closures.
Restaurateur Peter George Jr has spoken up repeatedly about the economic impact lockdowns have had on the food service sector. The closures not only affect a restaurant’s staff, but also food suppliers, cleaning services, delivery services, kitchen equipment sales and maintenance services and other outside service providers.
Every business has a web of suppliers and/or service providers that are being strangled by current lockdown measures.
It’s the same for the tourism sector, the entertainment sector, the manufacturing sector and especially our arts and culture sector.
Increased unemployment brings increased crime as people begin to get desperate. This week someone stole chemotherapy drugs from the St James cancer centre. I am not sure what this person’s plan was, maybe he was actually after pain killers, which they could sell, but didn’t do their research so they snatched up a whole bunch of stuff that has zero street value.
Maybe they are some sort of Breaking Bad type genius and plan on cooking up some new crazy addictive drug to supplement their income. But when you begin to steal from senior citizens and cancer patients, it’s definitely a sign of extreme desperation.
Increasing school dropouts create even more pathways to crime. Thousands of children in T&T simply have not had access to online education and have had to drop out of school, leaving a highly vulnerable group of youth susceptible to getting involved in crime or falling victim to abuse.
Unfortunately, we cannot continue this downward spiral – we need to learn to live with the virus one way or another.
Now I am not advocating we go balls-to-the-wall UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson style and completely reopen the country against all scientific recommendations, but there needs to be a compromise.
Vaccination is the first big step, it’s happening, it’s coming along. Yes it’s a little slow and late to the game but it is happening. Offering vaccinations to workers in “high risk” or “close contact” sectors such as teachers or supermarket workers was honestly one the brightest things our ministry of health did.
As we continue to vaccinate, allow food services to reopen for curbside and pick up. Allow for retail stores to reopen, but rather than “in store” services allow them to fulfill online or telephone orders. Assist in the adaptation of our businesses.
Please let hairdressers reopen… I am so gray it’s not even funny.
With enough teachers vaccinated, think of creating a shift system for schools. Group classes and organise it so that it is one week in person, one week in online. I am really begging for this.
Allow people to exercise outdoors again, give your population a teeny tiny bit of wiggle room.
Currently our society is a pressure cooker. Everyone has reached their limit, we are drowning in stagnation and something has got to give.
We need to learn to live with the virus. We need to set up systems to ensure our economy adapts and grows.
Things You Can’t Control: Snoring, Cake, a Pandemic
LEARNING to live with things we cannot control or change is hard.
Things like a neighbour’s drumming hobby that knows no bounds, your partner’s snoring, a late night decision to eat three slices of cake or a brand new virus that caused a global pandemic.
Unfortunately, we have to learn live with things. Despite our hearts deepest desires, the reality is Covid-19 isn’t going anywhere too soon.
At the start we did what we needed to do. We closed up tight and hoped for the best. It was the right decision at the time.
Now, I have always been in favour for taking whatever steps were necessary to curb the spread of Covid-19. Like most semi-intelligent people, I understood that if unchecked the virus would collapse our less than stellar healthcare system.
So I sucked it up, masked up, locked down, and reluctantly placed my faith into the hands of our Government.
Here we are a thousand years later, still living in a state of suspended animation while the world moves on without us.
Again, full disclosure, I used to roll my eyes hard at people who said we need to move on with things and learn to live with the virus.
So I am here today to admit I was a little wrong and they may have been a little right.
You see we cannot continue on the path we are on in terms of our economy.
This week my hairdresser closed her salon. The iconic Chaud restaurant closed its doors. Earlier this year, Splice Studios said goodbye, as have countless other small businesses.
Speaking on TTT this week President of the T&T Coalition of Services & Industries Mark Edghill said for small and micro enterprises the future is a bit grim and we can expect to see more closures.
Restaurateur Peter George Jr has spoken up repeatedly about the economic impact lockdowns have had on the food service sector. The closures not only affect a restaurant’s staff, but also food suppliers, cleaning services, delivery services, kitchen equipment sales and maintenance services and other outside service providers.
Every business has a web of suppliers and/or service providers that are being strangled by current lockdown measures.
It’s the same for the tourism sector, the entertainment sector, the manufacturing sector and especially our arts and culture sector.
Increased unemployment brings increased crime as people begin to get desperate. This week someone stole chemotherapy drugs from the St James cancer centre. I am not sure what this person’s plan was, maybe he was actually after pain killers, which they could sell, but didn’t do their research so they snatched up a whole bunch of stuff that has zero street value.
Maybe they are some sort of Breaking Bad type genius and plan on cooking up some new crazy addictive drug to supplement their income. But when you begin to steal from senior citizens and cancer patients, it’s definitely a sign of extreme desperation.
Increasing school dropouts create even more pathways to crime. Thousands of children in T&T simply have not had access to online education and have had to drop out of school, leaving a highly vulnerable group of youth susceptible to getting involved in crime or falling victim to abuse.
Unfortunately, we cannot continue this downward spiral – we need to learn to live with the virus one way or another.
Now I am not advocating we go balls-to-the-wall UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson style and completely reopen the country against all scientific recommendations, but there needs to be a compromise.
Vaccination is the first big step, it’s happening, it’s coming along. Yes it’s a little slow and late to the game but it is happening. Offering vaccinations to workers in “high risk” or “close contact” sectors such as teachers or supermarket workers was honestly one the brightest things our ministry of health did.
As we continue to vaccinate, allow food services to reopen for curbside and pick up. Allow for retail stores to reopen, but rather than “in store” services allow them to fulfill online or telephone orders. Assist in the adaptation of our businesses.
Please let hairdressers reopen… I am so gray it’s not even funny.
With enough teachers vaccinated, think of creating a shift system for schools. Group classes and organise it so that it is one week in person, one week in online. I am really begging for this.
Allow people to exercise outdoors again, give your population a teeny tiny bit of wiggle room.
Currently our society is a pressure cooker. Everyone has reached their limit, we are drowning in stagnation and something has got to give.
We need to learn to live with the virus. We need to set up systems to ensure our economy adapts and grows.