The Happy New Year messages that flashed across millions of screens (big and small) the world over had one thing in common, the fervent hope that the hardships caused by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) will not be part of 2021.
Sadly, this new global threat will not depart from our lives as swiftly as it entered, nor will it be quickly forgotten, thanks to the lives it has taken and the massive disruption to families, societies and economies it has wrought all over the world.
However, there is hope for us in Fair Helen. That hope hinges on strict compliance to the protocols set up for us by the Ministry of Health and the response of the world to this global health emergency – the introduction of vaccines to fight the disease.
But this hope may be out of our reach if we do not change our mindset, meaning we have to desist from negative narratives about the unparalleled mobilization of science to fight the disease and the search for solutions to the problems we hope will not reincarnate themselves in 2021.
Too many of us ignore the advice from the Health Ministry, laugh, ridicule even dismiss some of the efforts outlined by the authorities for our safety and that of the country by extension.
Too many of us have problems with simple instructions like staying six feet apart from each other. Violation of this simple instruction can be seen almost everywhere Saint Lucians are required to line up for the transaction of their business. Evidence of that was seen during the days leading up to Christmas and the New Year when people lined up in front places like supermarkets, financial institutions, fast food outlets, etc., barely two feet apart, seemingly oblivious to the instructed six feet distance.
Not only do some of us not take into consideration the therapeutics and diagnostics that have been developed and rolled out to fight COVID-19, we also fail to understand these all help to make 2021 a better year for us compared to 2020.
Like the General Secretary of the World Health Organization said in his New Year’s Day message, vaccines offer great hope to turn the tide of the pandemic. We want to say that obedience/compliance to the protocols and guidelines set up by the authorities also offer great hope to turn the tide of the pandemic right here in Saint Lucia.
Turning the tide of the pandemic in Saint Lucia is the challenge we must rise to this year. It is something that can be accomplished if we all, with one accord, decide to do just that.
COVID-19 will not simply disappear if we do not do something about it, more so now that a new variant of it has been discovered and is said to be circulating globally. In the United Kingdom, this variant has emerged with an unusually large number of mutations. And according to reports this variant seems to spread more easily and quickly than other variants.
And so, let us fight to stop the in-country spread of the virus and its variants from entering Saint Lucia. That way we can make 2021 a better year for us as this will lead to the elimination of some of the very things, we hope will not rear their heads this year.