The relaxation of restrictions, underlined last week by the removal of the TT Travel Pass requirement and Barbados dropping its outdoor mask mandate, might suggest covid19 is behind us.

It is not.

People are still dying of it – six deaths were reported on Saturday – and infections continue, even in spaces where good sense might have been expected to prevail.

Three monks at Mt St Benedict tested positive a fortnight ago after one began displaying symptoms, didn't bother to take a test ­– and in short order the infection spread. The abbey church is now closed for two weeks, with nine in isolation during the first outbreak of infection there, long after the pandemic reached the country.

There are almost 9,500 active cases, 500 in Tobago, which has the highest rate of infection per 1,000 people in TT.

Data suggests the acute phase of covid19 has been dramatically reduced, but the elderly and patients with comorbidities remain at risk of poor outcomes from infection, so personal caution remains a strong recommendation. And no one, apparently healthy or not, can know in advance whether they will get it mildly.

Children demonstrate greater resistance to covid19 and generally show milder symptoms. Partly, ­ though only partly – as a result of this, perhaps, the newly available vaccines for children five-11 have had a slow uptake so far, despite evidence of increased infections in the school system.

But the long-term impact of the virus still remains to be seen, perhaps years from now. There is still much else that remains unknown about long covid and how the syndrome affects children as well as adults.

The extent to which such cautions are accepted by the wider society bears consideration. The removal of the Travel Pass hasn't opened TT's borders completely. All travellers must provide a negative PCR or antigen test taken 48 hours before entry into the country.

In returning to a semblance of normality, there needs to be greater appreciation of each individual's comfort zone in all aspects of in-person interaction.

As restrictions are lifted, exposure is no longer a possibility but a certainty, but individuals can reduce the viral load they are exposed to through continued masking and social distancing in public places – as is still required by the regulations – and increasing their resistance through vaccination and booster shots when recommended.

A national testing regime is important to gauge the spread of the virus and identify infection hot spots when they appear. There has never been a satisfactory level of such testing; and now that a less worryingly low level of vaccination has been achieved, a milder variant is currently dominant, and death rates have dropped, complacency is setting in.

But understanding what's happening with the virus remains important: it's still here and reducing its spread remains everyone's business.

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