On Saturday, the Prime Minister announced a roll-back of the restrictions imposed over the last two years, beginning on April 4.
From that date, the legal restrictions on public gatherings, the use of beaches and rivers and the entire safe-zone system will be removed. Travellers can now enter the country with a negative covid19 antigen test, and schoolchildren are expected to return to the classroom in April.
Masks are still required in public spaces, except for sporting activities.
These decisions followed discussions with the health team that's managed the covid19 pandemic since March 2020, as numbers continue to decline in hospitals and critical care.
The Prime Minister explained that 708,000 people were fully vaccinated, while 300,000 were exposed to covid19, and so had gained natural immunity.
The removal of restrictions comes with caveats. The PM warned that while the government was relaxing the laws governing public health, it did not mean there was no cause for concern.
Individuals must now take greater responsibility for their own safety and make their own decisions about what they consider safe behaviours.
He further cautioned that some countries have reinstated restrictions after covid19 cases surged.
Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands are experiencing increases of a new variant of omicron, BA.2, and must manage both an aggressive return of the virus and annoyance with restrictions.
The new omicron strain doubled cases in a single day – March 16 – in China, with the province of Jilin leading a new wave of infections. China, which has a zero -tolerance policy on covid19 spread, immediately put almost 30 million people back into lockdown.
While TT restrictions may be relaxed, the government should not hesitate to offer guidelines to guide citizens and institutions, both public and private, on expected practices and procedures.
Most critical will be the education sector, which is expected to reopen fully after Easter.
In January, the Health Minister announced that the government was in negotiations to buy the Pfizer vaccine approved for use in children between the ages of five and 11. The Government of Spain has offered TT 40,000 of these vaccines.
While the infection rate among children is low, they are vulnerable to covid-related multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) which can cause significant damage to internal organs.
There will also be a need for continued surveillance for as-yet-unknown possible long-term effects of covid, even among those who appear fully recovered.
The first step for everyone is a national acceptance that not everyone is ready to relax. Because of personal concern or medical vulnerabilities, there will be some who will continue prudently to restrict their interactions and movement. These individuals and groups should be respected and assisted.
Common sense and empathy should be our watchwords as we move to endemic status with covid.
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