THE GOVERNMENT'S decision to discontinue the state of emergency on Wednesday, before it is due to lapse, is confirmation that political considerations have hijacked public health management.

The Prime Minister's announcement on Saturday flies in the face of his own policy of gradual and careful promulgation of measures.

After some missteps during the initial stages of the pandemic, Dr Rowley stopped making short-notice announcements that precipitated panic, and began to implement a clear system of making major changes to the rules more cautiously.

His original decision not to seek an extension of the emergency was always more of a passive position. It seemed tacitly to acknowledge Government's belief that it was unlikely to get opposition support to extend the emergency further; or that a vote was too risky ahead of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) election.

But ending the emergency this Wednesday is an active move being made during the worst increase in covid19 deaths and cases in months. Since November 8, epidemiologist Dr Avery Hinds said the country was in the throes of a surge, which had started a month earlier.

This move to end the emergency cannot now be blamed on the Opposition, which has already indicated it intends to oppose it.

The Prime Minister's original announcement that the SoE will not be extended might have been justifiable on the basis of the country's moving from trying to control the epidemic to managing an endemic illness that will be with us for a long time to come. That is, had it not been for the rapidly rising cases and deaths, which show we have not reached that stage.

The Government could have made full use of the existing authority bestowed on it by the Constitution and Parliament, which would at least carry the SoE to November 29. It could even have gone back to Parliament, knowing it would not get the special majority needed to extend the SoE, to indicate how dire the situation has become; despite losing the vote, it would have gained credit for its good faith in trying every possible measure to slow the spread of the virus.

The Opposition has linked this week's move to the THA election campaign, placing pressure on the Government to explain why ending the SoE prematurely is necessary and expedient.

From our vantage point, the decision to bring forward the natural end of the SoE appears unnecessary and hasty. Not only does it contradict the science, it contradicts the Government's careful calibration so far of public health rules.

With Government's own officials daily reminding us how terrifying the current situation is, the abrupt removal of this measure also sends a confusing signal to a disinformation-addled population: that the peril of the pandemic is over.

On Wednesday, the legal emergency might end, but the real emergency may begin.