THE EDITOR: I saw a video of Chaud Restaurant offering up its equipment, furniture et al for sale. A fair-minded person would suggest this can only be due to the prolonged economic shutdown.

However, a critical thinker would offer another explanation – the inability of the Government to offer a reopening plan.

The Canadians had clear targets/milestones/stage gates and the like for their reopening, including a daily infection rate of 500 a day, positivity rate, percentage of the population receiving the first vaccine shot and percentage receiving the second, among others.

I remember in a “Saturday surprise” news conference a reporter asked the PM what numbers is the Government looking for before removing restrictions and reopening borders. The PM said he didn’t want to talk numbers. Really?

In management there is a saying, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.”

Why can’t the Government lay out a proper plan, for all to see, so that business owners and their creditors can have some certainty about the process? Maybe, just maybe, Chaud and other small and medium businesses could remain open if they can measure the state of the pandemic and manage their remaining resources. One thing financial institutions dislike is uncertainty.

I think it’s a reasonable request to have a properly laid-out plan, with metrics, timelines, projections and stage gates to manage the process. However, we are not getting that. All we are getting is a Saturday surprise presser, with announcements based on some information we know and other factors we don’t know. That doesn’t make sense in a pandemic. The more targets the population sees, the better the response to meet them.

If some people are honest with themselves, they will agree that the communication of the reopening plan is very poor and seems to be based on vaps and/or public pressure/outcry. Example: the recent loosening of taxi and construction restrictions only occurred following protests.

I don’t understand why there is such contempt for the population’s intelligence. Sometimes it also appears there is contempt for the population as a whole.

KEEGAN DENNY

San Fernando

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