Guyana is once more in the news and as usual, it is not good news. In fact, Guyana has almost always made the news for all the bad things. Way back in 1978, there was the Jonestown Massacre. Most people did not even know that Guyana had a place called Jonestown.
To even highlight the remoteness of the country, most of the world never heard of Guyana. Letters posted from foreign lands to Guyana often ended up in Ghana.
There was an instance in London. A man walked into a watch repairer’s and pretty soon a conversation started. Whether people want to believe it or not, Guyanese have a distinct accent. To be more correct, Guyanese have an accent that is not that common. It is almost identical to the accent of Belize.
But in London, the watch repairer’s asked the man where he had come from and the man said, Guyana. The watch repairer’s frowned and the man on seeing this said, “The country of Clive Lloyd and Rohan Kanhai and Alvin Kallicharran.” Recognition dawned.
Guyana, according to the Centres for Disease Control, is now a country to be avoided. On Monday it published a warning to all Americans, to avoid travelling to Guyana. The United States, if the news is to be believed, only recently slipped behind Brazil as far as COVID infections and COVID deaths are concerned.
More than half a million people have died of COVID in the United States within the past year. And there have been more than 31 million infections. Guyana with some 740,000 people has recorded 11,000 infections and 277 deaths.
So what is it that makes Guyana so dangerous? Perhaps the Americans have no regard for the manner in which the local health authorities are dealing with the COVID cases. A few weeks ago, there was mention that in the not too distant past, people were dying by the ones.
Although the management of COVID-19 cases should have been drastically improved at this time, people are dying at an alarming rate. Four people died on Sunday. More than 110 people have died this year alone.
For this month 46 people have died making it the deadliest month in the face of COVID-19. Perhaps this is what has caused the United States to issue a dire warning about travelling to Guyana.
But then again, the Maths would show that Guyana has a higher death rate than the United States when one takes the population into consideration. This tells us about our general attitude.
In the United States, there are people who refuse to adhere to the COVID regulations for personal reasons. In Guyana, it is because some people do not take the coronavirus seriously.
I have read somewhere that hospitalization is increasing in Guyana. Then there is the severity of the virus. The word is that it is more serious this time around.
When things like this happen in some of the developed countries there is immediate action. Canada has locked down again, as have France and the United Kingdom. Guyana is taking things for granted. We reduced the hours of curfew when deaths were at a minimum. We kept the reduced hours when the deaths mounted.
Perhaps, it is as Bharrat Jagdeo said, “People have to die.” Perhaps it is as Irfaan Ali said, “I will create 50,000 jobs.” Irfaan never said where. Now people see that he is keeping his promise. There are jobs galore in the cemetery and at the crematorium.
The vaccines are here. There are conflicting signals about the vaccine. The overwhelming view is that it will protect people from the harshest effects of COVID-19. People will not die, the authorities are saying. Hospitalisation would also be reduced.
Yet there are many who have a fear of the vaccine. They have heard about a few cases of blood clots and some other reactions. The result is that there are people who are not taking it.
Young people were supposed to be the most at-risk group at this time. The drive is on to vaccinate them. Gone are the days when COVID-19 was said to attack people with co-morbidities and who were over sixty.
Meanwhile, the COVID relief after more than a year is still shrouded in confusion. Sharing this money should have been the easiest thing. There was no need for people to walk around with a large sum of cash to make the payouts. But that is what happened.
And when that happened the people sharing the money could not resist the temptation to help themselves. I am willing to bet that there are people who are spending the relief money ahead of the people who need it.
The government now says that it will release even more money. People will line up again, and some households will get twice.
