Whites inherently evil?

An afro-American millennium really had me thinking this weekend.

We were discussing the increased racial tensions in the USA and the decades of struggles of people like Representative John Lewis, who recently died, for racial equality. Lewis's achievements were being celebrated all weekend as a precursor to his burial which will take place around mid-week.

That's when he sprung this question on me;  "Did you know the term racism was coined by whites?"

Taken aback I told him I had never given it a thought, but racism in the USA is certainly toxic.

Then he added, "whites are inherently evil."

My initial reaction to that was one of amusement since I had been around when the late Elijah Mohammed, founder of the black Muslims, used to declare that the "the white man was the devil".

More specifically, according to the Independent, with reference to the white people in America,  Elijah's often declared that "The white man is the Devil. We do believe that. We know it he is a  blue-eyed, blond-headed Devil! No good in him, no justice, he’s gonna be destroyed!"


Even my hero, the late Mohamed Ali who was an ardent follower of Elijah Mohamed, had often repeated such sentiments, but since the death of Elijah and the divisions in his organization, I really had not heard that argument again. In fact,  as a student of the late Malcolm X, I had dismissed or rather, ceased to give it even a second thought since Malcolm's rejection of that philosophy after he returned from Mecca, where he discovered that, unlike in the USA, Muslims came in all colors, and it was illogical to brand any one race as all bad.

Anyway, I decided to engage my young thinker in further discussion.

His philosophy was that white people are inherently evil since from the beginning of written history, each generation of whites has tried to either enslave or commit genocide against every other race. This as they pillaged and stole their possessions. To detract from this inherent evil as a race, he continued, some devious white person coined the word "racism," so we would become distracted from the real issue and instead waste time arguing about which whites, groups, or parties were more racist!

Well, that certainly stopped me in my tracks and the more I thought about it, the more I realized how correct he could be! And now I understand perfectly, the sentiments expressed by Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tom-cotton-slavery-necessary-evil-1619-project/)that;  " US founders viewed slavery as a "necessary evil upon which the union was built".

Yup, necessary in the view of whites, as it comes naturally to them to either erase every other race or work them to death, so the white race can prosper! 

I am sure we all know some really good white people so may very well reject this thesis, but before we do we need to remember always,  that there are exceptions to every rule!

The child is surely the father of the man (woman).

https://youtu.be/9nWaAEZi8SM

More testing less results?

While the governor of Florida is talking about speeding up testing, no one seems to be paying any attention to getting the results back quickly, to effectively stem the increase in coronavirus.

For the long time it takes to get results in Florida, make them totally useless.

In my case, I did my corvid test on the 10th of July but up to the 21st,  no results had come back so I resolved never to check for them again.

I needed a negative test result to be able to travel to Jamaica and it could not be no older than 7 days, so they would have no use to me now anyhow.

In fact, in the period of only a few days between getting the appointment to do the test and the actual testing, the wait time for results had theoretically increased from 4-6 days to 7-10 days.  But even on the 21st of July, when the 7-10 day wait had passed, I could not get any results. 

My experience is not unique for I have actually seen people on local television saying they have been waiting two weeks for results. A NBC  news report dated July 21, not only confirmed that 7-10 days or longer, was now the norm, but it went further, stating; "Demand in testing has caused shortages in swabs, chemical reagents, and equipment.

Florida, one of the worst-hit states in the country right now had a record number of hospitalizations Tuesday. Hospitals took in an additional 517 patients since Monday. The death count was recorded at 134 and the state reported 9,440 new cases. The positivity rate among new cases in the state is now over 13 percent, though in Miami-Dade County it’s averaging about 20 percent."

So clearly, in Florida, everything is going in the wrong direction, 

What purpose can results that take so long serve? During the interim, one could be without symptoms but pass the virus to dozens of people. Worse there is no track and trace in Florida, so if your results come back positive in even 5 days, those who contracted it from the silent carriers who did not even know they have it,  are not quarantined so quickly pass it on to others.

That's what happens when incompetent politicians are the ones who are in charge of things they know nothing about and are too arrogant to take advice from qualified scientists.

Unsurprisingly, therefore, even other states in the USA are wary when people travel from Florida as are international destinations like the Bahamas next door. These islands were once the playground of Americans but effective July 20, 2020, all Americans are banned from those islands.

Maybe when the entire world puts up signs saying "Americans not welcome, " Trump and his incompetent minions will take this deadly pandemic seriously.

Who's third world now?

There was a time, not too long ago, when those with the 'Yankee dollar' were not only welcomed throughout the world but also vigorously courted. 

Not anymore, thanks to President Trump  and his band of arrogant incompetents, whose denial of the COVID virus has caused it to spread like wildfire throughout the USA, with no end in sight. So today,  Americans are persona non grata on many foreign shores!

On July 17th, of the almost 14,000 million confirmed cases of coronavirus throughout the world, almost four million are in the USA. And of the over 590,000 deaths worldwide, more than 140, 000 are in the USA. 

That is over 20% of the deaths worldwide.

But none of that concerns Trump and his minions.  In fact, in a move that can only be described as extremely partisan and stupid,  Georgia's republican Governor Brian Kemp, has sued Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms over the city's mask-wearing. I say partisan because the leader of the Republicans has firmly scoffed at setting the example of protecting others and slowing down the spread of the disease, by wearing a mask.  (The CDC now says mask-wearing can  cause the virus to be eliminated in a few weeks if everyone wears a mask.) But those who consider themselves real trumpists, firmly refuse to be masked.

Granted, initially, scientists knew very little about the disease and how it was being spread, so there were contradictions in the scientific community about mask-wearing. However, on the  7th July 2020, the CDC) Center for Disease Control),  the agency which "works 24/7 to protect people from health problems associated with natural disasters and bioterrorism attacks and keeps Americans safe and healthy where they work, live, and play every day." (according to their web site) said in part; "all people should wear face coverings when they’re out in public and around people who don’t live with them, especially when social distancing isn’t feasible. This recommendation is based on what we know about the role respiratory droplets play in the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19, paired with emerging evidence from clinical and laboratory studies that shows face coverings reduce the spray of droplets when worn over the nose and mouth,”

Despite this, those who put more emphasis on politics than science have overtly sabotaged the message.

So Florida, which is now dealing with the largest confirmed coronavirus outbreak of any state during the pandemic, does not have a mask mandate in place. Florida's governor is the notorious Ron DeSantis who gained notoriety during his 2018 campaign for being a Trump toady, when he aired ads in which he played with his baby daughter with blocks, coaching her to “build' the wall.” He also  ran another in which he was teaching her to talk by pointing out the “Make America Great Again” words on a Trump campaign sign and reading sections of Trump’s “Art of the Deal” book to his baby son!

Since DeSantis goes by the Trump playbook, is it any wonder therefore that Florida has the worst coronavirus outbreak in the country, with a 60% increase in contamination since the beginning of July.

Unfortunately, this is where I am stuck and as much as I would love to come home to Jamaica, could not do so as I have been frustrated at every turn.

In view of the facts outlined, I don't at all blame the Jamaican government which has done an excellent job at containing the virus on our shores,  for demanding that before one can travel there from Florida, one must get a certificate, no more than 7 days old, showing a negative result for coronavirus.

Well, I am here to tell you that Trump's regular boast from March this year that anyone who wanted to get tested for corvid could do so, is absolute trash.

Having seen the madness on tv where people were lining up from 5am to closing in Florida to try and get tested and not being able to, I decided that was not for me, so would make an appointment.

In late June, after trying for days to contact different testing centers, including CVS, Walmart, and urgent care centers in Broward county and being met with nothing but phones which rang out or web pages declaring loudly" no testing appointments available at this time,"  I finally got an appointment to be tested on July 10th, and was told the result would be available between 4-6 days. This was at a drive-through facility at CB Smith Park in Pembroke Pines, but it was not easy. For when I first called on the  27th June, after about a 20-minute wait on the phone,  I was told that they had no more slots for appointments so I should call back on the 1st July when they would be doing their new schedule. I called at midday on the 1st, only to hear that the roster for the week was full so I should call back on July 5 th, when they would be doing the roster for the 10th July. Well you know I was on the line at 8.30am, on the 5th, the time I was told they opened. But no one answered the phone at 8.30 or at 9am. It was not till after 10am that the phone was answered and I was given an appointment for July 10th at 12.30. Interestingly, after they took my info, I was warned not to come early as I would be sent to the back of the line!! 

When I asked when the result would be ready I was told 4-6 days, so confidently I booked a flight for the afternoon of the 16th of July. (remember the negative certificate required to travel to Jamaica from Florida, should be no older than 7 days.)

The testing process went through like clockwork, only taking about 45 minutes to be completed, with the worst part being when they pushed the swab up my nose, almost up through my eye! But when it was over, my bubble burst as when I asked when the result would be ready I was told 7-10 days. In shock, I told the lady that I was told 4-6 days when I made the appointment but she told me that was before the test requests almost doubled.

Living in hope, I went through with my arrangements to travel, confident that I would make it during the 4-6 day period. But it was not to be, for up to 18th July, a day after I canceled my flight and had heard a lady complaining on tv that her results were not back although her test was done 2 weeks before, my results still were not posted. Of course, no one answers the phone on the results line either. 

A friend who took the test a day before I did, told me she got her results on the 16th, but her husband's had not come back up to the 18th, although they were both tested at the same time. He, she said, would be taking over the test as the person who looked after their house in Jamaica had died so they had to get home. 

I wish them the greatest luck as things are deteriorating rapidly in Florida so I don't see many people making the 7-day deadline to travel to Jamaica.

What is absolutely amazing is that in Florida, by the time one gets a result, if one is positive for the virus, one could spread it to hundreds without knowing, because of the tardiness in getting results. Further, there is no track and trace in place, despite the rapid spread in the state.

There was a time when the USA was said to be first world and Jamaica 3rd world, but in the area of disease containment, the roles have definitely been reserved.

 

So near yet so far

There are two reasons why I decided to pick Florida to hang out when in North America. Firstly, their weather is similar to ours in Jamaica and secondly, it is only an hour and a half flight to my home.

Well, all that made a lot of sense before an invisible plague hit mankind in 2020, showing proud humans that they are not as all-powerful as they thought. So,  although the coronavirus has been with us for over six months now, some idiotic politicians just cannot learn!

One of those politicians is the Florida governor, Ron Desantis, a follower of the imbecilic president whose handling of the virus has caused the USA to suffer unnecessary deaths, and devastation.

For both Desantis and the president, have not only refused to adhere to the primary  recommendations of knowledgable scientists but even the basic wearing of a mask, which has proven to help contain spread the virus, they have politicized, to the detriment of the entire country. 

So now Trump's rabid followers who take their every cue from him, have been spreading the virus in Red states, as they adamantly refused to wear masks and are even scoffing a social distancing. This has caused confrontation in some business places and on the streets. Granted in the USA it has not reached the point it did in France recently, where it was reported that in the city of Bayonne, a bus driver was severely beaten and later died, when he demanded  that four passengers wear masks when traveling on his bus. That is tragic but I actually expected to see that type of a report coming out of the USA before anywhere else!

 What's the big deal about wearing a mask if it can save lives? 

The people of Vietnam have been wearing masks for decades, not because of the virus, but because that absolutely beautiful country is being destroyed by smog. Actually, one of the masks I now wear, I bought there about two years ago.

Many scientists are now convinced that it is the widespread use of masks there, which has led to their amazing success in fighting the virus, for according to reports, with a population of over 95 million, as of 11 July 2020, they had 370 confirmed cases, 350 recoveries, and no deaths.'

Jamaica too has been doing quite well at managing the virus, since with over 737 positive cases of coronavirus detected, there have been only 10 deaths. In other words, these two so-called third-world countries have learned how to contain the spread of the virus.

 On the other hand, at this time, Florida, population just under 22 million and a supposedly first world state, has over a quarter-million cases of the virus and more than 4,100 deaths thus far. Interestingly, the government refuses to say how many people are critically ill in hospital, but reports are being leaked to the effect that most of the hospitals are running out of beds for critically ill people. All this is because of the governor taking his cue from Trump instead of qualified scientists. 

What started me on this rant is the fact that I wish to visit my beautiful home, but since I am presently in highly contaminated Florida, I have to take a test which should be no older than seven days, showing that I am virus-free before I will be allowed to go to my home.

However, the slothful authorities in Florida have caused the testing process to be a total mess.

To begin with, it took me about four days to find a place where I could get an appointment to do a test and when I actually did it, the time period to have the results returned, had moved from 4-6 days to 7-10 days. 

In other words, I am stuck here. 

I wonder how many people you can contaminate if you are going around with the virus for 7-10 days but don't know that you have it?

Of course, I am not blaming the Jamaican government for putting in place, stringent measures to curb the importation of the virus.

Oh yes, I have long maintained that we should learn to live with it, for it may be with us for years, and we certainly can't keep our country locked down. The fact is, this virus kills and severely affects very few who get it, but keeping the country locked down will be too devastating for the majority of the Jamaican population, some 17 % of whom already live in poverty. So if the government decides to open up tourism but bans people coming from severely contaminated places in the USA, I totally agree with them, even if it means that for the first time in my life, I will be unable to go to my home at will, although Florida remains, so near yet so far.

Will their true worth be valued? Nah!

I am bemused, as no doubt are the scientists who were taken by surprise by the coronavirus. For it seems clear now that they overreacted.

Don't get me wrong, I am happy they did, for had they not done so, the death rate would have exceeded the 390,000 it is today. (with the US alone having more than 110,000).

The scary thing is though, we really have no idea yet what the economic impact and indeed the death by poverty and malnutrition will be, as a result of economies all over the world, being closed down immediately and for months.

Before this vicious virus struck, over seven hundred million on this planet, lived on less than US$2 per day. Since the shutdown, the World Food Program, (WFP)  estimates that some 265 million will directly face starvation and malnutrition-related problems during 2020.

For most people in the first world, such statistics have no impact, as they are just numbers. For me, it is chilling though, since I have spent most of my life in a third world country, where avoiding those on the verge of starvation and deprivation has always been impossible.

However, those who treat the figures above as just meanless statistics will somehow be affected by what is happening to the poor, as this must have an impact on world peace and stability in many countries. 

For, consider this, if so many hundreds of thousands of people worldwide were prepared put their health and even their lives at risk this past weekend, thousands by putting their masks and social distancing away to go on the streets to demonstrate against racism in America, what will people, in general, be prepared to do when facing starvation?

 

Why am I feeling like such a prophetess of doom today, a role I have never cherished?

My more positive position arises from the fact that I feel that the spread of the disease will not be as dire as scientists are predicting, based on close proximity to each other over the last 2 weeks. Being in the outdoors in my book must make a world of a difference, so we can open up and get our economies moving.

No, I am not a scientist so call it a feeling. Yes, I am sure many will get sick and some will even die. But isn't it God who really determines when any of us must die? Yes, we can take precautions against getting ill, like wearing masks and spending more time outside, but in the final analysis, we have to learn to co-exist with diseases, for the solution can never be to cower under our beds.

I would hate to be a decision-maker in my little island of Jamaica, for you will be condemned if you do and condemned if you don't.

So you may as well do.

Before the pandemic, we had a poverty rate of between 14-17% depending on who you wished to believe. Tourism contributes 10% to our GDP and supplies 25% of the jobs, so having to close down that sector has not only been directly devastating to the workers,  but also to people like farmers, craft vendors etc.

Jamaica, therefore, cannot continue to have that sector remain closed indefinitely, especially in light of the fact that other competing destinations are gingerly opening up their countries. So while extra attention is being paid to doing everything to keep the spread of the virus to the minimum,  like deep and continuous cleaning, the mandatory wearing of masks and keeping people a safe distance apart,  had we chosen to test every visitor who visits our shores, no one would be visiting our island soon.

And opening up, cannot mean testing every visitor to the island, for that too would not only be impossible but also it would cause our competitors to wipe us out.

With our public health authorities now having a handle on dealing with the virus, the government decided to open up some schools, businesses, and tourism, partially, on the 15th, June 2020. 

For tourism. they have declared they are not requiring that visitors certify that they are coronavirus free nor will they be testing everyone who arrives on our shores. 

This has naturally caused a loud outcry from detractors.

But detractors have no responsibility for making decisions that affect people's lives and livelihood so they can be ignored when they choose to make an issue of everything.

The government has to remain bold and stick to its guns to save the majority from unnecessary peril and starvation. And they are doing just that by having facilities ready to deal with any visitor or tourism worker who becomes ill. It is the right way to proceed.

We have the sea, sun, and fresh air on our side so hopefully, the effect of this damn virus will be minimal and time will prove that this was the sane way to proceed.

On a more positive note, this awful virus has highlighted the true value of human effort in societies.

What I  mean is that before the pandemic, the "valuable"  people based on their remuneration, were, film stars, sportsmen/women and other types of entertainers. When I say valuable, I mean they are the ones who could demand any salary they wanted and get it.

Oh, I would never downgrade the role of entertainers and sportspeople, for entertainment in all forms, plays a critical role in drowning monotony and even allowing us to take a break from depressing real-life stresses.

Because entertainers and sportspeople fall within the private sector, the players are paid huge salaries.

However, when the pandemic arrived, people suddenly realized the really critical players in the society are teachers, health care workers, sanitation workers, those who provide our food etc. But these are among the lowest paid in most societies! As a result of this new awakening, all sorts of tributes including fly-overs from ace pilots, dedicated songs from musicians have sprouted up to honor the workers in these areas. But will their importance to the society be still recognized once the pandemic is under control?

I would love to be optimistic, but the reality is, most such workers are paid from the public purse worldwide and governments are notorious for underpaying such people. I don't think it's because the politicians are especially wicked, but the reality is, improving salaries means having to impose higher taxes and none of us like to pay more taxes!

So back to the title; will their true worth be of value when it comes to prioritizing who should be well compensated?

Sadly, even if it does in words,  I don't think it will show where it should, that is, in their compensation packages.

Will they succeed this time? Yes, if they vote !

I have always heard that America was a dangerous place for non-whites, but thought that with the election of Barack Obama, the country was on its way to redemption.

Then along came Donald J Trump.

 When he said " Make America Great Again", Trump knew full well that it had never been great for non-white people, but that did not matter as that sector had never been important to him. 

You see,  racism is in his DNA. 

This, he made abundantly clear when his regime used brutal methods on even babies, coming from south of the border while ruing the fact that more people from Norway were not migrating to the USA! 

This was quickly followed by his charges that Haitians and Nigerians were from were shit house countries.

I suppose, even these types of racist remarks should not have been surprising since he had become the de facto leader of white supremacists from 2014, when he led the charge to try and discredit Obama through the "birther conspiracy."

 Oh no, I would never claim Trump is the father of white supremacy in the USA, but he certainly gave it legitimacy when he, as president, described Klan members, neo-nazis, and other white supremacists who demonstrated in Charlotteville in 2017,  as very good people.

 Despite all this and the number of cruel murders and lynchings of blacks by the white establishment, amazingly, those seeking justice remained very patient until May 2020. 

Derek Chauvin, the policeman who murdered George Floyd in slow motion. This act he nonchalantly carried out during an 8 minute period, as the victim, feeling the breath leaving his body, cried out in desperation for his long deceased mother

.

 It took a chilling video of Derek Chauvin, a white policeman in Minnesota,  murdering George Floyd in plain view and in slow motion,  with his hand nonchalantly in his pocket, for the bubble to burst. 

 And this was over a $20 bill which they claimed was fake, but which turned out to be real!

 This event followed closely on the heels on a series of blatant, racist events, also in full color, which would have aroused even the angels in heaven.

 Among the incidents which immediately preceded this horrific murder were; the video widely circulated on social media, in which a woman is heard questioning her baby daughter who is clearly just learning to speak, about where her snacks were. The child replied  "a black man stole them"  and the mother laughed in approval, for her child had certainly learned her lesson well;  the news of a Georgia pastor, claiming he had been robbed and abducted by black men to cover up the fact that he was spending the time he could not be found, in a hotel with a man he met in Craig List; the news of the mother in Florida claiming her son was abducted by black men when the truth was she had killed her own child by drowning him; the situation in Georgia, where the authorities had for 74 days, (from February to May) refused to arrest the father and son team of white supremacists,  Gregory and Travis McMichael, who had murdered an unarmed black jogger, Ahmaud Arbery, and the clear expectation by the lying Amy Cooper, that she could get a policeman to come to brutalize or kill an Afro American bird-watcher in Central Park for allegedly threatening her, when indeed all he had done was to tell her to obey the law and leash her dog.!

Amy Cooper. called the police on Christian  Cooper, an Afro American Harvard educated biomedical editor, who she no doubt expected to be killed or brutalized by white cops, on her say so!

The white supremacists Gregory and Travis McMichael ho lynched the black jogger Ahmaud Arbery.

The straw, however, was the brutal murder in slow motion, of George Floyd. 

While, thanks to cell phone users, there have been regular videos of the racist police and white supremacists murdering unarmed black people all over the USA,  they have been getting away with it. for only 1% of the police has ever been convicted for such murders. 

 Before this,  the white establishment always claimed such incidents were isolated events.

In May 2020 however, the truth about systemic, dangerous racism in the USA was exposed for the entire world to see, and millions said "No more".

While some of the peaceful demonstrations against the murders and injustice in the USA have been marred by criminals, white racists, and other agents provocateurs infiltrating the demonstrations to try and discredit them, they have failed.

It is now clear that some of the agent provocateurs had hoped their actions would provide their leader, the president, with a reason to bring soldiers into the streets to kill peaceful demonstrators. 

Happily, that too failed.

A white cop in the role of agent provocateur was outed by his own wife, who recognized him!

 What has been particularly inspiring over these last few days, is the vast number of white people, predominantly the young, who have joined in the cry for justice throughout the world. For they are consciously putting their lives in danger for the cause, knowing they face the possibility of becoming infected by the killer carnivorous.

With the extent of media coverage (even Fox news covered them impartially), it appears that for the first time, a large sector of white America now realizes how oppressive the system has been to black citizens, and that must change. 

As Al Sharpton said most appropriately, for centuries, the establishment has kept their knees on the necks of minorities, and the message finally seems to be getting through.

 This is borne out by the ABC poll of June 5th, which found that 74% of  Americans, now recognize that systemic racism as a problem.

 However, the bad news is, more than 25% refuse to accept this and this amounts to around 80 million people, many of whom are in influential positions.

 This is why those calling for people to make sure that real progress is made by voting,  are on target.

 Yes, it is clear that if equality is ever to be achieved, Trump has to go. But he is only the tip of the iceberg, for,  while some things can be corrected at the federal level, it is at local government, that real reform will be meaningful.

Take the case of police forces clearly having a significant number of recruits drawn from organizations such as the Ku  Klux  Klan and other racist groups, that can only be dealt with at the local level. At the local level too, many district attorneys are elected and that is also where you find influential political idiots like Cynthia Brehm, a GOP chairwoman in Texas, who said in a tweet, that George Floyd's murder was staged!

 The system at the local level is rife with powerful people like her.

Yes, peaceful demonstrations have their role, but until the systemic problems at the local level which have led to numerous injustices like: 50% of non-whites being unemployed while only 21% are;  outright bias in the sentencing of non-whites in the courts; unfair and murderous treatment by the police: chronic underfunding of schools in black areas and the poor health care for minorities which has led to the carnivorous wreaking havoc, George Floyd's's death and the death of so many other innocents, will have been in vain for very little will change for the minorities.

 And without real change at the legislative level in local government,  racist presidents like Trump will continue to stand in the way of progress.

 Question; Do you think the cry for justice would have received such overwhelming support worldwide if Donald Trump wasn't so despised for his overt racism and narcissism?

https://youtu.be/9nWaAEZi8SM

Open up

Sometimes our close proximity to the rich and powerful USA, skews the judgment of Jamaican politicians, to the detriment of the taxpayers.

Take our response to this Coronavirus. Granted it is a brand new virus and as we have so few scientists, we have to be guided by their research.

The fact is this coronavirus has been creating havoc in Europe, the USA the colder climes, and they correctly adopted the course of locking down their economies until they could understand how to deal with the new, very contagious scourge. And our government has been very careful as we also had no clue what was happening and where it would end up. But things are very clear now so it is time we allowed common sense to prevail.

At the time of writing, this is the current situation. In the USA, they have identified approximately 1.4 million cases of the virus, and approximately 82,500 persons have died. That put their death rate from the virus at just over 5.5%. Scary statistic indeed.

 On the other hand, Jamaica has had 502 confirmed cases, and only 9 deaths,  a death rate of only 1.79%. The even better news is that while the government prepared 350 beds in anticipation of the virus badly affecting us, only 16% have had to be used.

 Now I don't know the reasons for our extremely low death rate in the face of this virulent virus but was told by a doctor that the BCG vaccine which we got as children to protect us against TB, maybe a factor. All that is still being studied but the fact remains, the virus is not as devastating in our country as is it is up north.

 Let us put it into perspective further too. According to the World Health Organisation, in 2019, Jamaica had 339 cases of dengue causing 6 deaths from the disease. That is 1.76 percentage, just about the same as the death rate from coronavirus but I never saw anyone panicking about the incidence of that disease in our country which has no end of mosquitos!

The reality of life is that diseases will always be with us. We have a responsibility to try and understand them and manage them, not allow them to manage us. We also need to chart our course and stop mimicking the USA at every turn.

While in the rich USA, they can afford to pay people to stay home, far too many of our people have no such safety net.

And our country cannot afford to give them one.

In fact, let's not forget that 17% of Jamaicans live below the poverty line,  and most have to "hustle" every day to put food on the table. I know many of us hate the term hustle as it connotes illegality, but I don't think the majority are involved in illegal activity, for hustling can involve anything from begging to selling sweets at the school gate, all activities which are legal and which prevent a host of children from going to bed hungry every night.
As to the effect on our education. The last figure I could find about internet availability in Jamaica is only 53% of the population, so talk of distance learning here is wishful thinking.

We, therefore, need to sit up, take stock of our own situation deal with our own realities and stop following the USA, for the cost of any kind of prolonged shutdown, including that of our beaches and rivers is just too expensive for us.

 Since it all came from abroad, naturally we need to continue screening all entering our ports and quarantining where necessary. To make potential visitors feel confident and get our tourism industry rolling once again, we need to certify those working in the industry as being COVID free. We should also ramp up public education and put in place all the preventative measures including the best Hygenic practices, use of masks, and social distancing. They will help curtail the spread of the virus which in my books quite benign when compared to the devastating effect locking down the economy is going to have on the poor.

I think we should also discuss maintaining some curfews, not so much to manage the virus but to help us dealing with crime, for in my book, that the real scourge in our society.