Prime Minister describes national lockdown call as ‘moving target’

By Aaron Humes: The COVID-19 National Oversight Committee is to meet today, Monday, after a weekend that saw another death reported from the disease and a modest but significant increase of cases reported, mostly in the major hotspots of Ambergris Caye and the North.

Unlike and because of the swiftness with which the Government moved in late March and early April to institute lockdown with a fewer number of cases, the Government is not moving as quickly according to Prime Minister and head of the Committee, Dean Barrow: “Precisely because we saw how much we suffered economically and perhaps in terms of mental health, socially, from the first lockdown, we are not going to be in as much of a hurry as we were before to pull the trigger for a second lockdown. I can’t give you a number, you ask about a threshold but I think that a lot depends on the particulars; this is one case in which the devil really is in the details.”

The P.M. does accept, he confirmed, that the threshold for lockdown is one of a ‘moving target.’

As of the moment, the Prime Minister pointed out that the cases popping up countrywide are mainly linked to the situation in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye and in Orange Walk, and as long as that remains the case, it is hopefully not necessary, but it is very much still on the table.

Concerning the slowness to lock down San Pedro after the ‘index case’ was identified, the Prime Minister pointed out that, having learned their lesson from the first State of Emergency, workers began leaving within hours after the index case was publicized. He added that it does take some time to promulgate the regulations and have everyone sign off on them, giving additional time to escape as it were.

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