Open up the country
Published:Monday | May 25, 2020 | 12:11 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
AS TIME goes by, I’m beginning to rethink my position on indefinite lockdown.
Donald Trump has not been doing a particularly good job managing this pandemic, but to be fair, could anybody else have done better?
Jamaica’s leadership apparatus has fared much better, but there’s an overarching problem nevertheless:
This thing is an apocalypse.
Humans are social beings, we crave contact and fellowship with other human beings. I know the coronavirus is potentially deadly, but so is psychological stress from indefinite isolation.
When I think of my brothers and sisters in Jamaica, it focuses my mind much clearer behind this new position I’ve taken.
At least in the United States, citizens have a little reserve in the form of limited savings, cashable insurance packages, social security or a little pension, if it comes to that.
Many people in Jamaica, with scarcely any funds, no reserve whatsoever, and a non-existent or pitifully inadequate social safety net, cannot put food on the table if they don’t leave the house.
It is terrible to have to make a call between risking infectious death and starving to death, but this is where we are at this juncture. There is no need to sugar-coat it – I would recommend reopening the country.
PAUL HAYE