Paul Wright | Long wait for normality

ANOTHER WEEK has passed with no sports anywhere; no leagues, no competition, no training. For the unrepentant and addicted fan, the absence of live sport on television only aggravates the agony of social distancing and ]tan-a-yuh-yard’.

The well-recognised and acceptable ‘creeping curfew’ is only now beginning to sink in to the unbelievers that COVID-19 is real and dangerous. How long this will last is the $64-million question that has so far defied the predictions of the best minds and experts in the world.

There is a lot of talk about models, which, although scientifically based, keeps coming up with changing information as new facts and data about this novel coronavirus comes to light. The term ‘novel’ is important, as it indicates, and constantly reminds us, that we know very little about how it is spread and how it affects the host. We have moved on from: it only causes serious symptoms in the elderly, it doesn’t affect children, it is not air-borne, it doesn’t affect black people, it presents as an upper respiratory tract infection, to: stay at home; keep at least three feet from others; and wash your hands frequently, while refraining from touching your face.

The susceptibility of patients with other chronic illnesses, like diabetes, hypertension and asthma, remains a very serious co-morbidity that should concentrate the minds of a majority of the local population. There is no doubt that the best way to contain the spread of this virus is to have mass testing, identify those who have the virus (including those who are symptomless), and isolating those who test positive until the incubation period of the virus has passed, 14 to 21 days.

At present, we do not do adequate testing of our citizens.

The only good and acceptable reason must be financial, or if you prefer, economic. The reasons put forward so far, which include the one that effectively blames the testers who are not provided with a kind of ‘spacesuit’ that comes closest to guaranteeing safety when a nasal swab is introduced to the back of the nose of the selected patient, was to my mind unworthy. The practice of deflecting blame and pointing at others when our own inability to do the job assigned seems to be a learnt practice as staying at home, allows some of our leaders to view the activity of a nearby ‘popular’ leader with fondness.

REMUNERATION

If testers are adequately remunerated for what is essentially a dangerous job, allocating ‘crisis pay’ so to speak, the ministry wouldn’t have space for volunteers. Further, special populations must be prioritised for testing, only then can we realistically look at return to ‘normal’.

Two of the most popular sports in Jamaica have their administrators being besieged weekly for an update as to when the sport will resume. I am talking about football and horse racing, not necessarily in that order.

In football, our local administrative body, the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), is facing growing grumbling concerning the financial return to the poorly paid players, who have dependents and are now faced with no income for a protracted period.

The financial state of the JFF is not a secret and after the embarrassment of player and coach showdown with our women’s team and the Reggae Boyz, the problems facing the hierarchy ‘is not pretty’.

The world governing body, FIFA, that already have shown a renewed interest in the financials of Caribbean federations have, last Friday, sent out what could be termed as directives to member associations regarding the return to football. The president, Gianni Infantino, who took over from what could be termed the most corrupt administration ever, with executives either in jail or awaiting trial, is quoted as coming out strongly and definitively with this statement on April 19: “No match, no league, no competition is worth risking a single life. It is better to wait a little bit longer than take risks”.

The return of football in Jamaica will require the travel of teams and supporters across the island, a four-week window after the go-ahead to resume football to get teams physically fit, medical input in the determination of the amount of matches scheduled in a week in order to fulfil sponsorship requirement, and competition end dates/ And if return to play is authorised without spectators, the testing of every player and official would be mandatory.

Therefore, to anticipate the return of football (and, indeed, most sports) before July/August is realistically, wishful thinking.

However, to quote Alexander Pope ( An Essay on Man, 1732): “Hope springs eternal in the human breast”. Let us pray.