So if the BTIA president is saying it's time for mandates, how does he feel about the latest regulation set to come into effect on October 1st?
That will disallow anyone who isn't vaccinated or who doesn't have a negative COVID test to enter into any public building, including restaurants and grocery stores.
Well, first, he, like others, agreed that there are some kinks to be ironed first. His biggest issue is with the enforcement of such a regulation.
Stewart Krohn, President, BTIA
"We think that particular announcement needs some tweaking. I think the most important thing to remember is that there are measures that the medical community would want to institute that philosophically both myself and the tourism industry is in 100% agreement with. I think where you run into problems is in the enforcement. In other words, you really don't want to enact measures that you can't enforce. Because once you do things like that, it's kind of like, remember when we use to rigorously try to enforce having bicycle lights and bells, so it's one thing for the government and the police to say if you don't have a bell or a light we're going to arrest you and confiscate your bike, they can say that but when it turns out that they don't have a administrative capability to arrest everyone without a bell and a light then suddenly nobody riding a bicycle bothers to have not only a bell or a light but they start riding up stop, the enforcement become very difficult so I think that's what we have to be careful of in this."
But he added that getting vaccinated is a must and, by his reckoning, the decision not to do so is an inherently selfish one. He noted that while others might feel like it's a choice that only affects them, the truth is that it affects the wider public, the health sector, the tourism industry, and the overall economy. Here's how he put it:
Stewart Krohn, President, BTIA
"I will give you my personal opinion, I believe the motto no jab, no job is quite appropriate. It is not fair to our workers, to our staff, it is not fair to our hotel guests or restaurant guests where you're putting your own people and you're putting your visitors which are the lifeblood of your country's economy, it's just not fair to jeopardize their wellbeing, it's that simple. The real problem is that if and when our health system becomes overwhelmed and we cannot treat not only COVID patients but we can't treat heart attack, gunshot wound, stroke, diabetes, pressure, that's the danger we run when our hospital are overrun with COVID people who are by the way if you look at the statistics, largely the unvaccinated people. So when someone says it's my matter of choice I don't want to be vaccinated, you might want to say it's your body you make your choice, that's not the choice because it's not just your body. When you are unvaccinated, you are running a far greater risk of overwhelming the hospital system so because you don't get your vaccination, you take a hospital bed, I get a heart attack, I get shot, I suddenly can't get are, so to not get vaccinated you're not only hurting yourself, you're hurting everyone around you. You're making it easier for the virus to spr4ead to children who are unvaccinated. You're also making it far more easier for new variants to spread and popup, new variants believe it or not can be more harmful than the present delta variant that we are struggling against. So the whole conversation about vaccination has gotten twisted, this is not about personal choice, this is about saving hundreds if not thousands of Belizean lives, and the Belizean economy. It's too serious for people to be selfish."
