So, April first pretty much signals the end of the pandemic that gripped Belize two years ago. But, is the government following the science or are they operating on an economic imperative, meaning are they following the money as it flows through the economy?
That's what we asked the Minister yesterday:
Jules Vasquez
"Perhaps you weren't always looking at the best medical advise, perhaps you all were doing it to for economic reasons, to keep the economy going, I know that is priority for your government but is this based on the most sound medical advise from experts?"
Kevin Bernard - Minister of Health
"Well you notice Jules one of the decisions that when we sat down together and we looked at the trend that's happening here in Belize, the numbers are drastically low, our fatality rate is very low and we feel that is time but as a government we feel that the people have been locked out for too long, they have been too many restrictions and with the number of cases drastically going down on a daily basis, we believe it is manageable and it's time for us to open up fully."
Jules Vasquez
"Okay but you said everything but you didn't say it's based on advise of the experts, I understand if you are saying it's based on the pragmatic view from those in the political directorate, I understand."
Kevin Bernard
"If you ask me if it's based on the advise of experts, its based on the advise of our medical team and so that is what we are going by."
Jules Vasquez
"Are you all concerned that you may have to roll back and reintroduce some of the restrictions when BA2 become prevalent in Belize? Because we know as night follows day it must."
Kevin Bernard
"Just a quick check with our epi-unit Dr. Russell Manzanero just yesterday, I raised that same question, where are we, what are we monitoring, what is the position and we believe that just as the BA1, the BA2 yes as you rightly pointed out in some countries it has created a spike but if you look at the mortality rate it's been very minimal and if there should be a spike, we will have to put certain measures in place to keep the control and spread but we don't believe we will ever go back to that days when we had to lock down our people."
