Dear Sir,

I heard from a Bermuda Member of Parliament that the Premier will consider closing our borders once a case of Covid-19 tests positive here.

Sounds like a homeowner who knows other homes are being burnt down by Molotov cocktails being thrown through open front doors, but because it hasn’t happened to his house yet, he’s going to keep his front door open until he sees a Molotov cocktail thrown in through it. Then he will close the door.

I’m wondering if our government’s Cabinet will still think this approach appropriate after it has directly lost a loved one to Covid-19.

I have been watching different governmental approaches and the most successful so far seem to be those that:

1, Have closed the borders to all but essential supplies

2, Have prohibited public gatherings and closed schools

3, Have insisted public and private entities enforce work-from-home practices and conduct meetings via videoconferencing

4, Have initiated widespread Covid-19 testing

5, Have quarantined individuals exposed to people positively tested for Covid-19 and traced and further limited infection lines

6, Have introduced intense public training on sanitisation and other methods for reducing Covid-19 exposure

While this list is not exhaustive, it seems to be the minimum required to achieve any real level of success for reducing the progression of the virus until an antidote can be sourced in significant numbers.

The alternative seems to be a completely overwhelmed healthcare system, with so many people getting sick that there is no way of supporting them, and doctors having to make value judgments on care based on survivability.

DAVID M.C. PETTY

Paget