A few weeks back I asked if we could get a road map for Bermuda to climb out of this Covid mess. When you are trying to reach a destination and you need others to follow you, it is important that you have a road map and provide it to others so that they can follow. It just needs to be a clear and concise plan that has levels for ramping up when there are spikes, and receding to lesser restrictions when numbers are controlled.

This would describe financial benefits, school impact, and all other restrictions that are required at each level. This brings a level of comfort that there is a plan, and people know how to get back on the road when there are obstacles. The lack of a road map and plan does the opposite to a community. There is anxiety that is created and eventually some persons start to try to create their own road map because they lose faith in the direction they are being taken.

During the first phase, Bermuda went into shelter-in-place to protect the population from the health crisis and to try to keep the economy intact. There seemed to be a clear plan in front of us that had also been set out by leadership in other major countries. We flattened the curve and by September we had moved towards a more normal existence. We were not fully back, but people started to return to work, retail and hospitality started to limp along, and everyone was waiting for a vaccine to get back to open.

There was a hole in our plan because we had to keep our airport open. This meant that a small group of travellers would continue to bring the virus to our shores on a weekly basis. This problem became bigger because we would allow these travellers to join the community quickly after their airport arrival test was negative.

What about the people that then tested positive on Day 4, Day 8 and Day 14? How many people did they expose to the virus? The mantra was that there should be only essential travel so that we could keep the spread to a minimum. Most of the people in Bermuda have not travelled since March 2020. Some have had to travel for medical reasons, education, or other critical reasons.

How many people travelled as if life was back to normal and opened themselves and then our community to virus exposure? This group was never punished or restricted or made to stay at home for 14 days to protect the rest of the community that was following the rules.

When international news began to discuss the UK variant that spread significantly faster and was causing stress in healthcare, Bermuda didn’t change the plan or provide a road map. We simply allowed people to enter our community, letting the variant in, and test positive on Days 4, 8 and 14. We also had a small portion of our community start to ignore all the rules and restrictions, opening the gates to community spread.

What happens next is Bermuda driving forward without a road map. The community spread gets out of hand, cases skyrocket, hospital admission increases and now the deaths have unfortunately started to climb. We must learn from the past year: adapt and plan. The impact of the decisions being made now cross all areas of Bermuda.

It is important to point out just some of that impact.

Schools had to close early and then return with virtual learning and now cancelled assessments. When we were open, did we make sure that every student had what they needed in the event of another shutdown? Even if you believe that we would not need to shut down again, you needed to plan for the possibility and then communicate more than 48 hours ahead of the actual shutdown.

The hospitality business and all of the workers that are employed in this industry have been hit extremely hard by this pandemic. Each restriction has a different impact on the business and, in turn, its employees. When you shut down within 48 hours, what happens to all of the foodstuffs and produce that the restaurants had already purchased?

The first shutdown last year resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in spoilt produce. A year later with the sudden shutdown, there will be more spoilage. Why didn’t we learn from last year and give the industry proper time to prepare?

As we ease out of the stay-at-home order, restaurants can offer kerbside pick-up and delivery. Many will think that this is good for the restaurant, but this half-measure can be the end for a restaurant. If they open, they start to accumulate cost while the customers are working from home, so the risk of little to no business is real.

The big companies may have the ability to survive this restricted opening, but many others will not open rather than risk whatever business is left going under. Do we have any real data on the level of spread that was happening at our restaurants? Many of them went through great expense to operate outdoors, only to see that option closed also.

Retail is another industry that was suffering pre-Covid, but many saw a bump in business since fewer people travelled. They have been closed again and now can open only with restricted numbers; however, they still are paying import duty and still covering payroll and other expenses, but revenue is restricted. How long can they survive in another shutdown?

We cannot continue to flounder with this reactionary system. We need a road map that gives a plan with multiple stages. At present, the restrictions and regulations that are set out can be confusing and, in many instances, contradicting. Even the Cabinet ministers are having difficulty keeping things straight.

Information on testing and vaccinations will be a critical part of the road map. The mantra now seems to be “get vaccinated and reach herd immunity” and we can reopen. The population doesn’t need to continue to hear politicians speaking about their health. There should be press conferences that have only doctors and scientists from Bermuda giving information, answering questions and providing sources for where people can get believable information instead of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or Doctor Google.

If herd immunity is the answer to reopening, then that education should be the priority. This education campaign needs to be provided on every possible platform so that everyone has access.

There are some questions that need to be answered to give the population comfort and minimise the anxiety and frustration.

If you consider that people under 16 are not vaccinated, that means they are in the 30 per cent that need to be protected by the herd. We have a portion of our community that is hesitant towards getting the vaccine and others that refuse to get vaccinated. Does this mean that from the potential group that can be vaccinated, we will need more than 70 per cent?

When a ten-person business is asked to quarantine for 14 days and all of the ten have been fully vaccinated, it creates questions and frustration. There needs to be a clear and concise answer so that the misinformation does not continue to rule the country.

We need to have balance to health regulations, health of economy and restrictions of the rights of so many that have followed the rules. Use the modelling to create a road map for the next three months, six months and year. That way the population knows the direction being taken to get them to the desired destination.

Without the plan, we will continue to be reactionary, and the results will continue to be unacceptable.

• Ben Smith is the Opposition Senate Leader and the Shadow Minister of Education