“This makes no sense,” Dr Fuad Khan thunders at one point in his latest online sermon. “Whoever did this system is a dunce! Is time to get rid ah dese fools in the Ministry of Health.” It’s not easy to decide which set of fools is more wearisome, harder to …
Read More »‘Caring for others comes naturally to me’: Day in the life of a midwife
“[…] The workload has become much heavier since the lockdown. We are now experiencing the backlash of the pandemic lockdown from last year—an increase in deliveries tripling the usual birth rate! “Normally for the first half of the year, the birth rate usually reduces, but for this year it has …
Read More »Dear Editor: Months of missed opportunities: how Deyalsingh and his experts dropped the ball
“[…] Evidence suggests a very strong link between Covid-19 and obesity. In March 2021, the Independent, Sky News and Reuters published an article which highlighted that 90% of Covid-19 deaths were in countries with high obesity rates (in 2018, T&T was ranked 6th in childhood obesity in the Caribbean at …
Read More »Noble: The virus and our democracy—the problem with ‘us’ and ‘them’
The Covid-19 pandemic hit our shores at the wrong time. Indeed, there is no right time, but the state of our nation had made us incredibly vulnerable. We were in a crisis, adjusting to the economic woes and experiencing lowered trust levels in our leaders. In the heat of Covid-19, …
Read More »Two returning nationals test positive for Delta variant; unvaccinated travellers came from USA and Mexico
Trinidad and Tobago has its first two confirmed cases of the Covid-19 Delta variant. The Ministry of Health revealed that both patients are recently returned nationals, who entered the country on the back of negative PCR tests—before testing positive while in state-supervised quarantine. Both are unvaccinated. At present, both persons …
Read More »Daly Bread: Having too much sugar
What do sugar and a Sikorsky helicopter have in common? Perhaps the Sikorsky deal, currently prominent news, was a sweet one with too much sugar. But there is more to it than that. We have been consistently told that a significant number of our Covid deaths are the result of …
Read More »Deyalsingh clarifies temporary easing of Covid-19 restrictions in food industry
“[…] With effect from Monday 19 July 2021, the Minister of Health hereby authorises restaurants, caterers and persons in the food industry to supply or distribute prepared meals for sale to: (a) supermarkets, groceries, markets, green grocers, bakeries, poultry depots; (b) retail membership discount stores; (c) wholesale stores for the …
Read More »Daly Bread: Preparing for the re-opening of T&T’s borders
In the post-vaccination world, borders will re-open to travellers from outside—with the exception of certain countries and subject to specific requirements. In this second summer under the pandemic, we will be restless and chafing against our current border closure regime as large numbers of Caribbean persons want to renew our …
Read More »Noble: The Apology and the Revolution; how both political leaders fell short over Covid-19 blunder
As Trinidadians, we often want to ‘move on’ when difficult issues arise. We seldom wish to examine how public injustices happen. Instead, we accuse all who stop to explore the wreckage since we do not want ‘to play the blame game’. This tendency is why our nation took 14 years …
Read More »MSJ: Opposition Leader’s attack on health care professionals is ‘dangerous in the extreme’
“[…] Mrs Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s most recent attack on our senior public servants in the health care sector must be condemned in the strongest possible manner. “[…] For the leader of the opposition to suggest that these medical professionals are in some form or fashion contributing to ‘premeditated, state-sanctioned murder’ is scurrilous and …
Read More »Media Monitor: Minister’s mistakes and a mess of missed opportunities
CCN’s Anthony Wilson missed an opportunity to cover himself in media glory on Saturday. Responding to a question from the Express Business editor, Prime Minister Dr Keith Christopher Rowley asked rhetorically: “Yuh want somebody to blame? Blame me.” People knowledgeable about boxing might call that leading with your chin. But …
Read More »Noble: Counting our losses; after months following the science, why did minister zigzag?
This week has been awfully long. How the worm has turned! On Thursday 3 June, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley announced that US vice-president Kamala Harris had promised a substantial vaccine donation. On Saturday 5 June, he informed that the country had secured 800,000 Johnson & Johnson vaccines with an …
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