Linking the scaling back of business opening hours to the number of COVID-19 patients at St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) seems reasonable. Throughout the pandemic, preventing limited medical resources from being overburdened, along with serious illness and death, has understandably been a main priority.
Whether or not night-time curfews are the best solution is a matter of debate, but they appear to have worked well so far. For the employers involved and their personnel early closures can be disastrous, but just imagine the impact of another full lockdown or travel ban on the just-recovering tourism economy.
While the Omicron variant of COVID-19 spreads even more easily than its predecessors, symptoms appear to be less severe. For that reason too, using hospitalisations instead of new cases as yardstick makes sense.
According to the latest weekly report of the Netherlands Institute of Public Health and Environment RIVM, St. Maarten’s infection incidence went up to 117 per 100,000 inhabitants. Within the Dutch Caribbean the Omicron mutant has been confirmed on Aruba and Curaçao, but RIVM said source monitoring would only now start on the other islands.
Although it’s no guarantee due to the highly contagious nature of the new variant, vaccination significantly reduced the risk of both getting infected and becoming very sick. The third booster shot greatly enhances this protection.
And it may sound like a broken record or scratched CD, but social distancing, wearing face masks when appropriate and frequently washing hands remain the best way to stay safe.
