Tobago Chamber welcomes removing of masks mandate | Loop Trinidad & Tobago

The Tobago Business Chamber says it welcomes the Government’s choice to take away the masks mandate come July 17.

In an interview with Loop News on Thursday, Chamber President Martin George famous that T&T should “get with the times” to maintain in line with the remainder of the world,

“The world has moved past COVID-19, the virus is no longer an excuse or a reason to keep businesses from functioning properly or to prevent society from carrying out their normal activities. So, this is quite welcome news for us as a business chamber.”

George identified that whereas the choice is there for voluntary mask-wearing, the necessary use had reached some extent “where it was becoming a palpably absurd scenario where masks weren’t required in a fete where thousands of persons were gathered and interacting without masks yet someone who is walking by themselves say, in the middle of the Queens Park Savannah, that person must wear a mask.”

He mentioned regardless of a number of different viruses prior to now, for instance, the SARS virus, society would have discovered to dwell with it and the identical mindset ought to be positioned on COVID-19,

“We should learn to manage ourselves, our personal health and hygiene and I would encourage the nation to keep practicing the basic hygiene and health tips and protocols which we learned through the pandemic. Try to keep your own standards of personal hygiene and once we do that I believe we would definitely be in a better place.”

On Wednesday Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh introduced that from Sunday July 17, members of the general public can cast off masks because the nation will formally finish the mandate that was carried out to stem the unfold of COVID-19. 

Deyalsingh famous nevertheless that the mandate nonetheless applies to visits to well being care amenities which incorporates hospitals and clinics. Masks may even be really helpful at geriatric properties, kids’s properties, locations of worship and customarily indoor areas the place it is tough to observe social distancing. 

As for mask-wearing at colleges, the Minister mentioned: “We will cross that bridge with schools based on the data we have then. So hopefully once the data continues to be good and we see more and more people get vaccinated then we will make further recommendations.”