Nevispages weekly feature by Curtis Morton Sr
The way I see it: The chickens are finally coming home to roost.
Some time ago, I opined that we were either truly blessed or LUCKY. This was due to the fact that I was aware that we were not as a total population, adhering to the required covid-19 protocols and as a matter of fact, some persons were becoming aggressive and adamant when they were told to observe such protocols.
They were insisting that ‘we no got no covid here. Nutten ah kip!’
And so, I stood in my shoes and I wondered… Then I said to myself: “Self, God is truly protecting us.’
Well, God is still protecting us, because, in everything, we still have to give thanks, because it truly could have been a lot worse.
So, there has been a spike in the cases and the cluster has been traced back to one or two individuals, who made some kind of contact at a local hotel. This has resulted in community spread.
Unfortunately, we are so mean in dealing with our fellow human beings that someone actually posted a picture of the first patient identified.
Well I newa!
These issues are supposed to be handled delicately and with confidentiality. The thing is, any one of us can get covid-19, despite our best efforts to remain safe. It just takes one careless moment—one ill-advised contact….
The current situation (at the time of writing), is that we now have 64 confirmed cases-50 in St. Kitts and 14 in Nevis, with 45 recovered and 19 active cases. Fortunately, we still have not registered any deaths, but it augers well that we take this current spike as a wake-up call.
Let us make the necessary efforts to protect ourselves and our family members, yeah the entire SKN community.
This spike has had the Health and Education and other officials, working overtime.
School has been halted for two weeks, in the first instance and you know how much headache it is creating. For instance, even the Nurseries are closed and some parents have been forced to remain at home and others have actually taken their little ones to work with them.
One Teacher told me that it is a much tougher task to teach her students from home, than in the regular classroom. She even pointed out that with one computer at her home, her son was unable to log into his class, as she was using the computer to teach her class, at the same time.
I was at a particular place one day and two teachers were doing something online with some students and it was reported that five of the students were not visible online. One indicated that his camera was broken and the others had no real excuse. The order was given to stop the session immediately if they refuse to make themselves seen.
According to PEO, Ms. Zahnela Claxton:
“At our pre-schools we have prepared Take Home Packets. Each packet includes:
· Letters which reflect the student’s first name
· Shape of the Week
· Color of the Week
· Word of the Week; and
· Number of the Week
Resources such as popsicles sticks, pipe cleaners and glue also accompany the packets. School supervisors will share expectations with parents in relation to the assigned activities.
At the primary school level, to date, all primary schools have recorded interactions for students via virtual platforms as well as take-home packets and other learning resources.
Teachers are in contact with parents and are providing support through packages, workbooks and textbooks and virtual instruction. We thank all parents for allowing teachers time to transition in an effort to prepare for your students.
Please ensure that your students complete assigned activities. Teachers should provide a daily schedule for students with the expectation of what the students are to complete. Schedules should be shared to parents as well.
At the secondary level, I am also pleased to announce that our secondary schools are online. Secondary school students should follow their regular timetables for instruction. Teachers will provide both online and offline activities for students to complete during their assigned class periods. They should also implement mechanisms for the submission of assignments.
All schools should have had parent meetings or some form of interaction to allow parents an opportunity to understand the way forward. They should have provided guidelines for you parents, and you should have had an opportunity to ask questions and had those interactions.
Parents, we ask for your continued support during this process. We have put the mechanisms in place to serve our students, and we need you to ensure that the assigned work both online and offline is completed.”
Yes, the Education personnel are really striving hard to cope and the parents and students are being asked to be cooperative.
NASPA has increased security and safety measures at the seaports to include additional passenger information for contact tracing purposes.
All vessels operating at facilities managed by NASPA are required to provide a log of all inbound and outbound passengers. There was even a rumour out this week that persons had to vaccinated to travel between St. Kitts and Nevis. That has proven to be FAKE NEWS.
But, the population is generally scared. More persons have gone for their vaccinations. The records show that 17,579 doses were issued on St. Kitts and 5,761 on Nevis.
However, instead of being scared, we need to trust God more and do the right things that will help to prevent the spread of the virus.
DO NOT TAKE ANYONE OR ANYTHING FOR GRANTED. BE SAFE AT CHURCH, AT THE BUSINESS PLACES, WITHIN THE GENERAL COMMUNITY. BE SAFE!
We can still beat this, if we are wise and trust God all the way.
That’s the way I see it. How do you see it?