SEVERE COVID Vincentians remain steadfast
SPIKES IN
CARIBBEAN
of CARICOM. People are coming from
Guyana by way of CARICOM arrangements
into T&T,” Rowley said as he
begged locals to heed the precautions.
The prime minister spoke to reporters
this week as health authorities
warned about the latest wave of infections,
hospitalizations and deaths in the
country and as restrictions on social and
other activities remain in place.
Just down south in Guyana, authorities
reported 65 deaths in April — the
highest in any single month so far. By
midweek, the death toll had surged to
nine cases, taking the death toll to over
300 and as recorded cases headed to
14,000. President Irfaan Ali said he was
ordering “more boots on the ground,”
meaning additional teams of police and
soldiers to enforce a 10.30 pm – to 4 am
curfew across the country.
“We thought good sense would have
prevailed but it hasn’t from the population
in the way they treat the pandemic.
The lives of people matter,” Ali said as
people continue hanging out at some
bars and other places until security forces
show up to disperse them.
Guyanese authorities have not fully
Caribbean L 16 ife, MAY 7-13, 2021
acknowledged the presence of the Brazilian
strain even though hundreds cross
the small river borders with Brazil daily,
but Pan American health Organization
(PAHO) Dr. Carissa Etienne recently suggested
that the Brazilian variant is most
likely responsible for the surge and the
spike in deaths.
“After the introduction of new variants
in the Guianas, cases have accelerated in
French Guiana and Guyana,” she said.
Both PM Rowley and Principal
Medical Officer, Dr. Maryam Abdool-
Richards have warned locals that the
steady increase in cases will break the
state health system by mid month if
the number of hospitalizations does not
come down fast.
Continued from Page 1
continued Arthur, alluding to a
recent request by New York Democratic
Congressional Reps. Hakeem
Jeffries and Gregory Meeks to New
York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to secure
aircraft to airlift disaster relief supplies
procured from private citizens
from New York City (NYC) to St. Vincent
and the Grenadines.
“As members of the NYC congressional
delegation, we write regarding
disaster relief for St. Vincent and
the Grenadines, where tens of thousands
of people are in humanitarian
need due to multiple eruptions
of the La Soufrière volcano,” wrote
Hakeem Jeffries and Gregory Meeks
in their joint letter to Cuomo.
Jeffries represents New York’s
8th Congressional District, which
includes parts of Brooklyn and
Queens, and Meeks represents
the 5th Congressional District in
Queens.
Jefferies and Meeks told the governor
that Caribbean leaders in
Brooklyn and Queens, “which are
home to likely the largest Vincentian
Diaspora community in the
US, have collected relief supplies”
to provide to St. Vincent and the
Grenadines.
They said that, for example, the
Brooklyn-based SVG Relief Committee,
USA., Inc. has reported that
they have collected enough bottled
water to fill two 20-feet shipping
containers, 90 commercial shipping
bins, 120 barrels and two 20-feet
containers of essential relief items.
Jeffries and Meeks said shipping
these materials by sea would take
roughly three weeks or longer.
“Alternatively, sending an aircraft
with supplies would deliver
relief much sooner during this rapidly
unfolding crisis,” they told Gov.
Cuomo. “We, therefore, respectfully
request your assistance in securing
an available aircraft to airlift disaster
relief supplies procured from
private citizens from New York City
to St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
“These citizens would greatly
appreciate help with the delivery,”
Jeffries and Meeks added. “We are
prepared to work with you to coordinate
efforts for an aircraft, and we
welcome your partnership.”
Caribbean American Congresswoman
Yvette D. Clarke, the daughter
of Jamaican immigrants, told
relief volunteers at the Friends of
Crown Heights Educational Center
in Brooklyn, the main staging area
in New York for relief supplies to be
dispatched to St. Vincent and the
Grenadines, that she was working
with her congressional colleagues
to provide much-needed aid to St.
Vincent and the Grenadines.
Continued from Page 1
Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago
Keith Rowley. Government of
Trinidad and Tobago
To all the mothers, grandmothers,
sisters and aunties in our lives
that nurture, guide and pray for us,
I would like to thank you for your
unconditional love, support and for
RE-ELECT DEMOCRAT
Council Member Farah Louis
June 22, 2021
www.farahlouis.com
PAID FOR BY FARAH LOUIS FOR CITY COUNCIL
/www.farahlouis.com
/www.farahlouis.com
