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COVID
CURBS
EASE
Caribbean governments lift
some emergency restrictions
Vol. 32, Issue 48 QUEENS/LONG ISLAND/BRONX/MANHATTAN Nov. 26-Dec. 2, 2021
By Bert Wilkinson
With vaccine availability at
relative highs and inoculation
rates improving, governments
across the Caribbean trade bloc
are moving to lift or ease COVID-
19 emergency restrictions and
amend night time curfew limits
while asking citizens to behave
responsibly as the Christmas
holiday season looms.
Guyana, St. Kitts, Trinidad,
Barbados, The Bahamas, Antigua,
most of the Eastern Caribbean
and Suriname have all
either lifted states of emergency
rules in place since March of
last year or have pushed up curfews
to midnight to an hour or
so before sunrise as they try to
slowly inch life back to some
semblance of normalcy.
In the past week, the cabinet
of Prime Minister Keith Rowley
in Trinidad abandoned emergency
measures, lifted night time
curfews and allowed bars and restaurants
to reopen. Bar owners
say the new measures have come
just as several were about to close
permanently under the weight
of mounting debts that included
facility rentals while receiving no
revenues for months.
But even as Rowley brought
joy to islanders, Minister of
Health, Terry Deyalsingh said
the country was now experiencing
a third COVID-19 outbreak
with infections averaging more
than 500 daily and hospital
ICU facilities overflowing with
patients. The island also broke
fatality records last weekend with
48 deaths in two days taking the
overall death toll to nearly 2000.
The Express newspaper reported
that morgues at the Eric Williams
Medical Complex are overflowing
with Corona patients as
authorities appeal to the public
to still observe health protocols
even as the toughest restrictions
NY Attorney General Letitia James addresses rally. FENY
NY electeds to Schumer, Biden:
Pass voting reform bill
By Nelson A. King
A group of prominent state
and city elected officials held a
press conference last Thursday
at City Hall Park calling on Sen.
Chuck Schumer and President
Joe Biden to get voting rights
legislation over the finish line
before it’s too late.
State and city officials,
including NY Attorney General
Letitia James, NYS Sens. Alessandra
Biaggi, John Liu, Robert
Jackson and Zellnor Myrie, NYS
Assembly Members Robert Carroll
and Andrew Hevesi, and
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams
delivered a message to
Sen. Schumer and President
Biden that it is time to double
down on passing the Freedom
to Vote Act and John Lewis Voting
Rights Advancement Act as
soon as possible, and no later
than December.
“Across the country, we are
seeing persistent attacks on
voting rights and freedoms,”
James said. “American citizens
– especially people of color, lowincome
communities and students
– are having their constitutional
right to vote stolen,
and we cannot allow this
unjust disenfranchisement to
continue.
“While my office has taken
great measures to protect fair
and accessible voting in New
York, attacks on this basic right
in any state are a threat to
democracy in every state,” she
added. “Now is the time to act
to protect the rights of the peo-
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