Allowing more Guyanese to come home could overwhelm healthcare system

Leader of Guyana’s National COVID-19 Task Force Moses Nagamootoo said that the opening of Guyana’s airspace could see as much as 5,000 Guyanese in the diaspora returning home, and that could overwhelm Guyana’s healthcare system.

Nagamootoo made this statement in the most recent edition of his Guyana Chronicle column, My Turn, following a Saturday press conference where he was questioned about government’s consideration of Guyanese who may be stranded overseas. “Should the restriction be lifted, as is being advocated by some, Guyana could quickly have an inflow of between 2,000 and 5,000 persons. Possibly more,” Nagamootoo stated. As a result of measures to curb the spread of the deadly virus, Guyana has closed its airspace, with the exception of certain special cases, until early May. While the Guyana

Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has granted special permission in the past for Guyanese abroad to return, Government is not willing to grant any more such concessions. Nagamootoo said that “any relaxation of the strict containment measures could see a dramatic, over-night rise in both the infection rate and the number of deaths.”

This would be especially concerning, given that many Guyanese in the diaspora are residing in the US, the nation which is emerging as the new epicenter of the virus. “Our first case was imported from Queens in the Big Apple, where already close to 40 Guyanese nationals have died. Among them are two well-known tycoons in the airline industry – Billy Braithwaite and Jim Bacchus,” Nagamootoo said. He described the extent of the spread in the US in his column: “In all, over 20,000 persons have died in the United States, out of which figure some 8,000 were from New York where a mass grave has been dug in the middle of Hartland Park. There, in make-shift boxes, would be buried the bodies of persons who have neither been identified nor claimed by their relatives. In the United States, the confirmed cases have climbed close to 600,000 of which some 160,000 are from New York.”

He cautioned that his writings on the US are not to scare Guyanese at home, but to illustrate how rapidly the virus could spread, if there aren’t strict enough measures in place. That said, Nagamootoo said that he empathises with Guyanese who want to return home, some of whom might be legitimately stranded whilst on vacation or on business.

(Kaieteur News)