Curfew hours are increased from 8:00 pm to 5:00 am. Gyms are closed. Restaurants are restricted to serving take-out only. Summer camps are ordered to close. Churches are ordered to seat 25 members only. Wakes and receptions are to be limited to 25 people. Informal gatherings are limited to 10 people. Those were the restrictions announced on Wednesday, August 25th, 2021 in response to an rapidly increasing number of Covid cases.

But the restrictions have upset many, especially some bars, restaurants, clubs and gyms, teetering on the brink of collapse as they have to open and close over and over, regardless of whether they abide by the Covid safety protocols while they are open. It's frustrating. It's exhausting. Now, as they are asked to close, again, many want to see some evidence that suggests that their venues are actually responsible for the newly transmitted cases of Covid, and that it is not the case they automatically get closed down if cases go up. 

For the average citizen too, it's frustrating to have to be indoors by 8:00 pm, and to not be able to patronize certain places. Many vaccinated people are frustrated, feeling as if their being vaccinated ought to have prevented further socially and economically debilitating measures like curfews and business closures and restrictions. But cases are going up. And for different reasons. High among them, is when people, jabbed or not, don't follow the basic rules - keep your distance, don't gather in large numbers, don't frequent other's homes, wash your hands, and cover your face.

Additionally, we have the Delta variant, which is more transmissible. We now know that vaccines do less to guard against transmission of the virus in the case of Delta, even though they still offer strong protection against hospitalization when you have the virus. Herein lies another element of popular frustration. Back in February, March and April, many got the impression that being vaccinated would return things "to normal". That was before the heightened transmissibility of the Delta variant, even among the vaccinated, became more clearly understood. 

In the latter half of July, the government announced a mandate for only vaccinated persons to be allowed to go to gyms, bars, restaurants and clubs. Many took it as the beginning of a new normal. Crisis mode restrictions would be a thing of the past as a new regime of vax-only rules would take effect. Many simply got the wrong impression. Policing the spread of Covid-19 is far more complex than policing the movement of the unvaccinated. We now know that even with such a regime of vax-only rules in place, Covid-19 transmission could still prompt a crisis if hospitalizations increase, which they will, if a large number of people are unvaccinated, which is still now the case. In any event, the vax-only mandate was made with no effective way of enforcing it. Compliance was most likely minimal. 

So as cases go up again, we ask, what's to be done? The health system must not become overwhelmed. That would be disastrous. 

The host is Kieron Murdoch. The guests are:

This programme first aired on NewsCo Observer Radio 91.1 FM on August 29th, 2021. Get the latest news from Antigua and Barbuda at the Antigua Observer online.