Analysis of Saint Lucia’s COVID-19 Management
The current administration held a session of Parliament on May 4th to extend the State Of Emergency for another five months to October 2021. The PM indicated that the SOE extension is primarily to facilitate the continued curfew and not an election-delaying tactic. The following trends below will demonstrate Saint Lucia’s dismal COVID-19 management relative to the rest of the Eastern Caribbean.
COVID-19 Cases and Deaths
Despite the repeated claims by the current administration, Saint Lucia continues to lead the Eastern Caribbean in the COVID-19 cases per capita. Saint Lucia’s cases per capita is 46% higher than the next worse island of Saint Vincent and Grenadines.
The number of COVID-19 deaths per capita follows a very similar pattern with Saint Lucia again leading the Eastern Caribbean and 23% worse than the next island of Antigua and Barbuda. Yet again, the current administration has performed the worst among our peer group of the Eastern Caribbean islands.
COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign
Vaccination is key for reducing the COVID-19 infection numbers, and yet again Saint Lucia falls short on this. The vaccination rate shows that Saint Lucia has administered the 2nd lowest number of doses of vaccines per capita in the Eastern Caribbean. Saint Lucia’s numbers are only slightly better than Saint Vincent and the Grenadines which is currently battling an ongoing volcanic eruption. Has the public lost trust and goodwill with the current administration with their heavy-handed and hypocritical enforcement of COVID-19 protocols and terrible conditions at Victoria Hospital?
COVID-19 Reproduction Rate
While it is good to see the decline in COVID-19 cases over the past few weeks, Saint Lucia is not out of the words with a reproduction rate of just over 1. The reproduction rate represents the average number of new infections caused by a single infected individual. If the rate is greater than 1, the infection is able to spread in the population. If it is below 1, the number of cases occurring in the population will gradually decrease to zero. Saint Lucia’s COVID-19 reproduction rate is the 2nd worse in the Eastern Caribbean and better than only Saint Vincent and Grenadines who had a spike in cases since the onset of the La Soufriere volcano eruption.
COVID-19 Protocol Flouting
The PM traveled to Barbados for one day on Wednesday April 28th to attend “high-level meetings.” According to the Designated Travel Bubble, Barbados was not listed as part of the travel bubble and was removed on January 12th 2021. The PM announced Barbados was back on the travel bubble list on May 4th with the information dated as being effective on May 3rd after his return from Barbados. Since Barbados was not in the travel bubble on April 28th then according to his own “protocols” the PM had to be quarantined for 14 days and could not have had a sitting of Parliament a mere 6 days later on May 4th. Despite his denials, it appears that the PM appears to be constantly flouting his own government’s COVID-19 protocols and the CMO is powerless or unwilling to stop him.
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