Coronavirus in T&T: School term over, bars shuttered, gatherings banned

[Trinidad Express] – Government has instructed all bars to remain closed, as it ramps up efforts to slow the spread COVID-19.

The announcement was made today by Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley at an urgent post Cabinet media briefing.

“Persons operating bars where people gather to drink and socialise, because our objective to deny the virus, connections from person to person, we are instructing that gatherings beyond 25 be avoided at all costs, except under unavoidable circumstances,” he said.

Despite calls by the Ministry of Health over the past few days for citizens to practise social distancing, bars over the weekend were chock-a-block with people.

Rowley went on to admonish private schools not to disregard his instructions last week Friday that all schools are to remain closed this week.

“ I have heard of some private schools who believe they are beyond these guidelines and instructions. And may want to carry out their school programmes. I am here appealing to such persons to join the national effort.”

“This is not about your school and your ability to be better and do better than the rest of us. It is about not having gatherings. It doesn’t matter how prominent your school is. The virus does not respect you because your school is your school. We don’t want gathering because it is in those gatherings that the potential will exist for the virus to leap from one person to another and bring the whole country to a place where we could find ourselves like some other countries right now, where the level of infections is such that it overwhelms the health system and then we know where barley grow,” Rowley said.

The Prime Minister disclosed that schools will reopen on April 20.