– says GCCI urges business to implement measures to fight COVID-19
THE Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) is urging the business community to voluntarily practise social distancing, establish measures for hand sanitising, and for restaurants, bars and liquor stores to close at 19:00hrs.
The Mayor and City Council (M&CC) on Monday said it does not have the authority to enforce the closure of businesses.
The GCCI in a release said it recognises that this is not a normal situation and thus, abnormal solutions are required until the authorities can gain control of the spread of the disease.
The chamber said it remains willing as ever to work with the authorities to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The GCCI thanked the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) for its COVID-19 updates, as well as the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) of Georgetown for working in conjunction with the GCCI.
The chamber has observed a number of articles and interviews discussing the rate of spread of COVID-19 and the measures that the population can take to slow the spread, or, “flatten the curve.”
To that end, the GCCI said it would like to share some pertinent information with the public.
According to “The Math Behind Social Distancing”, both the method and the timeline of the intervention taken can make a huge difference.
The article makes reference to a graph from BMC Public Health 9, 117 (2009) which shows that the potential outcomes range between seven per cent and 60 per cent. The difference between the two is that 60 per cent of the population will be infected if nothing is done. In contrast, it was noted that only seven per cent of the population will get infected if all possible measures are taken within a one-week delay of the start of the outbreak.
It is important to note that the 60 per cent bound is related to an assumption that for a virus such as the coronavirus, which has a reproduction rate of around 2.5, it would require 60 per cent of the population to be infected in order to achieve herd immunity.
“Essentially, this means that 60 per cent of 750,000 people, or, 450,000 people would have to be infected to achieve herd immunity. It must also be noted that it can be expected that two per cent of the infected persons will die,” the GCCI noted.
For more information on the topic of herd immunity, refer to the article written in the MIT Technology Review: “What is Herd Immunity and Can it Stop the Coronavirus?” by Antonio Regalado2. Based on the studies conducted, it is increasingly clear that Guyanese should practise social distancing and practise it early, the chamber said, noting that social distancing can reduce the spread of COVID-19 significantly.
