Fahie did not specify the decisions to which he was referring but said the territory lockdown was an option implemented in the beginning to stop the spread of COVID-19. He, however, noted that this shutdown caused a massive reduction in business operations in the territory.

“We had a lot of tough decisions to make in the beginning and we know that some of them were not all the best. They were uncomfortable to businesses and uncomfortable to us all. We were able to make those decisions and we have seen now we have come thus far by faith and by the different measures we had to put in place,” Fahie said while speaking at the Health Ministry’s virtual stakeholder meeting last Thursday.

The Premier thanked the business community for its patience and noted that the situation in the BVI as well as the measures put in place to minimise the effects of the coronavirus were not unique to the territory.

Pledge to continue dialogue with business community

Fahie said the business community has offered many solutions. He further noted that he is committed to continuing dialogue with the business community as the territory continues to recover from COVID-19.

“We thought it best to continue to grow the involvement of persons in the business sector and overall as we make more and more decisions. It is not the intention of this government to shut the country down again at all unless it is something overwhelming that we cannot do any better with. It is not something in our foreseeable future that we want to gravitate towards.” Fahie said.

“The truth is we have to learn to live and work with COVID-19. I call it the new regular because I do not want to call it the new normal cause hopefully it does not become normal. That is the reality of it. We know of the sacrifices being made by the businesses and you and many persons,” he added.

Hardships

The territory’s Premier said COVID-19 has created some very grave hardships and said the territory is not out of the woods and residents must be vigilant.

“We as the government have not mandated or legislated to be vaccinated but we do strongly urge and push people to be vaccinated. We also know vaccines are the greatest fighter that we have but we do respect the person’s democratic right.” Fahie reiterated.

The Premier used the opportunity to highlight people within the Health Ministry for their continued support in combating the effects of the pandemic.

“I also want to publicly thank every member of our health team. We had our Health Emergency Operating Centre personnel leading the way with this. Being the Permanent Secretary (PS) and the Ministry of Health; first with Miss Petrona Davis and now the Acting PS Sasha Bertie. We also had the Chief Medical Officer who we started with Dr Irad Potter, now we have Dr Ronald Georges. We have the Director of Communications Dr Arlene T Penn. We have also, head of DDM, Jasen Penn,” Fahie stated.