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THE Prime Minister promised that the state of emergency (SoE) will be lifted once it is medically and scientifically proven that Trinidad and Tobago no longer needs it to protect the population from covid19. Dr Rowley also said people who are misrepresenting facts about the effectiveness of the SoE to justify why it should not be extended are engaging in "donkey logic."
Rowley made these statements on Wednesday as he opened debate on a motion in the House of Representatives to extend the SoE by a further three months.
The SoE took effect from midnight on May 15. Without parliamentary approval, the SoE would have remained in effect until May 29. The House sat on May 24 and approved a three-month extension from May 29 to August 29.
Section 10(1) of the Constitution, gives the Government the power to use its 22-19 majority in the House to extend the SoE by another three months. This was confirmed last week by Leader of Government Business Camille Robinson-Regis and Opposition Whip David Lee. Once the motion is passed by the House, the SoE will be extended until November 29.
Section 10(2) of the Constitution states that further extensions beyond this one, will require three-fifth majority support of the House and the Senate.
Rowley told MPs he was hoping that by August 29, the SoE could have been lifted.
"I was looking forward to ending this (SoE), if not only for covid, but to give the police service a rest. To give the nurses and doctors, a rest. To give those persons who are inconvenienced a rest."
But Rowley said, "When we look at where we are – after the 90-day period – yes, we are in a much better position than we were at the beginning of the 90 day period of the SoE. But we are not at a point where we can now dispense with the SoE."
He warned that if the SoE is lifted on August 29 "it is more than likely that the response that will come from the population at this time, with this level of infection, will see us having huge community spread. Leading to another phase of activity which will force the Government to have to take even firmer action and restrictions."
Rowley said gains made by the country during the SoE, including "all these people that we have brought back out to work during a fairly high level of community spread," needed to be defended.
"To protect those gains, we need to pay the price of giving up some of the night-time socialisation, so that we can depress this plateau even lower."
He said SoE was being extended was to "discourage the population from socialising at nights between nine o'clock and five o'clock in the morning. That's the only reason."
While many people could complain about being inconvenienced by the SoE, Rowley said, "At the end of the day, we want to be able to preserve lives, keep the hospitals from overflowing, keep the doctors and nurses from being overworked more than they are now and keep people on the job that they have been allowed to go back out to recently."
He gave the assurance that "at the first opportunity that it is medically safe and encouraged, this Government will discontinue this emergency, even if Parliament today approves a 90-day extension." Rowley said, "At the first opportunity where it is reasonable for us to do so without exposing the population, I give the country the assurance that we will end this (SoE) right then and there."
Reminding MPs the daily covid infection rate was 397 before May 15 when the SoE was implemented, Rowley said the SoE and public health measures saw that rate drop to 319 on June 15, 227 on June 30 and 161 on July 17. After explaining that some of the people who are infected with covid19 could require hospitalisation and some of them could die, Rowley said, "In short, you don't want a high level of infection because the results are death or serious illness and hospital occupation."
He also said the SoE helped in preventing the parallel health care system, established to deal with covid19, from crossing the 75 per cent occupancy threshold which could have jeopardised it and the public health care system too.
"The most ridiculous thing I've heard, the most donkey logic I've heard is before the emergency, we had a low number of infections and now we have a higher level of infection, so the emergency is not working. That has to be donkey logic with a capital D."
Rowley said, "You cannot look at the lower level (of infections) before (the SoE) to determine whether you should continue with the emergency, because the emergency was invoked on the projection that the numbers (of infections) will be higher if you don't act."
Government MPs thumped their desks as Rowley said, "It is on that basis that we intervened and the emergency created the conditions for us to bring the numbers down."
He said if Government heeded the comments of its critics "all medication would now be in trouble."
As Rowley spoke, House Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George overruled Naparima MP Rodney Charles' claim that donkey logic was unparliamentary language.
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