Regional
experts discuss preparedness and economic impact for the Caribbean at
Vice-Chancellor’s Forum.

The
UWI Regional Headquarters, Jamaica. Friday, March 13, 2020—Chairman
of The UWI COVID-19 Task Force, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Professor Clive
Landis, notes that solidarity across the Caribbean in the face of the
common threat from COVID-19 has been heartening to witness.

Speaking
during a Vice-Chancellor’s Forum hosted by The University of the
West Indies (The UWI),
on Monday, March 9 at The UWI Cave Hill Campus in Barbados, he
said, “Preparedness and coordination across the Caribbean for this
outbreak has been commendable, especially the readiness of the
laboratory network. We have the opportunity to mount an effective
containment, isolation and treatment strategy by leveraging
laboratory testing for earlier identification.”

The
forum, themed
Partnering in the Caribbean’s Response
was the second on the disease hosted by The UWI, and included
two panel discussions on Preparedness and Economic
Impact, featuring
UWI academics, and experts from regional agencies and government
ministries. The
first forum, held on January 30, focused on Demystifying
the Coronavirus (COVID-19).
These conversations are part of the regional University’s response
to the threat of COVID-19. The UWI has
also established a Task Force, aimed at leveraging its knowledge and
experts to assist the Caribbean in its readiness and response to the
outbreak.

Discussing
the economic impact of the disease, Director at the Centre for Hotel
and Tourism Management at The UWI, Dr Michelle McLeod noted that
tourism officials estimate a one to three percent decline in tourist
arrivals. However, she expressed confidence that the Caribbean region
would be able to manage a potential outbreak of COVID-19. She added
that the current situation may allow for more intra-regional trade
among other opportunities.

Also
highlighting the economic impact, Director of Economics at the
Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Dr Justin Ram stated the possible
ripple effects on other sectors linked to tourism.
“In
some of our countries the agriculture sector provides significant
inputs to the tourism industry. And if tourism is impacted, there’s
a reduced demand, there’s going to be knock-on reduced demand for
agriculture products; a knock-on reduced demand for the services
provided by taxi drivers for example, and so this is a multiplier
effect when things are good. Think about it if our arrivals come down
and the reverse happens here.” He also flagged potential negative
impacts on regional healthcare as well as the oil industry,
particularly for countries like Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and
Suriname.

Executive
Director of UWI Lumin Consulting, Senator Lisa Cummins, expressed
concern about the ‘economics of fear’, which she said could also
have negative impact on the Caribbean’s economy. “People are
responding based on their fear of getting ill, of dying, of being
infected, of interacting aboard airlines, affecting the air
transportation industry, of taking a cruise, thereby affecting the
cruise industry, and that is fundamentally having an impact on our
tourism dependent economies. How people perceive their levels of
exposure and their ability to respond to those levels of exposure,
has a critical impact on how our economies will or will not function
going forward,” said Cummins, who is also Chair of Barbados Port
Inc.

Director
of The UWI Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies
(SALISES), Dr Don Marshall, highlighted a critical role of The UWI in
the region’s efforts at preventing the spread of the disease. He
stated, “We’re going to see some particular changes and reactions
in our labour markets in ways that we cannot anticipate…but what we
as a research team and workers in different parts of the region would
do is to continue to keep pace with best practices and advise on the
best procedures possible,” he said.

Mr
Ronald Jackson, Executive Director, Caribbean Disaster Emergency
Management Agency (CDEMA) commended the University on the forum,
saying, “We (at CDEMA) really look to The UWI to bring thought
leadership to the issues we are all grappling with. Yes, we are
experts in the field, but we do believe that the university community
should bring their brain trust to help government in dealing with
these issues.”

Mr
Jackson also highlighted some of the opportunities that managing the
threat of the COVID-19 presented, citing them as ‘good news’. He
said existing processes and mechanisms established by a number of
agencies that are now maturing and national pandemic plans are being
effected; there is evidence of political leadership in treating with
the issues across the region and improved efforts at better
coordination to improve the challenge within the context of
resilience building.

The
‘bad news’ he said, that we in the region need to be mindful of
and address, is that the culture of preparedness and prevention is
not yet fully embraced; that our emergency services are already
resource constrained, and he also acknowledged that fear is
negatively impacting the effective and smart preparedness.

The
recorded broadcast of The UWI Vice-Chancellor’s Forum: COVID-19
Partnering in the Caribbean’s Response
will air on UWItv’s cable channel on Flow EVO on Sunday, March 15,
2020 from
3:00
p.m. – 6:00 p.m. (AST)