Premier says Bermuda may start slowly rolling back restrictions next week - NYCaribNews

HAMILTON, Bermuda (CMC) – Premier David Burt says the territory could “start a very slow rolling back” of coronavirus restrictions next week, as officials beefed-up the capacity to test for the virus.

Speaking late Monday during a press briefing, he said the cabinet would meet on Tuesday to consider the next steps after the latest round of shelter-in-place restrictions ends on Saturday.

“We will not return to life as we knew it before COVID-19 for the foreseeable future. The reopening of the airport, closed to regular flights since March 20, would also be discussed at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, he said.

Meanwhile, Bob Richards, who was finance minister during the One Bermuda Alliance administration between 2012 and 2017, said pay cuts for civil servants should be on the table as the government deals with the huge financial impact of the COVID-19 crisis.

According to Richards, the Progressive Labour Party (PLP) government was likely to face a revenue shortfall in the region of US$200 million this fiscal year as projected tax income failed to materialize from the battered economy. The national debt stood at BMD$2.67 billion before the crisis began.

For his part, Curtis Dickinson, the current Finance Minister, has identified capital spending, hiring freezes, training, and supplies as areas in which he can cut spending.

But Glenn Jones, the interim chief executive at the Bermuda Tourism Authority (BTA), said a return to pre-pandemic conditions would be an uphill struggle.

“The cuts are deep. They had to be. There is no tolerance for business as usual at the BTA when our stakeholders have shuttered their businesses, laid off staff, and struggle to plan for a future that is entirely uncertain,” said Jones in a letter to industry members.

He added that BTA’s income had been “severely injured” by the loss of tourism fees caused by the COVID-19 crisis and had to cut about a third of its budget.

BTA figures for March suggested a 70 percent drop in air visitors for the month and highlighted that 60 cruise ship visits have so far been canceled.

The BTA earlier said that tourism spending had plummeted by more than BMD$58 million after air arrival and cruise visitor estimates were combined.

The Premier has admitted that a “more aggressive” approach could have been taken to secure COVID-19 testing equipment and it was one of the lessons learned from the response to a coronavirus outbreak at the Westmeath seniors’ care home, where a staff member had COVID-19 diagnosed on April 10.

“In a crisis, there are always decisions that have to be made, and in Bermuda, we are in the less than opportune position of being a small, isolated country, that does not manufacture our own equipment and we are left to the mercy of international supply chains. The lesson, I think, is learned is that we could have been more aggressive. I think what this has shown, in this particular instance, is, yes, we could have been more aggressive. Yes, given the fact that … an order of 10,000 swabs was placed and the first set did arrive in the country on (April 15), we could have actually gotten to the rest home sooner,” the premier said.

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