WHAT'S ON

STAY HOME ANTIGUA - It’s really that simple! We love to use the phrase "be our brother's keeper", but unfortunately those words are still not getting through to some people.

Why Stay Home? Quite simply, If you don’t, despite the preparedness of our medical teams, our hospital will be completely overwhelmed by the demand for beds, it won’t be able to cope and more people than necessary will DIE. If we stay home, it means we can flatten the curve on the amount of cases the hospital has to deal with, thus reducing the pressure on resources. There is a worldwide shortage of ventilators and although our government ordered additional ones quite early in this crisis, if too many people require them our doctors will be made to face tough decisions on who to give a chance of life to. If that happens, more people will DIE, and that's on you and me, simple as that!

Stay home and make it your safe zone. If you have to leave your home, every time you return remove outside clothes, wash your hands thoroughly and sanitize anything you bring into your home before placing it in the home. Sanitize often touched things in your home regularly, and wash your hands again, and again, and again! Don’t allow anyone in your house other than those who live there, and don’t leave your home unless it's necessary. A curfew has just been announced which comes into effect on Saturday, March 28th from 8pm to 6am daily for 2 weeks. Even in your home, practice social distancing. If any of you have to be out at work because your job is considered an essential service, you are exposed to more people on a daily basis and you are bringing that exposure back to your family, back to your safe zone.

When you are in public, keep your distance. It's no joke! And for goodness sake respect others wishes. I've had to fend people off with a ‘Back Off’ shout and a Stop Sign hand’. How far is the recommended distance? According to the BBC, 2 metres. What does that look like – check out this video, it’s a scarily wide space.

As a business we are fortunate that our team has worked from home for many years. We have every intention of continuing to operate our business and keep information updated regularly. We are offering a space for community groups to let us know what they are doing to help their community and at risk people. We are all in this together and so we ask for your support by joining in the #STAYHOMEANTIGUA campaign to ultimately Keep Antigua Nice!

We will do our best to stay on top of updates from our business community in Antigua and Barbuda and the policies set by government. If you are one of our community, please send us updates as you make decisions pertinent to your decisions. We wish you all the best in making those very stressful choices at this time.

All that remains to be said is lets be our brother's keeper. Our collective personal responsibility now will mean more of us will get through this unharmed. From the Antigua Nice team to all of our clients, visitors, friends and family, we wish only the best for everyone through this challenging time.

So please, let’s all #STAYHOMEANTIGUA. Read the full newsletter here.