When Will Belize Return to Normal?

Marvin Manzanero

At this time, there is no cure or vaccine for COVID-19. And it is not expected that one will be approved until eighteen months down the road. During his appearance on Open Your Eyes this morning, Director of Health Services, Doctor Marvin Manzanero said that the country will not return to some sense of normalcy anytime soon.

Dr. Marvin Manzanero, Director of Health Services

“Without frightening anybody, I mean we have to take the necessary precautions. I mean there will be a new norm. It is. When people ask me when we might be able to go across the border for whatever reason, I don’t know. What happens if we lock down thirty days and let’s say Chetumal which is closer perhaps to most and is bigger perhaps to Melchor—I am using those two communities because of the border crossing. What happens if they start to have their curve in May, like what the U.S. is having? So how long is it going to take for their curve to go down? Like if you ask anybody right now who wants to go to the U.S., nobody is perhaps going to the U.S.  And that curve is not going to start to come down until maybe July/August. So you might not be thinking about going there for the next three or four months; might be the same thing across the border. Guatemala has just extended their curfew for fourteen more days and that’s because Peten doesn’t have ongoing transmission. But what happens if transmission starts in July/August and the curve starts to go up? So even if nothing happens here, we don’t live in a bubble. It is fluid, it is volatile, it is changing so we need to start making the necessary provisions to ensure that whatever we are doing—social distancing, hand washing, not touching your face, if you stay home—those things are going to be there forever. I don’t think that that’s going to change.”