PSC Chairman – Omicron variant impacting private sector businesses

Private Sector Commission (PSC) Chairman, Paul Cheong declared that the new Omicron
variant has been ravaging the private sector, with businesses’ workforce feeling the brunt.
Cheong said when persons contract the virus, they are unable to go to work, obviously affecting
output. “Many small businesses would soon have to close their doors because they don’t have
sufficient people to work. I know some services had to cut some of their business line, because
they didn’t have sufficient people to work on all the lines and it’s right across,” the PSC
Chairman said.
Cheong is appealing to persons to take the virus very seriously and adhere to the established
protocols, get vaccinated and take booster shots. “Covid is something very serious and it’s life
threatening and we have seen that we have been with covid for more than two years now, and we
have seen that we know how it’s operating, and we know the effects it’s having on lives. So, I
want to use this opportunity to encourage every single person who have not been vaccinated, to
get vaccinated,” he explained.
The Private Sector Commission Chairman noted that the Omicron variant is highly transmissible,
and therefore all protective measures need to be taken. “We don’t want to lose our employees
that we have trained, and the service, the quality of service when you have two or three persons
have to do 10 persons’ job, it is a lot of pressure on those persons, so it’s affecting everyone,
those who contract it, and those who didn’t,” he argued.
He added, “We are looking at this in a short-term process…I think what happened here opened a
lot of people’s eyes because, I think we get complacent, we took things for granted and so this is
everybody’s business, it’s not one individual, it’s not ministry of health alone this is every single
Guyanese need to pull their weight in terms of protecting themselves and doing their part,” he
continued.
Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony pointed out on Wednesday that proper ventilation, screening
of employees entering the office, and ensuring persons are vaccinated or have taken the booster
shots are ways offices could help to keep the virus at bay. “People, because they are familiar
with each other in the workplace, they tend to remove their mask, so they are not wearing mask
in the workplace, and therefore they can get infected because they don’t know where their co-
worker may have been and whether that co-worker would have been exposed,” Minister Anthony
said.   He noted that the impact on the Covid-19 infection rate has also had a significant effect on
public sector employees.