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From "Suggestions to stimulate economic recovery for Bermudians once Shelter in Place ends"

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We need to re-open the economy as soon as possible and immediately on May 3rd. We should open up the economy slowly and keeping social distancing in place. I suggest that for the 1st 2 weeks from May 3rd that everything be re-opened but at half pace. By that I mean that restaurants could serve food in their establishment but that they could only operate at half their capacity in order to keep social distancing in play. Bars could re-open but everyone need to be seated and that they also would be at half of their capacity. Stores could be open at reduced hours with some in the morning and some in the afternoon. This would reduce the congestion for traffic and on the buses. Businesses would be open but a rotation of half the people going in on one day and the other half on the next day. Again this would reduce the congestion on the roads and in offices. I would continue to have the curfew in place from 9or 10 to 6. I would open up all beaches, golf courses and water sports but would continue to keep gyms closed for that 2 week period. Once we saw what the statistics showed we could then relax the 50% rule and perhaps move to 75% or even 100% and open everything up. At the same time government needs to talk to Canada, US and UK and the airlines to see how we can open up travel internationally. Hopefully we would have quick testing that would determine whether someone is positive before boarding the flight or testing for fever. The later would not help with asymptomatic cases but again we need to open up the economy and hopefully social distancing will impede an explosion of Covid -19. Lastly I think that the government should ask for the help of retire people on the Island to help small businesses on the island by volunteering their assistance in providing direction/advise on hoe these companies can best recover. There are a number of retired individuals that I know who would be happy to assist these businesses at no cost to them. It is in all of our best interests to get the economy going again and at some point in time we need to do so soon.

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Profile of Planter Research
Posted by:Planter Research
6 years ago
I agree that it should be a gradual process but I have to say that visitors to the island would be the last tier to reopen for two reasons. One the numbers have yet to slow down in both contraction and deaths, globally. Two people are not going to be in a financial position to visit Bermuda in the numbers that we normally see for quite some time because financially the world is in trouble. Let’s face it the global economy relies heavily on social interaction and with social distancing a lot of things have been shutdown and subsequently the economy has suffered. So until the world gets better we won’t see visitors like we used to even if they open up travel. It is now that we need to find new pillars to stabilize our economy.
    Profile of Victoria Cunningham
    Posted by:Victoria Cunningham
    6 years ago
    I agree - careful thought needs to be put into how we "open back up". As an example, International Business could continue to work from home for a 2 week period and then rotate staff weekly once that time frame has passed. Most companies have successfully been working remotely over the past month so this could easily be achieved and would limit congestion in town. Take it slowly back to how we were in mid-late March with restaurants/bars open for take-out/limited eat-ins, shops open with limited people allowed in at any one time, construction back, golf courses open, marine activities allowed etc. Continue to limit large gatherings for a month or so and raise the number allowed accordingly. I think it will take a while for people to actually want to come out of their homes but, social distancing measures and continued testing should enable us to rebuild some of the smaller businesses while not overwhelming our healthcare system.
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      Profile of Jacques BonneauJacques Bonneau on April 16, 2020

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      proposed