Bati Bleki

On Dec 22nd, we learned that: Effective December 27th, 2021, residents from the USA and Canada traveling to Aruba will need to complete a PCR test two days prior to departure date and will not have the option to test upon arrival.
Then in early January the CDC upgraded us to level 4, which was expected, due to the rising number of cases.
These two factors were the Kiss-of-Death to the winter season in Aruba, cancellations poured in, and Sales and Marketing executives threatened to throw themselves off balconies, in despair, having worked very hard to secure a good winter for the island, only to see it fall apart in 24-hours.
Now, there is an effort to reverse the situation, with a new policy effective today, January 18th, in order to vacation here you now need a negative PCR test up to 2 days prior to travel or a negative Antigen test 1 day prior, and the time period needed after a positive result to enter Aruba has also been shortened.
This will make it much easier for visitors to comply with our entry requirements, and we can only applaud the antigen test that went from totally banned to officially welcome, in the span of two weeks, undergoing a miraculous rehabilitation.
But that is not what the industry needs. Tourism will be better served with a PCR test 72 hours before travel, and designate the Antigen to self-testing, it is not suitable for entry requirement.
PCR test, 72 hours prior. That’s what we need, and that is also realistic in the US.
In Monday’s press conference GOA discussed our Pandemic Exit Strategies, including some calculated risk taking.
AHATA reported on a few decisions: Start discussions on declaring the virus endemic; Expand ICU capacity; Eliminate required COVID insurance and replace it with a healthcare levy at entry; Focus on vaccine and booster shots — children 5+ will be eligible this week; Reinforce DVG; Eliminate all restricting measures; Change testing policy to monitor virus.
We are talking about the end of the pandemic. One day we will all wake up in the morning and realize it’s over, without dancing girls, parades, or fireworks — it just dissipated, and slowly, over time, went away.
It seems that things will get better from now on, and the virus will mutate to become less and less threatening. The responsibility to remain healthy is now 100% on us.
When it started two years ago, we did not think it would last so long.
But the vaccines really helped.
This last wave, the fifth, was the fiercest but less lethal.
All we know is that the virus is smart, it wants to survive, it cannot afford killing us all because then it will go extinct, so it modified its strategy, to allow itself to survive. It doesn’t kill us, the hosts, that frequently anymore.
But mid-pandemic, it was difficult to see the forest for the trees.
What else did we learn? That we should have been less selfish and vaccinated Africa and South America with the same enthusiasm, because Omicron hailed from South Africa, thanks to the low vaccination rate.
To protect ourselves, we must also protect the world.
Smallpox is a good example. The viral disease was completely eradicated thanks to a GLOBAL effort to vaccinate people everywhere. All over the globe. In the 80s every single country got behind the idea to eradicate the virus. And together they defeated the scrooge.
 
So that is a lesson, we must think globally, vaccinate the masses, and send the vaccine to countries that can’t afford it. Because more vaccinated, less mutations.

How will the pandemic end?

One of my favorite movie is Up in the Air with George Clooney, in which he flies around the country firing employees, in compliance with corporate decisions.
While we can understand that a business wishes to reposition, or downsize, when it comes to the individual that is being sacked it is a personal drama, and the movie reflects on the cruelty of the system, when loyal workers get the boot, by remote.
We can see how deflated and discouraged people get when the trust in their workplace is gone, and what a mess, mass firing can create, on a personal level.
In Aruba we’ve been hearing that GOA must downsize, and help 2,000 to 3,000 of its people relocate and find employment elsewhere.
But how do you do that?
You need a plan.
But so far nothing. We just recently reported that Bashi Premie was paid out, despite the dire economic overview.
The following is what a sitting member of parliament told me when I said that under the circumstances the payment was unreasonable, a mistake.
“I agree with you.” he said, “the minister has to show us yet, where and how she made this possible, in the financial budget, this will take place in March, due to the delay.”
Meaning, Bashi Premie was paid, without parliamentary blessing, probably out of the approved Bubali Plas maintenance budget.
 
One of my readers, writers: Last week, I was thinking about the lavish salaries GOA and their minions give themselves. I was curious about how the average pay in the public sector compares to the private sector. I took a quick look at CBS Aruba, Central Bureau of Statistics website, but could not find an instant answer. Then, my life sucked me back in, and I forgot about my quest.
But, this morning I found out what the gap is, and it is even published on GOA’s own website.
It is a staggering 40%.
Let me repeat: Public servants, on average, get paid 40% more than people working in the private sector. Forty percent!
In principle, the way it ordinarily works, we are not here to serve GOA. Public servants are here to provide services to us, the people. We should pay them a reasonable salary, but not more than that. And their remuneration should reflect the quality of service they provide.
Based on my findings, we should not cut public salaries by 12.6 percent, but by 40. Now GOA, do your job and tell that to the Labor Union leaders, and make it happen, without further disruption of the society and/or the economy.
 
This is what GOA published, and archived, in December of 2019:
Preliminary study by the IMF on government personnel costs
ORANJESTAD – Recently the Minister of Economic Affairs, Finance and Culture Xiomara Ruiz-Maduro informed that during two weeks the experts of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) did an investigation on GOA personnel costs.
Public wages and interest costs are the two biggest components of GOA’s budget expenses. The reason for this investigation is for GOA to get a good picture of the wage costs when making decisions. Wage costs cannot continue to increase and GOA has to contemplate lowering it to reach a manageable and sustainable public finance.
In its investigation, the IMF made a comparison between the personnel cost in the public and private sector and made a comparison between Aruba and the countries of similar size.
The result indicates that GOA personnel costs, the public sector, are substantially higher than in the private sector. Wage costs in the public sector include GOA’s employees and persons treated as such, gelijkgestelden, whose salaries are subsidized by the government. If we compare these two groups, GOA’s workers earn 40% more than the one working in the private sector, whereas the gelijkgestelden earn 20% more than workers in the private sector.
In regards to the age component, the age of public sector employees is increasing. This means that eventually, a great number of government employees will reach retirement age. This presents a challenge, and retirement age must be increased.
If one compares the wage cost of the public sector in Aruba with other Caribbean and Latin American countries, GOA’s wage cost is higher. Compared to other countries, GOA also has more employees in its service.
Overtime costs are also one of the components that increase personnel costs. The overtime component comprises 5% of total personnel costs. To reach this percentage, the IMF experts used 2018 figures.  The budget of the Department of Justice had higher overtime costs. Overtime pay represented 17% of the budget. Further investigation is required to analyze the reason for overtime.
My reader concludes: Don’t you think it is strange when servants get paid more than the masters?

Who makes more money?

The Rutte Cabinet IV, third installment
https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/the-rutte-iv-cabinet-third-installment/
Vacunagate
https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/vacunagate/
Bashi Premie
https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/bashi-premie/
Only in Aruba
https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/only-in-aruba/
Antigen Rapid Testing and the fifth wave
https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/antigen-rapid-testing-and-the-fifth-wave/
The 2022 Bird Calendar is available for sale
https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/the-2022-arubas-bird-calendar-is-available-now/

Bati Bleki Buzz Weekly Recap, January 16th, 2022

The 2022 bird calendar may be purchased for Awg 10.- at Huchada Bakery in Santa Cruz, &amp; Best Deal Aruba in Paradera.
Also starting this week at all Botica di Servicio locations.
The calendar features 14 photographs, by local, keen-eyed and artistic shutter-bugs.
Greg Peterson, at the head of the Aruba Birdlife Conservation foundation reports that for the past thirteen years ABC has invited Aruban photographers to donate some of their work to the bird calendar. Credit is given to these nature loving artists for their excellent images capturing winged beauty.
The income generated by the sale of the calendars is used for conservation, in particular one project, the Shoco artificial burrows, underground PVC mazes, designed by conservationists to offer Aruba’s National Bird alternative homes, in the form of more resilient, protected habitats.
While more than 500 are required the foundation already managed to install and pay for seventy, placed in different areas, favored by the little owls.
The photographs in the calendar were taken by Greg Peterson, Damilice Mansur, Michiel Oversteegen, Albert Peterson, Patrick Pena, Ross Boss, Michael Tromp, and Peter Sprockel.
Peterson reiterates that there is still a lot to be done, and ABC needs all the financial support it can get. Any donation, big or small can make a difference: Aruba Birdlife Conservation, Aruba Bank, Camacuri 12, account #2402860190, Swift ARUWAX.
The 16 nature areas that Aruba Birdlife Conservation foundation proposed in 2012 to parliament for conservation and placement under Aruba’s National Park foundation, finally became a reality in 2021. The road was long. Many meetings, campaigns, 12,000 signature, and numerous court cases, were required to get this done. Aruba Birdlife Conservation foundation is very grateful to all those who have contributed in one way or another.
The photographs in the calendar are beautiful, and will cheer up any home or office with action packed, bird life images.

The 2022 Aruba’s Bird Calendar is available now

I went shopping on Saturday, for some Antigen Rapid Tests for a friend, who developed mild Covid19 symptoms. Omicron? Common Cold?
The first botica I visited was closed, unable to even open, due to staffing challenges.
The second botica ran out of kits and promised a fresh supply, on Monday.
The third one had limited stock, and agreed to sell me a box of five, which I broke open to divide between two households.
I realized I was in possession of a hot item, flying off shelves.
It was penny wise and pound foolish to withhold these tests from the general population for so long. Now Omicron hit the island like a freight train, at top speed, some businesses are short of 20% to 30% of their staffers. Some were unable to even open, and DVG got overwhelmed, many systems ceased to function.
A family friend who recuperated from the virus, reported he never got his certificate from DVG, and had to pay for one, at a private lab, in order to take a flight out. Luckily, he had money in his pocket.
The economic damage? In the millions.
The venerated Mrs. Koolman &amp; Co., had a lot to do with that inexplicable ban on self-tests, for the most outlandish reasons. It took many months of back and forth, more than SIX, between the private sector and the bureaucrats, before these self-tests were approved.
If only we had those sooner, people could self-test, then in the event they found two stripes, they could get a PCR that tests for the virus itself.
This is important: The Antigen Rapid Test, tests the presence of a foreign protein. It comes up positive, if that famous spike protein is detected.
In case of a Delta virus infection, it carries a great viral load, and the Antigen Rapid Test can come up with the answer, fast, within 15 minutes.
In case of an Omicron virus infection, that favors the throat, not the nose, it produces a lighter viral load, that takes longer to detect. Testing for the Omicron virus is best on day three of symptoms. By that time, the viral load is fully developed.
My friends in the medical profession recommend swiping the inner cheeks, for five seconds first and then heading up the nose, for more accurate Antigen detection. And wait, don’t rush. And do it properly. Read instructions.
If we got into the habit of self-testing, earlier, we could have prevented the breakdown of business as we know it.
Imagine being short 20%-30% of your people. How do businesses operate? And as far as we know, the fifth wave is till picking up momentum,
With self-testing, much of the illness resulting from New Year gatherings, could have been detected BEFORE, the poop hit the fan.
And when it did, with MORE THAN 1,000 POSITIVE results, every day, DVG continued to insist on long testing lines because only LabHOH, could do the job.
That is a new definition of insanity.
Two of my friends report it took them 20 minutes to test before leaving the island on their New Year’s vacation in Guadalupe, and that they had to stand in the sun for four hours, of that French beauty in order to get tested before flying out.
We are lucky to have such a fantastic private lab infrastructure, which MinTVG, wants to put out of business, by denying it access to clients. Just Like Cuba and North Korea, where being in business is considered a sin.
Our visitors enjoy access, and fast service, while stories from the USA reveal that no American lab can guarantee results within 48 hours, and labs are hard to find and far apart.
Thousands of visitors are being tested here every single day by commercial labs, offering them smooth and efficient service, while the locals are denied it, by our own government.
MinTVG would not allow locals free testing, paid for by AZV, at the commercial labs. Why? Is he anti-business, working against the sector that saved our souls before, during, and after the pandemic.