 Meanwhile, the management of the COVID-19 pandemic requires a multi-faceted approach and multi-sectoral involvement. The Government of St. Lucia recognizing this necessity ensured that the National COVID-19 Management Centre was comprised of professionals and representatives from a societal cross-section. The entity is responsible for advising the Government on the best strategy for the management of the pandemic. In an appearance on Issues and Answers aired on the national television network NTN, Chairman Cletus Springer explained that his background in epidemiological analysis plays a major role in fulfilling the requirements of the position. My role is to examine the intersection of epidemiology and the strategy that is needed to combat this. So my focus is on where the hotspots of infections, what is happening there relative to the movement of people from that point to other points, is there a link between the infections in the transportation system, from the hot points to other points. These kinds of considerations are what I bring to the table. So it's my planning background, strategic planning, my communications and my knowledge of the public service and my understanding of the people of St. Lucia. The Centre's Chairman in providing insight into the decision-making processes of the Centre highlighted the significance of protocols to maintaining low COVID-19 positivity rates. If you're seeing a trend that says to you if that trend continues your capacity to cope will be overwhelmed, your bed space in the hospitals, your intensive care capabilities, your availability of nurses, your availability of doctors, the ability of the government to buy oxygen and all of the treatments that are required. If you see that trend you are on an obligation to do something. In a situation like that doing nothing is not an option. Now where all of the tensions arise is what is the something you must do and how effective that is. And people have their own views on how effective confinement which is not a nice term but how effective these are. In our case I think the data is very clear. At the peak of our fourth wave in the fourth wave I think we had about 7,000 just over 7,000 cases. In the third wave we had about 5,000. So it's very clear that the fourth wave has been far more severe than the third. But we are in a situation now where from that peak of about 7,000 cases we are now down to just about 350 active cases. Now you might argue what has brought this about. Is it the lockdowns? Is it the confinement? Is it people's strong adherence to the protocols? It could be any or all of these. But the fact is we have now a situation that is more manageable than we had before. Another important factor in the management of the pandemic Mr. Springer noted is vaccination. He indicated that the country's low inoculation rates may be as a result of conflicting schedules and inadequate ease of access and issue he said the COVID-19 management centre is working to address.