The following is an edited e-mail addressed to David Burt, the Premier, on recent pronouncements related to increased cases of Covid-19 transmission in Bermuda, and shared with The Royal Gazette.

Dear Sir,

I am reaching out this morning with a body full of disappointment and concern.

After watching last evening’s press conference, I have some big concerns as a small business. I may be missing the mark completely, and I may not have all of the information you do, but I find it highly offensive that you and your government are targeting bars, restaurants, gyms and personal-care businesses in your press conferences.

Correct me if I am wrong, but all new cases have been due to travel and people not following regulations after they have travelled — ie, seeing members of the community before their Day 14 test — and because of workplace settings such as the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

I am writing to you because I need to know why you are targeting small businesses during this time. To my knowledge, there has not been any transmission or close contact in bars, restaurants or gyms during this "outbreak" in Bermuda.

You are affecting our businesses directly by instilling fear in people’s minds. My business specifically has a 14-day quarantine for anyone who has travelled to the island. I believe that nearly all gyms have adopted the same. We also sanitise our entire space after each class, have modified our schedules and have been functioning with less than half of our regular attendance since June, when we reopened our doors.

We have complied. We have not complained, and now you and your government are throwing us under the bus at our expense.

I get it: you don't want to close your airport, you don't want to see tourist dollars collapse. you don't want to point fingers at your hospital, where they should know better.

But sir, you are losing people's respect by not doing this! We see through this.

To ask bartenders to receive a mandatory Covid test is not responsible; it is reckless. You are instilling fear in people where there have been no cases of transmission in our industries.

Bermuda has the opportunity to do things differently than the rest of the world. You are falling into the trap of doing things just like Canada and Britain. We are not the problem here. And I would be happy to have you walk into my business and see the way we are conducting ourselves before you ever again put us under the microscope in front of the entire nation.

Please feel free to contact me at your earliest convenience to discuss this further.

I am always open.

NATALIE FLOOD

Owner/Creative Director

Shamana Circle