AS this island’s borders remain open, senior citizens, especially those over the age of 70 are being encouraged to stay inside their homes as much as possible.
“We are asking persons over the age of 70 – the most vulnerable – to take the decision not to go out as often as they should,” said Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley in an interview last night during the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation’s news segment.
Telling these individuals they must be able to self-quarantine for the next 12 weeks or so, she insisted, “I am appealing to all Barbadians that we have to take care of ourselves, from washing your hands and not touching your face, but at the same time to take care of those who are more vulnerable – our grandparents, mothers and fathers, whoever they are and try to minimise their going out.”
“Is it a sacrifice? Yes, it is but they can read, watch television, garden, so many different things, but what we want to do is protect them at all costs,” Mottley later said.
She was fielding several questions coming from members of the public surrounding the COVID-19 virus, including government’s decision to let the island’s borders remain open to visitors, especially those from the United Kingdom (UK), which has confirmed over 1,500 cases of infected persons and 53 coronavirus-related deaths.
Yesterday, the twin island republic of Trinidad and Tobago announced that it would be closing its borders to all non-citizens, except medical personnel for 14 days.
However, Mottley highlighted the tourism sector’s dependence on the UK market, and said thousands of jobs would be affected if this island’s borders had to be closed.
“We accept that we are dealing with an outbreak that will affect probably three to eight out of every 1,000 in a fatal way, but we may in fact affect far, far more if we immediately close our borders, ensuring that people who depend on a weekly wage or for whom this is the only source of income may not be able to feed themselves and may not be able to buy what they need day to day to sustain their families.
“This is a fluid issue, but at this point in time, we believe we have taken the right decision to increase our pre-screening to be able to have information so that we can do the contact tracing and to ensure that we can keep as many people functioning without necessarily affecting the vulnerable groups,” she said.
“We cannot shut down from the world fully whether in terms of goods or people coming infinitely.”
The science of the outbreak has to be followed, Mottley noted, while indicating the uncertainty of the major health organisations as to how long it would last, but their certainty of the occurrence of two or three distinct waves.
She also suggested the countries who have closed their borders could sustain themselves and underlined if the decision came to do the same here, full consultation with all stakeholders would take place first.
“If we get to that stage, we will get there, not by reason of government making the decision alone but by consulting all of the stakeholders,” she assured. (JMB)