Director of the COVID-19 Monitoring Unit Ronald Chapman highlights the importance of the protocols while AOPT executive member Shadia Simpson looks on.
WHILE some persons may hold the view that the current protocols in place are too strict for a country with low cases, Director of the COVID-19 Monitoring Unit Ronald Chapman says the measures are there to keep Barbadians protected should the virus get into the wider public.
He was speaking to the media while highlighting the collaborative effort being made with the Alliance of Owners of Public Transport to ensure compliance on the highways and by-ways. Chapman reminded that commercial flights have already started back into the country and there are protocols coming shortly for the seaport.
“We have to establish that there is no system that is foolproof. Eventually, and we have seen this, eventually someone will get past the barrier and get into the island. We have had instances where persons came in with negative tests and for whatever reason when we retested them they were positive. It means that the protocols in Barbados are the only thing that is going to protect the local community once persons are entering into the community. So it is critical that we ensure that persons follow those protocols.
“I know a lot of people have the idea that it is the tourists. It is anyone who is coming into Barbados. It doesn't matter if they are tourists, whether they are Barbadian, whether they are business persons, short-term visitors or intransit. It is a person coming into Barbados who may be coming from a high risk destination or whatever it is. So once they get here, we have to ensure that they are welcomed, that they are able to move around and enjoy our land, but we also have to make sure that the community here in Barbados puts the necessary measures in place to protect themselves.”
He said while the measures may seem harsh, without the protocols the country would have to go back into lockdown. “Those are the two options right now. And I don't think ‘go back into lockdown’ is one that anyone is really interested in. So I want to ensure that people do what is right. Practice doing what is right. It is because of those protocols that we continue to have the freedoms that a lot of other countries don't have.”
The director clarified that there is currently no community spread in Barbados. From our last statistics we have not shown any community spread since I think May. I don't want to speak out of turn. My last statistics show we would have had about 71 cases and of those 71, 69 were imported. There were two persons who would have caught the disease from persons who came into the island, but through our contact tracing we were able to nip that into the bud to prevent it from getting into the community. So presently given our testing there is no community spread in Barbados right now,” he stated. (JH)
