Barbados steps up COVID-19 response to ‘Stage One’

Barbados has stepped up its COVID-19 response to Stage One, as the public health crisis becomes a national security issue but officials are urging residents to remain calm even as the first two cases of the disease were confirmed today.

The Government’s COVID-19 Czar Richard Carter says the Stage One designation automatically triggered the Augmented National Security Council into action.

“This is a multi-sector agency with Government because we have stressed from the very beginning that this is going to require a whole [lot more than just a] government response,” Carter said tonight on state television.

While the Chief Medical Officer Dr Kenneth George is leading the public health response, Carter said: “There are a range of other issues that have to be dealt with and have to be taken into consideration in order to ensure that we mount the level of response that will protect the country as much as possible, mitigate its impact and ensure that we provide the available resources to the population to deal with this.”

Worldwide, there are now more than 194,000 cases of COVID-19 and at least 7,864 people have died of the acute respiratory syndrome.

Barbados is the latest in a string of Caribbean Community countries reporting imported cases, including Antigua and Barbuda, Guyana, Jamaica, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.

As part of the Stage One designation for Barbados, Carter said a number of protocols have been re-examined.

The virus czar said: “We have issued a statement today indicating that visits to elderly care facilities – whereas we had asked for restriction in relation to the number of visits by the public, those visits have now been restricted entirely because we know from the science, we know from what we’ve seen that the elderly population is particularly at risk.

“We’ve also come to a number of decisions in relation to public gatherings. The Prime Minister has made an announcement in relation to restricting public gatherings.

“We are also going to be recommending to our stakeholders coming out of the Augmented National Security Meeting … a number of communications, with respect to public transportation, public gatherings, indication in relation to the public sector and the private sector.”

As he assured the public that the authorities are managing the situation, Carter called on people not to panic.

“We saw responses today again that were a reflection of panic in terms of the response from the general public,” he said.

But the COVID-19 Czar assured that “the Augmented National Security Council has basically been considering the supply chain, ensuring that we are properly prepared, both in terms of medical facilities and medical equipment that is required for the intervention, as well as the supply of basic necessities including [medical] drugs for the population of Barbados.”