State of emergency until June 30

The Public Health State of Emergency has been extended to June 30, Parliament decreed today. But while the current curfew is set to end on May 3, authorities are still figuring out in what form future restrictions on the movements of Barbadians will take in order to prevent community spread of the coronavirus infection.

No sooner had Acting Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw made the announcement than widespread confusion broke out as many people surmised that the 24-hour curfew and the other restrictions were extended until June 30. That prompted Attorney General Dale Marshall to issued a swift clarification.

But on the curfew and other restrictive measures, Bradshaw, the Minister of Education, told Parliament: “We are hoping that in a few days we can do a full assessment of where we are and that public health officials will be in a position to speak to the country again in relation to that directive or any future directives that maybe come necessary.”

The AG’S statement read: “The Curfew Directive that exists presently will still come to an end on the 3rd of May. If the Government determines based on the public health advice that we need to extend that curfew or put different restrictive arrangements in place, that will be done, but those decisions have not yet been taken.”

“So there appears to be some alarm in the minds of the Barbadian public and they seem to feel that the curfew has now been extended until the 30th of June. That is absolutely not the case. All that we’ve done is to say that until the 30th of June, we consider that Barbados is in a State of Emergency to deal with COVID.

“Between now and the 30th of June, we will employ such measures as we feel are important and necessary in order to be able to achieve the results that we want.

“But under no circumstances are Barbadians to imply or infer that we have by this action extended the curfew period to any time beyond the third of May.”

Marshall noted that under the Emergency Management Act, the State of Emergency is a two-stage process. The first stage is that the Governor-General will declare a State of Emergency which lasts for 30 days. If it has to go beyond 30 days then the House of Assembly has to resolve that it should be extended.

During her initial announcement in the House of Assembly, acting PM Bradshaw read the resolution. It reads as follows:

“Whereas by virtue of Section 28A subsection one of the Emergency Management Act Cap 160-A the Governor General is satisfied that an emergency has arisen as a result of a person or an animal having a communicable and notifiable diseases. The Govenor General made a proclamation on the advice from the Prime Minister after the Prime Minister has consulted or has been advised by the Chief Medical Officer declares that a public health emergency exists.

“And whereas by Section 28A Subsection 2 of the said act a proclamation is issued under Section 28, Subsection one shall unless previously revoked remain for one month or such longer period not exceeding six months as the House of Assemble may determine by a resolution supported by the voices of the a majority members of that House revoked and due to expire on the 27th day of April of 2020 and whereas the House of Assembly had a vote of the majority of all the members thereof determined by a resolution to extend the said proclamation be it resolved that the proclamation is hereby extended until the 30th day of June of 2020.”

The Acting PM asked Barbadians to continue to comply with the measures and guidelines outlined by Government in order to fight the deadly disease.

“In the event that there is any community transmission we are able to fight this dreaded virus. This virus has presented us with a number of challenges. It has changed the dynamics over the past few weeks. We do not believe that we are out of the woods yet and I think that the advice is sound from the Ministry of Health and Wellness in relation to guiding the Government of Barbados.”

She continued: “We don’t want Barbadians to rest on their laurels and believe that all the efforts of our healthcare officials should not be dashed aside and we should not be complacent in how we deal with this virus.”