Bajans home from US, head to quarantine

After being stranded in the United States for weeks, 110 Barbadians returned to the island on a repatriation flight today.

Immediately on disembarkation at the Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA), the passengers were assessed by health officials and swabbed for COVID-19.

According to Minister of Health and Wellness Lt Col. Jeffrey Bostic, the testing site at the airport eliminated the long waiting period for passengers arriving from the United Kingdom last Wednesday. Several passengers had complained then that the wait at the airport was too long before they were transported to the Paragon quarantine facility to be tested.

The minister, who met with today’s arriving passengers assured that his ministry took swift action to address the issues which arose last week by establishing the airport testing centre.

“People complained about the delay last week and we agreed. This is a dry run for us, and so we met earlier this week with the authorities at the airport to be able to see how best we could facilitate such an operation, which is to get these persons from here into a quarantine facility,” he said.

Once swabbed, the arriving passengers were transported to Government’s quarantine centres at Paragon and the St Lucy District Hospital, or to hotels for which they must pay accommodation.

The arriving passengers are to remain in quarantine for the next 14 days.

But the minister said there were 13 people on today’s flight who were granted permission to quarantine at home on a case-by-case basis, particularly those who had medical issues and mothers with young children.

Lt Col Bostic insisted that in all cases, the Ministry of Health examined the homes to make sure that they met the requirements for quarantine. Those in quarantine at home will be monitored for any symptoms of the viral illness. They must also follow the protocols laid out by the ministry.

Minister Lt Col Bostic revealed that more Barbadians are likely to return home next week.

“I am aware for sure that next week there is a flight that should be bringing into Barbados University of the West Indies students who are stranded at campuses,” Lt Col Bostic said.

He also indicated that while Barbados will at some point reopen its airport to commercial flights again, there will come a time when quarantine facilities would not be able to handle large numbers of arrivals.

He said authorities were therefore looking at home quarantine as an option but added that technology would be used to ensure that people stayed at home.

He told reporters: “I am saying that the time is approaching when all of us will have to learn to live with this virus being around until there is a vaccine or some therapeutic treatment for COVID-19.

“So the Ministry of Health and Wellness role at this time is to try to think ahead and to come up with those protocols, understanding the risks that have to be taken and to be able to manage those risks and to determine then at what point that we consider that our facilities or our efforts could become inadequate in terms of being able to deal with COVID-19.

“But right now, we are sticking with the mandatory quarantine in approved facilities until such time as we have everything in place to be able to deal with home quarantine.”

anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb