All Bajans welcome – Bostic

Barbadians are welcomed to return home whether they are COVID-19 positive or not.

Government’s stance was made clear by Minister of Health and Wellness Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic, moments after he revealed that four of the 110 Barbadians who arrived on the island yesterday on a JetBlue repatriation flight from the United States had tested positive for the respiratory virus.

During a press conference this afternoon, Bostic said three women aged 20, 25 and 53 and a 39-year-old man had been transferred to the Harrison’s Point Isolation Facility in St Lucy.

Theirs were the only positive tests out of 187 processed yesterday and broke a run of 17 consecutive days without a positive COVID-19 case being recorded on the island.

Bostic gave the assurance that Barbadians from around the world were welcomed to return home at any point, regardless of their medical condition.

“The development for us has nothing to do with the repatriation of Barbadians to this country. We acknowledge that persons who were born here and who reside here have a right to be here and it is the desire of the Government to continue to facilitate the arrival of Barbadians so it is not an issue at all.

“Let me assure the country that we will always continue to welcome Barbadians here and as long as we have the capacity we will more than welcome Barbadians back home,” Bostic explained.

“If there were Barbadians abroad and who reported that they were COVID-19 patients we would not turn them back as long as we have the capacity because that is the duty and the responsibility for us to look after our people and we have more than enough capacity at this point in time to be able to do so. All Barbadians can continue to expect that we will be accepting persons returning home.”

The minister said the findings were not surprising as the US was a “hotbed area” for COVID-19.

In fact, Bostic said authorities were bracing for additional cases as the island’s ports of entry draw closer to reopening fully.

However, he maintained that Barbados was in a position to better handle those expected cases.

“I must say that the results themselves were not unexpected and have not alarmed us. The public health officers in this ministry were fully aware and have been advising the Government that we should be prepared for an uptick in cases once travel from hotbed areas resumes,” he admitted.

“I want to assure the public that Barbados is much better prepared today to deal with this challenge than we were in March when the viral illness surfaced here on the island. We certainly have more capacity and experience than we had at the beginning.

“I have continually cautioned residents of Barbados that this public health threat is not over. The bulk of our cases has been imported cases comprising mainly Barbadians and with the lockdown we have been able to contain the spread but the fact of the matter is that once we open up, and we have to eventually open up, the possibility is that cases will return,” he cautioned.

Bostic revealed that the country’s systems had been enhanced.

He said thermal testers had been installed at ports of entry, reducing the reliance on handheld thermometers.

He said there are more than adequate numbers of testing kits available here, allowing for everyone entering the island to be tested as well as anyone recommended to be tested.

Updating the country’s COVID-19 status, Bostic said the recent results brought the number of persons who have tested positive to COVID-19 to 96 from over 6 000 tests conducted.

He revealed that two more persons would be going home today, leaving six persons in isolation. randybennett@barbadostoday.bb