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‘More deaths, public spending if entry rules relaxed’ – PdP

by Randy Bennett
3 min read
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If Government does not strengthen its rules for entering the country more Barbadian lives could be lost, the Opposition People’s Party for Democracy and Development (PdP) has warned, as it urged the Mia Mottley administration to enforce “laser and stringent” protocols to protect citizens.

Speaking during a press conference at the Leader of the Opposition office in Worthing this morning, the PdP’s spokesmen on health, tourism and economy agreed that Barbados needed to reopen its borders.

The spokesman on tourism and the economy, Scott Weatherhead, described as “foolishness” the current protocols in place by Government such as the 72-hour test prior to travel to Barbados and the decision not to test every visitor to the island for COVID-19.

He maintained that Barbadian lives were at stake and not enough was being done.

Weatherhead claimed that the Government’s failure not to close its borders earlier contributed to the deaths of three of the seven people to have died from the respiratory virus.

Scott Weatherhead

He said: “We have seven people who have died from the coronavirus on our shores, of which I think it is three of them that never travelled anywhere. They contracted it from others. The rest came in with it and died sometime after from complications.

“But three of those persons who died were Barbadians minding their business. They contracted it from someone who brought it in, so you can say that had we closed our borders sooner we wouldn’t have allowed it in and had we implemented stricter protocols it wouldn’t have gotten in at all since we are an island and three of those people would have been alive.

“When you have a lapse protocol you are allowing the opportunity for the virus to come in again, infect other older Barbadians and persons with other complications and you could be costing the lives of other Barbadians.”

Declaring it was necessary for Government to revamp its protocols, he suggested that the COVID-19 test should be taken 24 hours before travelling to Barbados and for all passengers arriving at the Grantley Adams International Airport to be retested and quarantined for 14 days before being allowed to roam the island.

PdP health spokesman Paul Gibson cautioned that if tougher protocols were not put in place Government ran the risk of having to shut down the island again.

He said: “We can find ourselves in a situation where we will have to close back down if we do not take these protocols seriously. It’s better to be a penny-wise than a pound-foolish out.

“We could find ourselves in a situation where the pendulum can swing back the other way and all the gains we would have made in shutting down the banks, the schools, the offices, having people work from home, shutting the nurseries, could all be lost in poof just by people being very (lapsed) and not taking this thing (seriously).”

Paul Gibson

Weatherhead also questioned whether a cost-benefit analysis had been done prior to reopening the country’s borders.

He said he was interested to know if the taxes garnered from the tourism industry would exceed the money Government is likely to spend fighting the disease if it is reimported into Barbados.

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