Officials on lookout for COVID launderers

There is a worrying development called “COVID-19 laundering” for which Barbadian immigration and national security officials are on the look-out.

It involves visitors from designated high-risk and some medium-risk countries, using low-risk destinations in the Caribbean like Barbados to “launder” their COVID-19 status before moving on to their intended destinations without facing some of the border-entry hassles they might have originally faced if they travelled directly.

This was revealed at a recent on-line discussion titled Re-opening Borders hosted by the Holy Trinity Anglican Church, St Philip, at which presentations were made by Hadley Bourne, Chief Executive Officer of the Grantley Adams International Airport and Deputy Chief Immigration Officer Margaret Inniss.

This issue was first raised by Barbadian Ken Savoury, who has lived in Bermuda for 40 years and who planned to return permanently to his birthplace with his wife and cat before the COVID-19 pandemic changed those plans.

Concerned that he would have to either travel through the United States which is branded as “high-risk” or Canada which is “medium-risk”, he queried what would be his best route and what kind of situation would he face when he landed in Barbados.

“A lot of people have left the UK, went to Bermuda, spent 14 days and then went on to the United States . . . I am wondering if that is something that the Government has considered might also happen to Barbados because it is considered low risk, and so the passengers who are arriving in Barbados would probably spend 14 days there . . . before they move on to the US or another country?” he queried of the panel.

In response, the GAIA CEO said: “We are well aware that persons would have tried to launder themselves through low risk territories, but there is a lot of back-end infrastructure that puts the various state agencies that are responsible for port security . . . that will put us on alert and that is why the [Caribbean] ‘bubble’ was burst initially and now we have come back with an updated bubble . . . . Yes we are aware of the COVID laundering.”

Bourne added: “Without going too much into the back-end of it in terms of aviation security and what we have in place, so long as you travel legally, using your passport or any means of identification that is considered a legal travel document, we will know where you’ve been and that is all I will say.”

He explained: “When we first started, a lot of persons were using Jamaica to come down to Barbados and then back out . . . and they were also using St. Vincent, St Lucia, so we were well aware of that earlier up in July and we just had to put a stop to it.  Then the protocols were updated to facilitate that. And that is why . . . the protocols were constantly being changed and constantly being amended to mitigate these fluid situations that would have been happening.”

The disclosure comes as the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) calls for mandatory COVID-19 testing of all visitors to the island. The country’s representative body for hotels, restaurants and tourism-related attractions disclosed Thursday that there was significant interest by some visitors to travel to Barbados but many were fearful they might be exposed to COVID-19 positive persons on their flights to the island.

Currently, all visitors outside of the designated Caribbean bubble and those from low-risk countries are requested to have a negative COVID-19 PCR test result at least 72 hours before arrival on the island. However, many visitors have been discovered to be COVID-19 positive after being tested at the Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA).

Also commenting on the situation during the recent discussion was Deputy Chief Immigration Officer Margaret Inniss, who noted: “You found persons coming out of the United States, going over to Canada and then coming into Barbados but it is essential, as is happening now for Barbados, to keep a tight watch on these types of situations and make the necessary adjustments as we go along to ensure the safety of our borders and our people and those people that we are welcoming.

“It is a fairly comprehensive analysis of all the information that we gather to make decisions in the best interest of the country. Over a period of time and sometimes every couple of days and weeks you will see the protocols being changed so that we can adjust in the best interest of the country.” (IMC1)