Lt. Col. Bostic, in fighting mood, sets up new watchdog

An investigation is underway into reports that a number of hotels are continually breaching COVID-19 protocols, Minister of Health and Wellness Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic, confirmed Monday.

And, if found guilty, the delinquent hoteliers will be immediately delisted from the catalogue of certified quarantine centres as early as Tuesday, he warned.

Lt. Col. Bostic has also put  tourists on notice that evading quarantine could land them a six-month stay at Her Majesty’s Prison (HMP) Dodds.

The health minister told journalists: We’ve had some breaches from quarantine. We’ve taken swift action to correct those and we are satisfied that we have those breaches under control.

“But I want to say beyond the shadow of a doubt that the time for speaking is over and for those entities that continue to breach the protocol, action is in progress as I speak.

“They are being investigated right now and as soon as those investigations are completed, the hotels that continue to flaunt the protocols as some have been doing, will be removed or delisted from the list of designated quarantine hotels and I mean that.

“It is going to start to happen very very soon, perhaps as early as tomorrow morning, because we cannot and will not tolerate a continuation of the flaunting of protocols.”

In response to the recent breaches, the Minister of Health has named a new Quarantine Engagement Unit, headed by retired Barbados Defence Force (BDF) Chief of Staff, Lieutenant Colonel Athlene Branch, comprising 30 to 40 officials tasked with overseeing operations at local hotels.

According to Lt. Col. Bostic, some of the issues are not directly related to guests evading quarantine, but to troubling protocol breaches within the hotels, which needed urgent attention.

But tourists did not escape the Health Minister’s rebuke as he acknowledged recent attempted breaches of the country’s quarantine protocols.

He said: “I know that people call me Colonel, but I am not a Colonel for nothing. There is a serious side of this colonel and some people are about to see this serious side.

“[We] cannot afford for people to recklessly flaunt the protocols of this country. Barbadians deserve better than that and we want this to be a safe destination for visitors and a safe place for our people.

“So hoteliers and all those places responsible for visitors must play their part, the visitors must comply with our protocols and then we can proudly continue to promote Barbados as a safe destination for all.

“We welcome you as we always do… but this is a pandemic that we are fighting and I know it may be difficult, because what we do and some of the protocols may not apply in the countries where you come from, but the safety and public health situation in Barbados is our concern and I am begging you to follow the established protocols here in our country.

“Quarantine is quarantine and if you fail to follow the protocols, as some have done, then you will be in breach of the law and the Ministry of Health and Wellness will do whatever is required to bring you before the courts of law in Barbados.”

Chairman of the Mia Mottley Cabinet’s COVID-19 sub-committee, the foreign minister and medical doctor, Senator Dr. Jerome Walcott condemned the blatant disregard of quarantine stipulations and noted that in some cases, even Barbadians have been attempting to meet with quarantining relatives to collect items brought in from overseas.

To assist with enforcement, he announced that the new extension of the COVID-19 Monitoring Unit would also include officers from the BDF and the Royal Barbados Police Force.

“This matter of persons who are on quarantine going to the front desk and calling taxis and leaving, that has to stop. The rapid response unit must come into force to be called to stop those persons when they attempt to do that,” said Senator Walcott.

(kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb)