Barbadians are not adhering to the COVID-19 protocols when they get in their comfort zones and it is creating headaches for health authorities, says head of the COVID-19 Monitoring Unit, Ronald Chapman.
In an interview with Barbados TODAY, Chapman said while he had seen a general improvement in the behaviour of Barbadians when out in public, persons were still being complacent when in familiar surroundings.
He advised persons not to drop their guard when around family members or friends.
“We’ve been having a lot of changes. There are a lot of people now who are using masks, there are persons who have been practising the protocols, but the challenge is that we are still having some pockets where people with close personal friends or family where they are not in a structured environment like a supermarket; maybe by a rum shop, or under a tree playing some dominoes or something of that sort, but they are not wearing a mask,” Chapman said.
“We’re still having issues with the villages because when people get in their villages and in areas where everybody knows everybody they are doing some things they know they shouldn’t be doing.
“But I can say that for the most part we’ve had a solid change. I think the complacency that we exhibited earlier I think that is gone but there are still one or two spots where we can still do better,” he added.
Chapman said it had also come to his attention that some salespersons were not wearing masks when conducting their business.
“One of my other concerns is the travelling salesman and we have to have some conversation soon because I realize that a lot of them go from place to place all over the island and they generally do not wear masks and on occasions, I had to speak to a couple of them with reference to the wearing of masks if they approach different homes to do their trade,” he noted.
Chapman said there had also been drastic improvement in the manner in which hotels had been quarantining guests.
He said since acting Chief Medical Officer, Dr Kenneth George gave the instruction that no guests were allowed to leave their room while in quarantine no problems had been reported.
Additionally, he said, security had been boosted at those hotels to provide an additional supervisory layer.
Chapman was responding to a suggestion that some visitors were still wandering while awaiting test results.
A video released over the weekend and shared on social media showed two tourists swimming in a hotel pool with red bands on before being instructed to leave by another guest at the pool.
“Presently the mandate is and it has been island-wide, that all persons who are in quarantine are restricted to their rooms. So to find someone who leaves their room and goes into a pool with a red band on is very rare. Since that regulation has been put in place we haven’t had any issues at all so I’m not so sure about the credibility of that particular video,” Chapman said.
(randybennett@barbadostoday.bb)
