Visitor knocks ‘casual attitude’ to COVID protocols

British national Sheila Fox is frowning on what she describes as the shameful behaviour of some of her countrymen who have been caught flouting Barbados’ quarantine and COVID-19 protocols.

Fox, who has made Barbados home for the past year, is so disgusted by the British tourists’ behaviour that she wrote an article for the UK’s Daily Telegraph condemning their unruly actions.

In an interview with Barbados TODAY, Fox said she believes some British nationals were bringing casual attitudes towards the virus to the island, not realizing that Barbados has different protocols which need to be respected.

Earlier this month, some British nationals were taken before the courts where they were fined for breaking Barbados’ COVID-19 quarantine protocols.

“Just before Christmas there was an influx of UK tourists and there were high-profile cases of people flouting the protocols, but also not so high profile. I felt cross on two counts because most British tourists here behave well and we are grateful to be here.

“We obey the rules and I felt that the actions of a few were giving us all a bad name. But more importantly, I also felt cross because I felt that this island has kept us safe and kept its people safe and that there were some reckless individuals who were putting that in jeopardy.

“That is what made me write that article for the Telegraph to basically say to British people who are thinking of coming back that they got to realize that they are in a different country with a different culture. You got to respect where you are and that it is not your country and that you are just in another place,” she said.

“The breaches in protocols were blatant. People who knew they were positive still went out. It boils down to respect”.

Fox who teaches drama to American students in the United Kingdom, in addition to writing said she and her husband decided on an extended stay on the island because the theatres at home are closed because of the pandemic.

She said she always takes a semester off to visit Barbados where she would do most of her writing.

Fox said while she has always had a great love and appreciation for Barbados, she learnt about another side of the social culture last year when the island was shut down for a few months and several locals extended a helping hand to her and her husband to make sure they were comfortable during that difficult period.

“That is why when I saw what was happening I got cross because we felt really happy and privileged and grateful to be here for the last year. And we feel that the Government has done a great job in keeping a lid on this virus, and kept us all safe,” she said.

Fox has also written an article which has also been published in the Travel section of the Daily Telegraph, about experiencing lockdown on “this wonderful island”.

In recent weeks, the British woman has also been paying attention to complaints from UK visitors who have been stuck in quarantine longer than the promised 48 hours awaiting the PCR test results.

The visitors lamented that it is not fair that they have to remain in quarantine for such a long time, when the Barbados Government promised them that once they came they would receive the results of the mandatory test in a maximum of 72 hours.

But, in Fox’s opinion, those travelling at this time should be aware that they are taking a risk and should be opened to the unexpected.

“If you spend a lot of money to get here, and you spend a lot of money to be here, that does not give you the right to behave as you want to when you are here.

“When you travel, you have to roll with the punches and take what comes. And you can be sure that the Barbados tourist authority and the Government are hell-bent on trying to sort this out.

“I mean, to make it clear before people come that it might take a bit longer would be a good idea, but I don’t know. I don’t know how clear it was made. I feel sorry that they are in an awful dilemma, but we are in extraordinary times,” the writer said.

Though Fox has not contracted the deadly virus, she has had a close call with it. Her son, who is a doctor in the United Kingdom on the frontline working in an Intensive Care Unit COVID-19 Unit caught the virus from a patient. He was ill for three weeks but is now recovered.

“But I want to make the point that it is not all tourists, most of us have got the island’s got at heart and we do the right thing. It only takes a few to destroy goodwill, but it also only takes a few to destroy the virus,” she stressed, referring to the curfew breakers.

(anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb)