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Delay in COVID-19 test results disappoints travellers

by Marlon Madden
5 min read
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A backlog of COVID-19 test results has grown over the last two weeks, visitors and tourism executives have told Barbados TODAY, depriving many travellers of planned days to enjoy their vacations and prompting officials to promise improvements as more flights begin to arrive here.

This week alone, several individuals who arrived from the UK on Monday did not receive their results until Thursday afternoon.

One man told Barbados TODAY that after waiting two years to come back to the island he was “hugely disappointed” that after being promised a 24-hour turnaround for the result since he was fully vaccinated, it took three days instead.

The delay forced him to cancel his wife’s birthday dinner which was set for Tuesday, he said.

Describing the service as “dreadful”, Bill Gartland recommended that the officials “be honest with people and not promise what they can’t deliver”, adding that this latest trip had certainly left his family with a sour taste.

“We will be very nervous to promote the Island, Gartland told Barbados TODAY. “Even when you comply with all the rules, you still do not get the holiday promised. The Bim Safe app tells you each step of the way that you’re on the way to the beautiful beaches. We are still waiting four days on.

“The Government must put more thought into the strategies of expecting a large number of tourists coming to the Island and perhaps put more lab staff in the labs.”

The frequent flyer also pointed out that when he enquired about a “private test” he was told it would cost him $400 for each test, which was a big turn-off.

Gartland reported his negative test was received on Thursday.

Minister of Health and Wellness Lt. Colonel Jeffrey Bostic told Barbados TODAY the delays this time around were as a result of “technical issues”.

Between late December last year and January this year, scores of individuals experienced financial and emotional angst as a result of waiting more than 72 hours to get back their results. This resulted in Government providing compensation in the form of free accommodation.

Asked about the current delays and what assurance was there that there would not be a repeat of what happened at the beginning of this year, Lt Col Bostic said: “The delays had to do with some technical issues that we’ve had even within the airport itself and where the persons operate. We have had to get some upgrades from the provider to be able to get more bandwidth.

“Also, there was a particular issue with entering the information on the SHAPE App [which manages the vaccination and testing data]. That was causing a bit of difficulty again because of the bandwidth situation. Then, we had two occasions where the Ministry of Information, Science and Technology system was out for an entire day because of issues with the provider. Once we have that it is going to impact operations. So there has been a delay in getting some of those results back.”

Acting Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw also said that some “people” were entering incorrect information that also resulted in some of the delays.

It was not immediately clear whether the errors were being made by travellers or data entry operators for test results.

Adding that the airport was not built with the COVID-19 pandemic in mind, she explained that several changes had to be made and continued to be made in order to constantly improve the experience.

All arriving passengers are being processed from Gates 14 to 16 on the terminal’s eastern end.

Bradshaw said: “There may be delays from time to time, but the delays sometimes are not deliberate, they are obviously logistical issues and cost issues that we are trying to grapple with in order to make the process of coming through the airport an enjoyable one.”

As he confirmed guests’ complaints of testing delays over the past two weeks as the island welcomed more flights, Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) Senator Rudy Grant said his organisation was presently speaking with hotels and “getting information from them with respect to facilitating testing away from the Grantley Adams in order to remove some of that pressure”.

“One of the things we have to ensure as a destination is that what we put in our protocols that they work,” Senator Grant told Barbados TODAY. “There is no denying the fact that we have had some challenges in relation to processing of passengers at the Grantley Adams International Airport and at times the test results have taken a little longer than should. We have to be able to correct those.”

BHTA Chairman Geoffrey Roach said it was important that delays are avoided as much as possible, suggesting that it was best to plan for worst-case scenarios.

With Barbados expecting a spike in airlift especially from October this year, Roach said that as officials put systems in place to ensure health and safety, they should also be on point with ensuring a good customer experience.

He told Barbados TODAY: “We think the process needs to be very tidy. As a country, we need to look at a process where we plan for let’s say a worst case scenario and scale back for smaller operations with less traffic.

“We need really to ensure that all of the agencies that are involved in this process in any way are all focused on ensuring that while we look at managing the health element of it we also remember that as a tourism-dependent destination the tourism experience is not diminished by what we do or what we implement.”  (marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb)

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