PM ‘backs COVID-free zones for entertainment, worship’

By Randy Bennett

Health authorities are working towards implementing safe zones for public events, the head of the COVID-19 Monitoring Unit, Ronald Chapman, said on Tuesday.

He told Barbados TODAY that the idea has the backing of the Prime Minister.

The news comes three weeks after she announced the move to establish coronavirus safe zones which would be open to those who are either fully vaccinated or can present a negative COVID-19 test.

But full details are yet to be made public. And in early response, a key figure in the entertainment industry, while seeking further details, describe the development as encouraging.

A full proposal had already been put forward and was awaiting ministers’ approval, said Chapman.

He said: “A working roadmap has been submitted for consideration and you definitely will be hearing about that in a very short period of time but until that time I can’t say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ because the proposal is in.

“It is something the Prime Minister is eager to get established but it has to be done right but until that time
I really can’t give a definite on how it will work until everything is approved.

“I think the timeline that the Prime Minister is working with is now and my timeline is now too, but it’s just that we have to work through the issues carefully before and it has to be approved by the Cabinet Sub-Committee and so on. The structure has been put forward but as I said it just needs approval.”

Mottley announced that health workers would be targeted in the first instance, followed by frontline workers, along with those in tourism and education.

She pointed out that the restaurant and entertainment industries and places of worship would eventually be included in the creation of safe zones.

But Chapman made clear no approval had yet been given for events to be held in safe zones.

“We haven’t given anybody any approval to establish any safe zones as yet because as I said the mechanics of it has not yet been approved,” he said.

President of the Entertainment Association of Barbados, Rudy Maloney told Barbados TODAY while the news was encouraging, several factors first had to be established.

Maloney said: “We still have to find out what are the protocols and what numbers for what venues and so on, that is what we are not hearing. Government needs to come out and put things in place and tell us what is going on. We don’t have anything so as yet.

“The last meeting we had with the Prime Minister was back in June and we haven’t heard anything since.”

But the head to the Government’s coronavirus watchdog, said that despite the presence of the Delta variant which has led to an unprecedented wave of infections and deaths, many people are still trying to hold events.

The Monitoring Unit had to break up an event at The Cove in St Lawrence Gap over the weekend, he revealed.

Chapman told Barbados TODAY: “Up to either last night or night before we had to deal with The Cove because apparently, they were having some sort of party there.

“I don’t understand; it is crazy that in an environment where you’re having 436 cases that persons can still think it wise to gather like that.”

randybennett@barbadostoday.bb