‘Beef up your staff’, Malone tells Environmental Health Department
Health Minister Carvin Malone has told the Environmental Health Division that it needs to ‘beef up’ its staff in order to properly address the rapidly escalating COVID-19 cases in the territory.
In an effort to address the spread of virus, the Minister announced in a Facebook live broadcast late Friday that crowd sizes would now be restricted to 100 persons.
The Cabinet is expected to meet sometime today with health officials to determine the way forward as cases continue to rise in the territory.
But in the interim, Malone said, “We have asked the Environmental Health Department to have additional staff. Beef up your staff even more, so that those businesses who are intent on having the particular crowd sizes violated, we would bring whether it’s $5,000 or $10,000 fines to play immediately.”
Minister Malone said if the current situation were to get ‘out of hand’, government officials will have no choice but to take further measures.
Contact tracing down to two officials
Malone also disclosed that there are now only two public health officials dedicated to doing contact tracing, since other members of the team have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
The Health Minister said government offices continue to be challenged and have either resorted to closing their doors or having reduced staffing.
Some government offices have also been offering virtual services where possible.
The Minister bemoaned the fact that all the support systems around the government have been affected by the current surge in cases.
We will ticket persons who break the law
Meanwhile, Malone said the government is intent on ticketing persons who continue to flout existing protocols such as mask-wearing.
He reiterated that persons are expected to maintain a distance of six feet from others and said his phone number will be inaccessible to those who have been ticketed or fined.
“We are encouraging everyone to stay at home, this is a period where we have to break this transmission,” the Health Minister said.
He continued: “If you have no other particular cause other than work, supermarket, doctors, we are asking you to stay at home, stay within your confines so that we can break this transmission.”
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Why don’t you tell your government and hospital workers to vaccinate themselves. Absolutely ridiculous that this has not been done..3rd world country
Vaccinated or not you can still contract the virus it just means you stand a better chance of not being severely impacted.
Not taking up beds in the only hospital in the tiny little rock nation you call home fools
the fact that that HSa is not entirely vaccinated is proof that either the people or the minister are failed state.
You guys are setting up the Bvi to become Saint Croix circa 1973 do you know what happened there since then?
Vaccinations work. These jabs don’t, when will you wake up? Or are you an angry jabbed with a positive case? Go sid down.
“beef up your staff”….say it and it will be so? Have a chat with your colleague the Minister for Immigration & Labour and get you stories straight please….I’m sure he said there were lots of people looking for work…
If ayo wasn’t so darm harden and conceited we wont be in this predicament now
Are you saying Minister that the other contact tracers are too sick to work?
Isn’t contact tracing done by phone?
They can work from home if they are not too ill and as far as we know, most vaccinated persons who get the covid don’t get too ill.
Beef up for what???
1300 reported cases. Another 3000 unreported cases.
ONLY 12 sick! This doesn’t warrant any special action. No different from the normal flu season.
When are you all going to stop with this fear mongering nonsense? Clueless and vision less set of so called leaders.
There is no point in contact tracing when its widespread. Best to redirect the resource to education/social distancing measures. Make free home testing kits available so asymtomatic people self isolate themselves and MOH has only a very few sick people to cater to.
Well, you’re partially right. We should stop contact tracing. But there’s no need for rapid tests of healthy people, that lead to false positives and just stoke panic and hysteria.
Beef up your brains sir! You were the one begging everyone to get vaccinated so that we could live our lives and reopen the Territory. Now you are the same ones on the radio and online begging people to stay at home, how does that make sense? Businesses are suffering for lack of patrons and lack of staffing. What is the social benefit of being vaccinated? We know the health benefit is not getting as sick if contracting COVID, but what else? That’s it? So you will ask people to get vaccinated, boosted, masked and still stay at home?
…Poor thing realizes that the control is almost gone so he is throwing a hissy fit. This is all about control control control and fear mongering. These guys congregate all over without masks, drinking, eating, laughing not giving a shit about COVID but out here every minute trying to scare people. Look at their size, diet etc. They seem to care about health? Fix our hospital, staff it and pay attention to the serious issues.
“beef up your staff” ???? Your the …. health minister !!!! you should be assuring there is enough staff !
How many positions have been budgeted for?