Cabinet debated ‘long & hard’ over a full lockdown | Public service to operate mostly remotely
Governor Augustus Jaspert
Governor Augustus Jaspert has said agreeing on a partial lockdown for the next 14 days was no easy decision for the Cabinet of the Virgin Islands.
The territory will commence a 5 pm to a 5 am curfew commencing tomorrow, Wednesday, August 26.
“As a Cabinet, we debated long and hard on how to avoid a full lockdown, whilst ensuring the safety and protection of the people. These decisions have been driven by one motivation — to protect you and to protect the overall population of the territory,” he said during a live broadcast on Tuesday.
He continued: “Our strategy as a Cabinet throughout has been to put safety first — to be safe rather than sorry. We have to balance the need to keep people safe, to keep our economy going as much as possible and the need for essential services to operate. We have had to make difficult decisions. And I know those decisions will affect people’s livelihoods, their income, businesses and way of life. We need to use this chance we have now to try to halt the virus, and that is why we are moving to restrict businesses to only absolutely essential areas.”
Restrict your movements!
The governor then urged residents to, as much as possible, restrict their movements to only acquire services that are essential.
“The safest thing you can do is to avoid contact with other people as much as possible,” he stated.
He further annouced that the public service will be closed to the public from 2 pm today. He said public officers will carry out their duties remotely, except for certain essential services.
Importantly, for the next seven days, only businesses that provide essential services will be open. All other businesses will be closed.
During that time, restrictions will also apply to the movement of vessels within territorial waters. All private and commercial vessels will be prohibited from travelling within the territorial waters with the exception of intra-island ferries and fisherfolk, where authorized.
There is no travel permitted to Anegada unless as approved. All other vessels should return to the dock, he said.
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People need to work. 7 days no work equals no pay. Working, mostly alone, poses no more threat to community than any other activity yet I don’t miss a weeks pay. BVI lacks common sense.
BVI lack leadership. Go Trump 2020. Best ting that ever happened for Blacks and the US.
We barely had a few cases and we went on lock down , now we have a full blown situation of community spread and we have partial lock down, now these youngsters or whoever may have it will be up and down in the few opened places between 5 am and 5 pm spreading and no one will know until its too late again.This is not going to control it if people are allowed all over during the day! At least a 7 day period complete lock down followed by the partial lock down for the next 7 days would have been more comfortable. As we all know not all members of the public are very safety conscious and care about the well being of others, please take this seriously before it befalls on a family member close to you.
One article references the Health Minister saying the 24 hr lock down debate was fake news while the Governor expressed that they were debating long and hard about whether to have a full lock down.
Doesn’t look like fake news to me.
The only thing is people don’t wait and instead panic shop.
The cabinet is in shambles..They are not getting along
Now when the virus is running rampant on the island they telling us about curfew from 5am – 5pm so like this Covid 19 does sleep in the day and attack at night LMFAOOOOOO
– no one is making any money as all business is closed
– Crime will increase rapidly
– Everyone can still travel across the island to visit friends and family
– Covid-19 spreads freely between 5am and 5pm
– Well done! This logic makes absolute sense!
Well said. I was thinking along the same lines. In addition, everyone can go shopping at the same time…hahhaz.. talk about crowd management!
Can we come out the house during the 5am to 5pm with out police harassing us?
Is this still going on i need money to feed my kids and pay bills. Why are some persons getting and people with children are not getting.
Governor we all know thats its you that wants the full lockdown so it will fall under the emergency act were as making you in charge .We have to live with this virus its not going anywhere ,person have to be responsible and accountable for their own action if he or she chose not to protect themselves its on them but we cannot stop living if bars ,clubs along with other large gathering are a close those places indefinitely, Governor wants to cripple us with a 28 days full lock down we will never bounce back.
if you going to closesome places please i have bills to pay if i cant work how i am going to my billthat miss and mrs covic is not going to stop right now so please help me underdtand this crap about every time miss covic pop up what are we going to do please help
Lock down this… Business only essential that… The people want to know: WHERE IS THE ECONOMIC RELIEF? People dem sufferin’ We need to hear about how we goin’ to survive!!!!!!!!!!!
Dr Smith refused help from UK and we suffered a devastating hurricane…Fahie refused help from UK too and now we are suffering from Covid outbreak
An impossible task to please everyone.
No lock-down – Incompetent government, putting people life at risk, etc, etc…
Lock-down – The economy this and that, number of days days too long or too short, why this business and not the other, etc, etc…
At the end of the day, a decision has to be made by our elected and appointed officials.
It was Chief Cop Mick Matthews who said it was FAKE news yesterday.He put it on Whatsapp and it got all over, everyone forwarding it.He got challenged by some woman saying the Cabinet had been discussing it and there would be a lockdown. He said he was with the Cabinet Right Then (lie) and they hadn’t heard of it (lie). People supporting him and coming down on the woman saying she spreading rumor and gossip. Now see it is true but why did the Chief Cop lie?
We are done economically. No employment, no tourists, no ships, and no leadership.
In two months, mark,my words, we will have true poverty here.
The government ain’t going stop until people here start rioting ….they system only caters to upper class people….its failing clearly
No disrespect but the carribbean islands body of organization lack of vision can a virus spread only by night
Everything negative… How about starting an announcement with ‘We are working hard to provide financial assistance… We are offering ‘Hope’ for those in need. We are anticipating a slow opening soon… etc etc. The governor and his entourage, politicians and senior civil servants are still making fat salaries. They are OUT OF TOUCH with the people who are getting more and more impoverished daily.
What happen to all the rest kinds of flu’s.So only covid flu exists.these minority people think we stupid.
Hecklers… I think the idea is that if the Governments show how well they do without UK help everyone will be behind independence and then they can get their hands on the money without oversight and share it out amongst themselves. Probably already do that, but how much easier if no one looking. Roads bad now, what when all money goes into just some peoples pockets.
The Guv is a career civil servant who has never worked outside the public sector – he does not have any comprehension of being paid per hour or of not being paid his full salary. He could happily have shut the whole of the BVI down with a 24 hr curfew – it would make his life easier, and he does not care about the consequences as he winds down the final 12 months of his sabbatical in the BVI. Thank goodness that the Premier stands up to him.
There is definitely something amiss between the Government and the Governor. It speaks volume. Keep the disagreement inside Your meetings and present a united front . This is very unprofessional for the country . By the way , I Do understand that the military navy would have no sympathy on who they catch in illegal activities. So yes Premier you have to protect your own even under …. activities . So use local protection even though they might not be fully equipped and modern as the navy .. We have not gone independent yet . We still need the support of the U.K. and the Governor still has autonomy.
The people not obeying lockdown/curfew will be the same people breaking the law and bringing in those with the virus. They probably already have it and will spread it.
Meanwhile, those honest, working people will be sitting at home losing money when they could be working away from the criminals.
Need to pray ?
Don’t have a closed mind…learn to make lemons…if this lockdown is affecting your income because of the nature of your job then use this lockdown to diversify your working and income portfolio. Take online courses so you can get a job that allows you to work remotely…look for an internet job which allows you to earn income from home…don’t just close your mind and throw your hands up in the air. The Government is not doing this because they want to…they are doing this to save your life and my life. You rather have a week’s pay and suffer or even die from COVID-19…??? That same week’s pay is what you going waste and pay your medical bills or even worse…funeral costs.
Can’t run from the virus but you can destroy economy. Need to learn from other countries. These knee jerk reactions are stupid. Need to smartly and safely open the economy. Herd immunity is a thing. Protect elderly, compromised and isolate the sick. Practice hand washing, distancing and mask wearing and open up the economy or you will be sure to dig an economic hole so deep you will never be able to climb out.
You, the citizens of the BVI are being played. Your government is lying about the severity of the virus to impose prolonged lockdown and control. Stand-up for your people. Resist.
Everytime the Government closes down businesses and prevents people from working, they should stop taking salary. See how long the lockdown lasts then. It’s so easy to say everyone stay home, shut down tourism, shut down businesses, but we still getting our fat paycheck and have nothing to worry about.