Imported COVID cases prove stringent measures were necessary
Amid the newly imported COVID-19 cases since the December 1 reopening of the BVI’s borders, Education Minister Dr Natalio Wheatley said the government was on the right track when it implemented stringent COVID-19 measures to guide the travel industry.
The BVI currently has 10 active COVID-19 cases — all being persons who travelled to the territory after December 1.
Minister Wheatley said the imported COVID-19 cases is proof that the public should trust elected leaders who are relying on medical experts to keep the territory COVID-free.
“You have to have some trust in your leaders — your elected leaders and those persons who are in these technical positions. These health experts who are advising — experts on border control and Immigration. All these persons in the respective areas, you have to have some trust in them. We won’t steer you the wrong way,” Dr Wheatley urged.
“We have our reopening now and we see people who came with negative PCR tests to the territory and then when they came here on day zero they test positive. You have those who came with negative PCRs, they test negative on the first day and on the fourth day they test positive. This is what we were trying to tell people all this time. This is what happened to other jurisdictions that did not take this type of procedure,” Dr Wheatley explained.
His comments follow public criticism after the government first announced the COVID-19 travel protocols. Many persons said the ‘stringent’ protocols would deter tourists from visiting the territory.
The public outcry forced the government to review some of the protocols including reducing the number of days (to four) that visitors have to spend in quarantine before they are allowed to integrate with the public.
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I hope he doesnt really think closing the country for a flu-like virus was necessary. What’s next? Shut down due to hangovers?! This is crazy. Open the borders without tests. Quit wasting time and money.
@Ignorant
Ignorant people seem like they have so much fun. No sense, just vibes.
You must be smoking the highest grade of crack. You must be:
1. White and a Trump supporter
2. Black and a coon
3. A damn idiot
……. and you a stereotypical a$$. Like a rat to bait! Stop watching only MSNBC, BBC, and CNN and attempt to get a more rounded perspective rather than your narrow minded insults!
@Careful
So you are one of them that drank the Idiot-ade huh? Sorry to hear that hun.
This is a BVI site. What on earth does foreign politics have to do with anything? The US is irrelevant.
Dr. Wheatley please stop trying to insult the intelligence of the BVI people. The initial measures were not well thought out because there is no plan for anything. The initial measures were rolled back because common sense people spoke up and caused you all to look at your foolishness again. You will have cases once people are traveling. The key is to manage the situation efficiently something which this government has done a poor job at. And btw while you are busy being a lap dog for the Premier, what is going on with your portfolio? We have gotten nothing but talk from you for the last two years.
No don’t trust the medical experts. Trust the hungry caterpillar I mean opposition. Is them call for open borders. Kudos kudos kudos idiots
Dear Dr. Nata
We have to have trust in our leaders… even though you don’t even recognize they opened the borders during the peak of the second wave! They had months to open and test procedures when the world was doing quite well covid wise.
And then when the reopened they had not prepared at all to do so.
Just so you are aware, trust is earned not given. And we should definitely be very sceptical about what our leaders did the last few months because it wasn’t very good.
What stringent measures when people are mixing with others in the home during quarantine and there is no prior inspection or security
Initially the plan was that we would have 8 day quarantine, 3tests and tracking devices. Nobody was saying just open up willy nilly and hope for the best. We all knew that there was need for practical measures in place to mitigate the risk of community spread. Your Government pulled back after the backlash and applied a more practical approach to the entry procedures. At least you all made some compromise there.
Fact is this should have been sorted out months ago when you relaunched the BVI brand so that people could make proper preparations and any kkinks could have been ironed out before December. Fact is you all bungled the reopening by launching the portal less than a week before reopening then notifying people of the postponement of the reopening of the seaports one day before.
So what happen dey?
And it is also true that people are not coming, even though we are open. I agree with protocols, but I also agree with telling the truth.
Ayo aint tired talking crap. People are coming despite your pessimism and ill will towards the BVI or government. The numbers may not be the same as this time last year for obvious reasons but people are still people unless you consider them aliens because it disproves your false narrative.
Yall still think people have money for non-essential travel to one of the more expensive, harder to get to locations in the Caribbean?