It’s cheaper to provide security for returnees than to shut down economy again — Premier
Stating that the British Virgin Islands has sacrificed much to now have no active cases of COVID-19, Premier Andrew Fahie has warned returning residents to comply with the quarantine measures being implemented to prevent another shut-down of the economy.
Addressing the issue on the Honestly Speaking radio programme last evening, June 2, he said it is imperative that persons remain in their assigned quarters for 14 days, at which point they will be tested and retested for the virus.
If their test results return negative, they will be allowed to reunite with family and friends. But if they test positive for the virus, further measures such as enhanced isolation will be enforced.
“I want to be one of the first to welcome them back home, but they have to understand that once they have been quarantined, they must not interact with anyone. We are asking them not to go anywhere,” Premier said.
He continued: “I am asking all family members, please let us not retard the progress that we have made because we cannot afford to retard it. It is going to be too much money for us to shut back down our economy and to reboot the economy. It is cheaper to put the security around them to have to pay for our economy to be rebooted after having to be shut down as a result of any kind of spread.”
We have sacrificed a lot
Further driving his point home, Premier Fahie reminded persons that residents have already sacrificed and ‘laboured through many curfew orders’.
“We were angry at times, [but] we did all of that to keep us safe and right now thank God we have zero active confirmed cases of the coronavirus, and it is not by accident. We spent a lot of our hard-earned tax money to be proactive,” he pointed out.
The first commercial flight carrying returning nationals and residents is scheduled to arrive on June 4.
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The premier woke up… he finally takes the economy into consideration.
Next step… the health of the people by changing their behaviour (or don’t we want to give up fried chicken and rice all day every day?)
Count thy blessings ye can afford chicken and rice. Some are on government payroll, yet through no fault of their own, can barely afford sardine and crackers.
In fact, some in the middle class have had their entire professional income wrongfully commandeered for decades and counting.
And, despite the millions amounting to billions to trillions being dispensed from the budget, government coffers and SS, not one case relative to the malady mentioned above, including decades of hijacked increments and salary increases are being resolved.
Compared to when i was a boy being indoctrinated with the notion that obtaining an education would present one with a ladder out of poverty, has proven for me to be just a fallacy.
Although happy with the commencement sentence of this paragraph, we are now a rich island. Hopelessly however, we are now pregnant with religiousity, and barren with no compassion and devoid of any sense of right and wrong and human emphaty, and appear totally incapable of affecting the former.
Meanwhile, today, covid has now intervened and could very well totally destroy the so called educated middle class and render many, many to the level of the poor, while some have been living there their entire professional career.
On the human psychological spectrum, the economic and psychosomatic devastation continue. Anger has replaced cognizant realities and there is no money to pay a mental specialist.
May God bless these Virgin Islands, their leaders, past and present, the local to local oppressors, the poor and outcasts. May they also see the face of God.
Oh boy! here comes the bodyguards
You need to take a break today with the BS, I know exactly what you are implying.
You already made your big mistakes and now you trying to correct it. Everyone already know where you coming from with the crap and bull s**t. You don’t have any vision you to step the f..k down.
May God help us, because some of them will be so darn stubborn, I hope the island don’t suffer because of this move?
Those are not the only two options. How about requiring that people get tested they arrive? If anyone manages to catch the virus on the way here, deal with it, contact trace and quarantine the sick/exposed, which is the DEFINITION of quarantine.
Most other countries stick returners in a hotel for 14 days.
This is a much better managed quarantine and it also is a great opportunity for one or more empty hotels to make some income and employ people temporarily.