As Barbados records 40 new cases of COVID-19, there are approximately 200 persons in quarantine at hotels.
And, Manager of the COVID-19 Quarantine Facilities, Alvin Hart, is urging residents to adhere to the protocols and to stay away from work when experiencing symptoms of the virus.
“As the numbers increase, the more hotels we will have to use, and the more room stock will be required,” he stated.
He was speaking during a virtual press conference this evening led by Minister of Health and Wellness, Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic, and included Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Kenneth George, and Senior Medical Officer, Dr. Leslie Rollock, on the latest increase in COVID-19 cases.
The latest spike involves a St. Michael church, two businesses and a St. George family.
Mr. Hart said for the latest cluster, five hotels – Dover Beach Hotel, Time Out Hotel, Barbados Beach Club, Dover Beach Hotel and the Sugar Cane Club – were being used to quarantine the primary contacts.
“We have the individuals from the large establishment that Dr. George spoke about…. We have over 70 of those in quarantine. We have almost all the members of that church cluster; … the entire membership of that church should be in quarantine that are primary contacts…. We also have all of those from the different family clusters that are out there ….
“By the end of the day, we should have around 200 persons in quarantine within these hotels,” he said.
However, Mr. Hart explained that it was a rolling stock and persons would be “going and coming” as they were retested, which formed a critical part of quarantining individuals.
“Today, we retested about 18 persons. Tomorrow, we will retest a very large number, and this will be a lot of persons from that large establishment. We will be retesting about 71 of them….
“So every day, we’re retesting persons…. The number of persons coming into quarantine will be based on the amount of positive cases that we see tomorrow and the following day. So, persons will be going and persons will be coming, but what we want is that the numbers keep falling and there’s no significant rise in the numbers,” he said.
The Manager of the COVID-19 Quarantine Facilities noted that quarantining was a critical component of the fight against COVID-19, along with the other measures, and primary contacts of positive cases will continue to be quarantined in hotels, as long as it was warranted.
During the press conference, Mr. Hart also thanked the staff and management of the hotels, noting they had gone beyond the call of duty to assist in making the measures work. “We also want…everybody else to play their part,” he urged.