There was “a walk through” at the entry and testing area at the Blowing Point Port on Thursday, December 10, by the Ministry of Health. It was to ensure that the stringent precautionary measures, being taken to prevent the spread of Covid-19 into the Anguillian community, are working effectively.
Ms Naomi Peters and Ms Nisha Dupuis
Newly-employed Communications Specialist with the Ministry, Ms. Nisha Dupuis, told The Anguillian newspaper: “We are having a walk-through at the ferry point of the terminal building to understand the Covid-19 processes on the arrival of visitors. We want the Quarantine Officers to tell us what is being said to persons when they arrive. This is to ensure that the information they are providing is as it should be, and that the visitors are quite clear about what is expected of them from a communications perspective. Of course, we also want to see how everything is done medically …and we really want to highlight the hard work that Anguillians are putting in to ensure that there is no community spread of the virus.”
Ms. Dupuis continued: “We have seen cases where the protocols that have been established are effective and our people at the port have been able to catch the coronavirus before it spreads into the community. The Ministry of Health is proud of that accomplishment and today is just another step to re-enforce and understand a bit more of the processes at the port.
“Right now, the Ministry is working on the communications for the Covid-19 vaccine deployment and wants to know what the concerns of our people are and how we can address them. That is one of the ways we will be able to prevent the community spread of the virus in Anguilla.”
The Quarantine Officers, who were working at the port at the time of the walk-through, were: Ms. Monique Rey, who does the administrative paper work; Ms. Naomi Peters, who does the swabbing and, among other duties, places a band on the wrist of visitors for identification at their places of accommodation; and Arnge Richardson, Health Officer with the Ministry of Health who is also involved in the quarantine work.
The Quarantine Officers have reported that the visitors are generally cooperating with them as they are aware of the required testing and the other Covid-19 processes at the port.
