The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Mr. Foster Rogers, has said in the Government’s Press Conference of Monday, February 8th, that the breaching of the quarantine is selfish, it is immoral, and it is a threat to Anguilla’s development. He was reiterating an appeal that was made by the Parliamentary Secretary, Mrs. Quincia Gumbs-Marie, who stated:
“Returning nationals have always been one of our concerns of high risk in quarantine. Because they have friends and family here, it may be rather difficult to stay isolated from them. But risking the spread of COVID-19 is not worth it. Having your partner come to get a hug, or an embrace, or a kiss, while you are in quarantine, and then they go back out among the people of the community, is neither responsible to the rest of the people of Anguilla, nor is it responsible to yourself. COVID-19 is very real and we know that it is easy to be caught. In case you have the virus, then you will affect other Anguillians.
“So we are asking, especially the returning nationals, with a special appeal: please do your part in keeping our country safe. When you return home, you are required to isolate for your full two weeks, and as soon as your isolation time is up you will get the chance to see all the people whom you know and love. But please stop putting our country at risk by breaching your quarantine.”
Picking up the strain, the PS, Foster Rogers, then spoke in serious and emphatic tones: “Breaching of quarantine is a significant problem,” he noted. “It poses a major obstacle as we seek to guard the protocols. Throughout the month of January we have had 10 recorded breaches. Over the past week-end alone we had 7. It is only because of the grace of God that persons so far have not tested positive for the virus in light of these breaches. Breaching the quarantine is not only selfish, but it is immoral, it is illegal and it is a threat to Anguilla’s development.”
He referred to some of the neighbouring islands which have had some significant virus spread in their communities — and are experiencing local transmission as a result of disregard for isolation in quarantine. “One of our sister islands,” he observed, “is now dealing with a significant problem of community spread just because of a breach of quarantine.”
The PS continued: “I do not understand how someone could have been away from Anguilla for a few months, a year, or more, and can’t wait for just ten to fourteen days in quarantine before it is legally safe to be with love ones. And I don’t understand the thinking of people who live in our community, who know the difficulties we have had to keep our country as COVID-free as possible, and still take the liberty to enter into someone’s space who is in quarantine, with the risks of getting infected, and then coming back out to spread that infection into the community. I can’t understand the logic behind it.”
The Premier, Dr. Ellis Webster, echoed the sentiments of both Mr. Rogers and Mrs. Gumbs-Marie, but he passionately focused on the illegal implications of the quarantine breach: “You have heard the PS say that to breach the quarantine is illegal,” he said. “Well, examples will be shown because there are certain fines and imprisonment terms that go with these breaches of quarantine. And we would like to make examples of people so that we send the message that when you jeopardise the health of this nation, by doing something so stupid, we will not tolerate it.”
– Staff Reporter, James R. Harrigan
