Quarantine is a safety watch word in Anguilla – and everywhere else, now battling the Covid-19 pandemic. And Anguilla’s Premier and Minister of Health and Tourism, who recently underwent quarantine on the island, after having visited his family in the United States, has stressed the importance of the island’s various protocols.
“Quarantine is very important for Anguillians being repatriated home, and visitors to the island,” he told The Anguillian newspaper. “What we are trying to do is limit the spread of the Covid-19 virus in the community if it is imported. So quarantine is very important as is the testing – and I think it is set up very well. There is a negative test before persons come; a test on arrival; and then a test ten or fourteen days after quarantine.
“I too had to go through quarantine. If you tested negative, you still have to stay in – and so far all 438 persons who came to Anguilla have tested negative. If there is a positive test, the person would be in quarantine, and that would contain the virus, and then, if that person becomes symptomatic, he or she would go to the hospital – if that sort of service is needed. There is no active Covid-19 disease in Anguilla and that is great.
“During quarantine, the health team check persons, including their temperature, to make sure they are doing fine. If there are any underlying medical conditions the team makes sure that persons are doing well, taking their medications – and the team also ensures that they are fed. Persons get their three meals a day and family and friends can also bring food or other items to them – but are not allowed to come into your room or get close to you. They would leave the items at a common location; then you have the security personnel, medics or the nurses, who would make certain that you get whatever is brought for you. As I said, it is very important to go through quarantine. I think, as I stated earlier, it has been set up quite nicely by the Ministry of Health. The team is using hotels and villas to make sure that persons are comfortable while going through this isolation stage.
“It is very costly, however. It can cost anywhere from 7,000 – 8,000 EC dollars per person to quarantine. The fees are to pay for the facility and the surveillance – as we must have security so that nobody leaves before the time that he or she has tested negative after the fourteen days. The fees were put in place [for Government] to try to recoup some of the cost. The fees do not cover all that Government is spending to quarantine persons, but we feel that it is important for us to recoup some of that cost – and the fees reflect that. We are charging for the test which costs a hundred US dollars and each person has to get tested at least twice. Then we are charging something for the facility and certainly some money for the food, as I said. We are not charging the actual cost.”
About reopening the tourism industry, Premier Webster stated: “We did the soft opening for persons coming to stay in villas. This is because we feel that villas are easier to manage and for persons to be isolated in quarantine. Once they tested negative they can then go out in the community. That’s phase one. Phase two, which we are hoping to start on November 1st, would involve the hotels which would also function as their own isolation units. Persons, again, will be required to come in with negative tests, three to five days before they arrive; tested on arrival; then go to the hotels to stay – and they are not to leave the property until the ten or fourteen days, depending on the prevalence of the disease where they are coming from. If they come from a place that has a low prevalence of Covid-19, they would be tested on arrival; tested again after isolation for ten days and, if negative, would be allowed to go into the community. If they come from high prevalence areas like the United States, Dominican Republic, United Kingdom –and now with France and Spain getting up in the high numbers – they would have to stay in quarantine for fourteen days before allowed into the community.
“In the hotel setting, guests would be able to be on the property and take advantage of what is being offered. All the hotels have different protocols and standard operating procedures for isolating persons. They will be able to use the beach but which is controlled, and wear masks when in public areas. In the hotels and restaurants, there will be social distancing where tables are set far enough apart that persons are not close to each other.”
Dr. Webster continued: “We are hoping that, as this goes along, we would be able, for instance, to allow tourists to do deep-sea fishing or a tour, but tour operators will have to be certified. The tour operators would be required to have all the necessary steps in place to make certain that they are isolating people so that there is less chance, if someone is carrying the virus, for it to be spread to a group with that person.”
The Premier pointed out that, in order to protect employees in the tourism sector, such as those working in hotels, villas, travel agencies and ground transportation, there had been special training sessions for them. He explained that it would also be necessary for persons to wear personal protective equipment, including masks, gowns and gloves, to protect themselves from exposure to the virus.
He said those requirements were all in place and that a lot of the properties had already come up with their own protocols, some of them being from places such as the United States and Europe. “We have our health and environmental teams going out [for inspections], and until those properties meet the proper procedures, they will not get certified,” he added. “They will be required to have certification from the health team and the environmental team. Once they have that, they will be allowed to let persons come on property.”
