Some of the persons who returned from Barbados on Wednesday are fearful that the conditions inside the facility where they are being mandatorily quarantined, including the bathrooms and toilets, are unhygienic and could put them at risk of contracting the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
“Some people are saying that we don’t want to be quarantined. We agreed to be quarantined. The problem is the facility that we are being quarantined at. The problem is the condition of the place where we are being quarantined,” one person told Stabroek News during a telephone interview yesterday.
“My issue is, I have been protecting myself, sanitizing and every possible way I can protect myself I have been doing that since I left Guyana. Now they placed us with persons who I don’t know and I don’t know if they are taking precautions and now we are with them in the same room. So instead of quarantining us, they are putting us at risk,” she further added.
Another also voiced similar concerns, while noting that she has been taking all necessary precautions to avoid getting the virus but is unsure whether her new roommates are doing the same.
A total of 17 Guyanese who were stranded in Barbados arrived on a plane at the Eugene F. Correia International Airport (EFCIA) around 6.30 pm on Wednesday after the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF) granted permission for a flight to repatriate them to Guyana.
On March 18, Guyana closed its two main airports, including EFCIA, to incoming international passenger traffic for two weeks as part of measures to combat the spread of COVID-19.
The NCTF said the passengers claimed they were caught in difficult circumstances with nowhere to stay and little money at hand to sustain themselves in Barbados and pleaded to be allowed to return on humanitarian grounds. As a result, permission was granted with the condition that they submit themselves to Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) protocols, which include being screened and a mandatory 14-day quarantine.
On their arrival, the NCTF said, the passengers breached the agreement for a mandatory quarantine and wanted to be able to greet relatives despite the possible risk of transmission of COVID-19.
However, Stabroek News was told yesterday by one of the passengers that this was far from correct. She said everyone complied with the conditions outlined by the NCTF. Upon arrival, they submitted themselves to screening after which they willingly went into a bus which they were directed to enter.
“So we came in on a flight from Barbados and we arrived about 6.30. There were some health officials there and they checked our temperatures and immigration cleared us and they sent us to a bus,” one of the passengers who spoke with this newspaper said.
While they were on their way to the quarantine facility, she added, persons began asking where they were being taken but they were told that the location could not be disclosed. As a result some persons got upset.
Complied
“We cooperated with them, we all complied and did that until they didn’t say anything, the bus just drive away with the escort and they didn’t tell us where we are going or anything. And that’s when persons started and wanted to know what was going on. The airport was empty, only immigration officers and health officials were there,” she stressed. Regardless, she said, there was no real issue until they saw the conditions of the quarantine facility. Before entering the facility, they were screened and their temperatures were taken. They also answered some questions before being taken into the building.
“We knew that we had to be quarantined because we agreed on being quarantined in order for the flight to come to Guyana because as you know flights were not allowed to Guyana. So we agreed that we would have been quarantined since in Barbados so when we arrived at the facility, they placed five of us in one room and 4or 5 others in another room. The rooms everybody are in here together. The bathrooms are not well kept, the toilets and everything, the facilities are not clean,” she stressed. Further, she said, a woman and her husband along with their two children were given a separate room, while the mother of a third child is in the room with her and a few other women.
She said there are four bathrooms and three toilets and all of them are expected to share.
“I don’t know if they will bring other persons because [if] they bring persons now, our 14 days might extend and if we are exposed to new persons, we are a risk,” she added
During a COVID-19 response update yesterday, Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence stated that the repatriated citizens were advised that they would be in quarantine for 14 days upon their arrival. “We wish to reiterate that these measures in effort to protect all of us. All medical services are catered for at our site,” she added.
Meanwhile, the Director General of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig stated during another COVID-19 response update that persons placed in mandatory quarantine will only be separated if they start to develop COVID-19 symptoms. He added that the CDC will be working with persons placed in mandatory isolation and quarantine to ensure that they are comfortable. He revealed that the family who has tested positive for COVID-19 have been requesting a number of necessities and the CDC has ensured that they provided them with such.
Craig also revealed that there is a system in place if family members want to send items to those individuals in quarantine. He said the CDC can be contacted if such is the case.
Additionally, Craig stated, the CDC will continue to monitor those in quarantine and if a person develops symptoms that person will be taken to an isolation facility.
