The Private Sector Commission (PSC) is proposing that citizens who are being conditionally repatriated to Guyana should be allowed the option of being quarantined at home for two weeks with the penalty of a $100,000 fine should they commit a breach.
The PSC yesterday said that it has written to the National COVID-19 Task Force and asked that the mandatory options announced last week be “relaxed” for those being allowed back in Guyana.
The government has said that persons being repatriated are welcome to stay at any of its quarantine facilities for free or pay to stay at two hotels designated to provide such services.
However, the average cost per person for the two-week mandatory quarantine at such hotels would be over $100,000.
“You have to do the test before you arrive and you have to do it when you arrive so why do this? If you are negative before you arrive here and you are tested here and [are] negative, why go through that again?” Chairman of the PSC Gerry Gouveia yesterday questioned during a virtual news conference.
“We consider this a very harsh measure,” he added, while noting that those tested and awaiting results after returning should only be quarantined in the intervening period. Gouveia said that consideration should be made for subsidising the costs for persons returning as many are “ordinary Guyanese” who “don’t have big money.” “If they have to spend US$1,500 on a place for two weeks, where will they get that from?” he questioned.
While it hailed the decision to return those stranded abroad home, the PSC wrote to the Task Force asking that it reconsider the measures proposed.
“While the PSC acknowledges that a number of public health and safety guidelines have been implemented to protect all citizens, it is equally important for the most convenient measures to be employed during this COVID-19 pandemic…,” the letter, seen by Stabroek News, states.
Against this background, the PSC requested that the measures, such as a mandatory 14-day quarantine, “be relaxed” if the returning citizen tests negative 48 hours prior to travelling and the mandatory screening and testing upon their return also shows negative results. In such cases, it says, such persons should be allowed to be sent home and/or be quarantined at home.
