Hotels urged to get to know the protocols

Management of hotels in this country are being urged to become familiar with the COVID-19 protocols, whether or not they are designated as one of the quarantine hotels.

The advice is coming from Acting Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr. Kenneth George. He made the comments during the recently held Third Quarterly Meeting of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA).

“Be familiar with the protocols, be familiar with the risk categories so that if persons pass through your hotel, you would have a good understanding of what the Ministry of Health is trying to achieve with those protocols,” he stated.

George added, “What I would say is that the responsibility of the BHTA, particularly in these uncertain times when you have individuals entering and exiting your place, is to make sure that you understand the risks, you provide the appropriate security, because security is going to be key in making sure that persons who are at a particular risk do not interact with members of the population or persons who might be considered to be vulnerable members of the population”.

His comments came as he indicated that at present there are around 15 properties that have been designated as quarantine hotels, and he added that it is expected that as business opens up in the country, there will be opportunities for other hotels to come on board. Dr. George made the remarks as he indicated that the COVID-19 Monitoring Unit will be working with the sector to ensure they understand the risks, and to put various mitigation strategies in place to reduce the risk of transmission within hotels.

The Acting Chief Medical Officer made the point while indicating that under consideration is the idea of isolation hotels.

“Quarantine is for those who do not have symptoms and who have a negative test and what we are doing in quarantine, is actually watching that person over a period of time to see if they would develop symptoms. Isolation is for persons who have a positive test and therefore are deemed infectious. I know that there has been some discussion as to the usefulness of not only quarantine facilities which we have many, as I indicated up to 15, but also the usefulness of having an isolation hotel and that would require much more discussion because that is a much more riskier environment,” he stated.

Dr. George explained that at present the isolation unit’s capacity is 140 individuals. However, he said that up until now the unit has only had a maximum of 30 persons at any one time. He said therefore that the number of individuals requiring to be isolated, in an isolation hotel may not be as much as one may think. (JRT)