State of emergency extended

A resolution to extend the state of emergency in Barbados given our current public health situation was placedbefore the Joint Sitting of both Houses of Parliament yesterday at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.

Minister of Health and Wellness, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Bostic, in putting forward the justification for the extension being sought, pointed out that transmission rates for COVID-19 are continuing to climb and government has had to shift its strategy to manage the present situation, given the impacts of the delta variant and given that other variants may be on the horizon.  Bostic said an extension is needed to deal with the present situation and to focus on protecting and saving lives going forward.

“Given where we are at this point in time, we consider it necessary for the extension and especially because none of us know, no country knows exactly when this thing is going to end. We don’t know when the next variant is going to be at our doorsteps, and we have to be able to manage and to move sometimes from one particular strategy to another, and that is something that we’ve had to do within recent times as we continue to feel the impacts of the delta variant,” Minister Bostic remarked.

“We all know that our transmission rates are continuing to climb and we know that the numbers are increasing as well and so what we’ve done is to shift our strategy to be able to deal with this present situation, the prevailing situation, and our focus at the moment is really to try to protect and save lives – that is the focus because people are getting sicker and we know that every life matters,” he stressed.

Stating that there has been a move to expand the country’s isolation facilities and there has also been a move towards home isolation, Bostic noted the need to be flexible in terms of the approach to dealing with the pandemic and he stressed that the “emergency powers” also allow for that. He also said the extension of the emergency powers would also facilitate the continuation of the work of the Cuban medical brigade in Barbados, which has been of significant help to us in the fight against COVID-19.

Thanking Isolation Facilities Manager, Dr. Corey Forde and his team for an excellent job done thus far, Minister Bostic meanwhile used the opportunity to put to rest a

rumour he said was circulating suggesting  that Forde was placed on leave.

“Dr. Corey Forde is still working as the person responsible for the management of isolation facilities in Barbados. I met with him this morning online…as I always do every single day. I spoke with him last night. He's not on any form of leave and he's performing exceedingly well and he will continue to do so,” Bostic asserted, while stressing that he and Forde are both committed to the mantra of “no retreat, no surrender”.

Acknowledging that Prime Minister Mia Mottley also speaks with Forde daily, Bostic said the rumour was “a poor joke” on the part of someone, who was clearly “attempting to create havoc”.

The current Proclamation regarding the public health emergency is slated to come to an end on October 23rd, 2021 and the current extension that was sought and approved by majority vote in the House, is slated to expire on March 23rd, 2022.