CMO puts Returning Nationals on notice: “Very soon” persons will have to pay to be Quarantined

Returning Saint Lucian nationals will have to pay to be quarantined “very soon.” Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sharon Belmar-George made the announcement on Tuesday afternoon during an appearance on Timothy Poleon’s Newsspin program.

“This is coming,” said the CMO when asked whether a fee would be implemented for returning nationals to be housed in government quarantine. “Because as you would imagine the cost of quarantine is coming at a very high cost to the government of Saint Lucia. So very soon persons are going to have to pay towards their quarantine.”

Dr. Belmar-George also agreed that home quarantine should never have been an option. The Ministry of Health, she says, continues to note an abuse of this option. Persons who are required to stay home for 14 days end up venturing out to places like supermarkets and banks. She stated that officials from the ministry and police officers cannot be everywhere, and pleaded with the public to work with them. “Anyone who is found in breach of breaking home quarantine will immediately be put in institutional quarantine. No questions asked,” she warned.

Dr. Belmar-George says she wishes that every single person could be housed in government quarantine. However, this is not realistic. “There are certain persons, who, based on their health situation it has deemed very difficult to keep them and we don’t have the capacity to manage their care alone.

“And also with small children it is difficult to keep and to manage small babies, small children in a room for 14 days. So we’ve made those exceptions but we need the public to work with us on it. If you’ve been granted home quarantine, you need to stay at home,” she pleaded.

Persons can report home quarantine violators by alerting the nearest police station or by contacting the Ministry of Health at 468-5318/ 468-5349.