Hilaire Blames COVID Spike on St. Lucia’s Youth!

The United Workers Party continues to be appalled by the mindless and shocking hypocrisy of Dr. Ernest Hilaire and the Saint Lucia Labour Party. In a widely circulated clip from an interview with HOT7-TV on January 26, 2021 Hilaire condemns the UWP administration for allowing tourists into the country at a time when the British variant of the virus was of concern. He further accused the government of being more concerned about businesses making money than about the lives of Saint Lucians. On that date, the total number of positive Covid-19 tests was 48, with 461 active infections.

On Tuesday August 17, outside the House of Parliament, the now tourism minister Dr. Hilaire told reporters visitors were not to blame for the escalating infection cases, that the culprits are the young people who persist in engaging in mass-crowd social activities.

It is mind boggling that on August 17, with the positive Covid-19 test results at 103 and the total number of active cases at 896, and with the more infectious and deadly Delta variant confirmed on island, Ernest Hilaire would now choose to downplay the so-called “front door” and instead hold the youth of Saint Lucia responsible.

This again underscores the calculated hypocrisy and convenient thinking of Hilaire and his SLP colleagues when it comes to fighting Covid-19 in Saint Lucia. It is clear that the SLP is concerned primarily about scoring cheap political points and will change their position on even life and death issues, all depending on whether they are in opposition of in government.

The United Workers Party condemns Ernest Hilaire’s self-serving attack on the youth of Saint Lucia and calls on him to stop the shameless politicking in this deadly war against Covid-19. We also find it rather ironic that the SLP cannot bring itself to implement the very same measures they demanded of the government prior to the general elections.