Prime Minister Allen Chastanet on Sunday morning shared a prayer on his Facebook page, calling on “The Lord” to bless and keep Saint Lucians safe. The prayer comes at a time when there is a spike in COVID-19 cases in the country. From October 10-16, five COVID-19 cases were recorded, bringing the total to 33. Case #32 is a 14-year-old student from the Castries Comprehensive Secondary School (CCSS)— the son of cases 30 and 31. Case #33 is employed at the aforementioned school.
The prime minister’s prayer read: “At this time of great need and worry, may The Lord bless us and keep us safe. May He shed His light upon us and give us His peace. May He protect the vulnerable, our frontliners and continue to bless each [and] every Saint Lucian.”
On October 16 the Ministry of Education announced that as a precaution, CCSS will be closed for two weeks and all other schools, for one week. Speaking at a NEMAC meeting last Friday, Chastanet stated that the government has no intention of shutting down the country. He noted that the situation can worsen but that the problem can be solved by strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols. “So please, let us not get to the point where we have to shut this country down…Right now, this is just an alarm bell to say to everybody, remind everyone COVID is here, and how fast it spreads depends on our discipline.” he cautioned.
Calling on citizens to reinforce the rules at home, church and business places, he said: “All of us must be champions, all of us must be shaming anyone who does not adhere to the rules because in essence what they’re doing, is they’re threatening the economy of our country but more importantly, they’re threatening the lives of the people in this country.”
He warned that if the government has to become “more draconian” in imposing the protocols, “we will do it! I am not going to be intimidated by anyone to suggest that we’re taking away persons’ individual rights in this country. Everybody has a right in this country and the majority speaks. And those rules are there; we can either agree to do it voluntarily or we will impose the letter of the law on those people who are refusing to adhere, because this is for the safety, not only health-wise but economically for this country. And I’m dead serious! I make no apologies for that.”
He continued: “Nobody’s trying to oppress or take anybody’s rights away in this country. We have a responsibility to protect the people of this country. We’ve done a great job so far of both protecting their lives as well as protecting their livelihoods, and we will maintain that measure. But please, we don’t need to go there. There’s enough motivation for every single Saint Lucian to be motivated to do the right thing. That’s what we want, do the right thing!”
