St Lucia Cabinet to hold emergency meeting on Friday

An emergency Cabinet meeting will be held on Friday October 16. Prime Minister Allen Chastanet says that Cabinet will be briefed by Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sharon Belmar-George and the police, to make a determination as to whether it is necessary to make changes to the country’s COVID-19 protocols. However one thing that must change, Chastanet says, is the attitude of the general public.

On October 10, the country recorded the 29th case of COVID-19 — a 48-year-old minibus driver. Some 500 persons have been reviewed in relation to this case, and as of October 14, 283 negative tests have been received and 50 persons quarantined.

On October 14 two more cases were recorded after a Castries couple tested positive. The Ministry of Health says that the couple’s son will also be tested, and classmates and teachers will be quarantined until his results are received.

“We have an emergency Cabinet meeting tomorrow morning and we’re also going to be having a National Emergency Management Advisory Committee (NEMAC) meeting. I’m hoping that by tomorrow that we would’ve gotten the results from a lot of testing that the CMO’s office has been undertaking [in relation to the three new cases],” Chastanet said during a call to Timothy Poleon’s Newsspin program.

Chastanet indicated that a “significant lockdown” can be avoided if the current protocols are adhered to. Commissioner of Police Severin Moncherry recently stated that the police will be “enforcing the law fully” as it relates to the wearing of masks in public. Per the COVID-19 (Prevention and Control) Act, a person who fails to wear a mask in public commits an offence, and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $1000.00 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or both.

“So we’ve got to go back to a very strict adherence to social distancing, putting our masks on, hand sanitizing, all of these things. If we do that— and even if we have community cases right now— we can beat this thing without having to go into a significant lockdown,” the prime minister stressed. “If persons are not going to adhere to these basic rules and we see a significant number of cases, it possibly could lead to a shutting down of the economy…I’m making this appeal to Saint Lucians, let us continue to control our own destiny.”

Chastanet is confident that the country can win the battle against COVID-19 but says that there must be full compliance. “We cannot have 99% of the population adhering to the rules and 1% not because that 1% has the opportunity of derailing the country from succeeding. I want to give everyone the assurances that we’re meeting our bills, we’re fine,” he said.

“The question here is, if in fact we have to shutdown this country again— which I do not want to do— then it’s going to be a very painful process both health-wise and also economically. I’m really saying to everyone, please, we can resolve this problem together. We need strict adherence: wear your face mask, sanitize your hands and social distancing.”