Dr Lynda ‘BAMP’ Prez urges Govt for strict COVID-19 steps

Barbados: On Thursday, the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP) urged the Government to return to strict measures imposed during last year’s lockdown. At the same time, the authorities grapple with a wave in COVID-19 cases.

BAMP president Dr. Lynda Williams advised that while the association backs the Government’s new adjustment of the December 31 curfew from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., further action is needed in light of a constant climb in positive cases of the viral infection.

She stated in a video message on BAMP’s Facebook page: “We agree with the strategy of incremental restriction of population movement and believe the time has come for an increase of this strategy. We respectfully suggest that Government entities should encourage workers to work from home wherever possible and that vulnerable workers must be shielded.

“We also call for a reduction of measures to prevent large gatherings such as the alphabet system for shopping and banking, which worked so well for us at the beginning.”

In the Ministry of Health’s newest update on the coronavirus, there were 37 new cases on Wednesday from 2,004 tests conducted by the Best-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory.

The total number of confirmed cases stands at 780 – 334 females and 446 males.

Dr. Williams voiced care that much has been made as to whether Barbados has large unrelated clusters of the coronavirus or community spread when it was clear to all Barbadians that there has been a steady, steep rise in the number of cases over the last few days.

While she advised against panic, she stressed that the Government had a duty to be frank with the public.

“We call for transparency and clearer communication from our Government officials so that the public has confidence that we will get through this together,” Dr. Williams stated.

She also made it clear that while Government must continue to follow the science as it has persistently indicated, it must do so, “not based only on international opinion but also on local knowledge and expertise.”

The BAMP leader stressed the need for greater use of technology in the country’s response to the pandemic, voicing support for the recent introduction of electronic monitoring bracelets of visitors.

Dr. Williams said: “BAMP has maintained from the very outset that technology for geofencing visitors with monitoring bracelets should have been rolled out from the time of the reopening of our borders to prevent serious breaches in quarantine.

“Nevertheless, we welcome the introduction of this now and hope that both GPS, as well as Bluetooth, can be employed. We maintain that technology is also useful for contact tracing and that apps for identifying clusters have been developed for this purpose and can be downloaded on mobile phone for visitors and locals alike.”

She went on to underscore the importance of wearing a mask, reiterating that it should be mandatory.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley has indicated at a live national update on Monday that Cabinet has not taken a final position on mandatory mask-wearing, but she was open to having a conversation about making it mandatory for indoor activities.

Dr. Williams urged Barbadians to stick to wearing masks and other hygienic practices to protect themselves.

She declared: “Mask wearing and seemingly simple public health matters such as social distancing and hand sanitization have been proven to work and will be effective against viral transmission even when the virus undergoes a mutation. Wear your masks, Bajan, wear your masks.”

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