Health officials in St. Vincent and the Grenadines are exploring the option of fitting electronic bracelets to persons in COVID-19 quarantine.
“… I know the Ministry of Health is checking it out, the matter had come up before for the high risk travellers to procure an electronic bracelet so that you do five days and then they put the electronic bracelet on you,” Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said on NBC Radio on Wednesday.
“But the question always is how do you manage it, how do you track it,” he said, adding that health officials were in conversations with the police to see whether the monitoring can be done via its video surveillance systems.
Last week, the Ministry of Health spent several days, including with the assistance of the police and the public, trying to track down a traveller from the United Kingdom, who allegedly breached his quarantine. The prime minister said that electronic tracking has been done in some places but had not been as effective as it should be.
“… we have to explore every possible tool,” he said.
Gonsalves’ comments came as health officials rolled out a revised protocol requiring travellers from high-risk countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and some Caribbean nations, to quarantine in a hotel for 10 days.
The protocol, which will be revised on Jan. 6, doubled the number of days that travellers were previously required to stay in a hotel – at their own expense.
“Obviously, if you have to pay US$10, 12, 15 for a bracelet if you are a high-risk traveller and you’re assessed that you should have one, it is better than spending another five days inside a hotel after having done the first five days,” he said.
“… we have had a few people who have not been as responsible, thinking that when they finish the five days and the further nine days that you can just go about as per normal. That’s not the rule. That’s not the protocol. That is why when I did my quarantine I did my 14 days,” the prime minister said.
If that is the case then people can quarantine at home rather than a hotel fee they put down a deposit for the transmitter and tag that they forfeit if they cut off the tag or damage the receiver that the tag works with. The transmitter is placed in the homes of the person. you have the tag on the foot so if you travel too far from the house the transmitter sends a signal to the main receiver which is probably best placed at the video unit of the police
What about if they invite people to their homes while they are in quarantine .same as they leaving the house and going out
If the house isn’t suitable for quarantine because of others in the home .
What I believe should be done is let them stay in the hotels for all of the quarantine period
With tight security so no one can visit .
Maybe this is an opportunity to look also at the idea of extending its use as a gps tracking system for Alzheimer’s patients. My mom and grandmother both had the disease and subsequently died from it. It is heart breaking when they wonder off and you can’t locate them. With my Mom in Union Island she is known and it’s small so we got alerts right away or she was brought home. On mainland it can be a bit more challenging since it’s much bigger.
You need to put it on Primus the criminal who brok out ah prison twice under your watch.and the dutty criminals roaming the streets of St.Vincent. I think thats a good place to start Mr PM.
It’s a better deal than the hotel rip-off!
Why should one quarantine in a hotel. Vincy trying to make money from people.
It’s a way to raise desperate funds. Diaspora vincentian is seen as a cash cow. They are being penalized from to fronts. Having to subsidize family members for unintelligent decision made at the polls and now have being milk to stay in hotels for five days without proper service or I would use the term loan shark service for paying for accommodation without even one meal. Some of these hoteliers Ulp biggest cheerleaders
Forcing a person to quarantine in a hotel when people already struggling is nothing short of extortion and the height of governmental sanctioned wickedness. Not everyone that takes a plane is well off. There is a Vincentian young lady I know personally who reach out to me wanting to return to St. Vincent her homeland. She is living in Grenada because of abuse she suffered in SVG years ago. She finally saved up some money to buy a ticket to return to SVG only to find out that she will be required to be quarantined in a hotel for 14 Days be forced to pay for it. This young lady could have barely afford the plane ticket from Grenada to SVG and she had to allow her plane ticket to expire because she couldn’t afford the hotel and I wasn’t in a possession to help her at the time. As of this wicked and unjust law this young lady is stuck in Grenada because of that until such time we raise money for Hotel. I want to say to all the governments of the world that God himself will hold all of you rulers and law makers accountable for taking advantage of the poor and in some part of the world governments have forced people into poverty by virtue of their unjust laws. Everyone of you Presidents, Prime Ministers, Kings and Queens, Governors, Mayors and Ministers of Government shall stand before the Judge of all Judges and give an account for how you ruled over the people be ye warned. The time is short.
You people are missing the point. Quarantine is obviously still necessary, if the goal is to reduce the spread of Covid-19. The tracker is going to be used at a location device to ensure that if (when) persons break quarantine, they can be located (tracked down). This does not eliminate quarantine! For what sense does it make to have a tracker and still be sharing space with other people who are Covid-19 free??
If people go home they risk infecting everyone. This virus is serious and people need to get real, New Zealand is the only country in Europe that got it right. Do you think St Vincent could deal with a pandemic, have they got enough ventilators in the hospital. We should be so tight on covid rules that by the time we are able to co exist with the virus, St Vincent emerges as the safest holiday destination in the Caribbean. Let’s provoke positive and constructive analysis in each other. Remember!!! Anyone in the world can see your comments. Stay safe everyone!!!
Well said… people need to look at the BIG PICTURE…most intelligent remark I’ve seen thus far.
New Zealand is not in Europe but I understand where you are coming from…
You should read the history of the headhunting europeans in Kiwi 🙁
Yes! we all have to be very afraid. A virus with a 99.6% recovery rate (according to the CDC) and the .very few that do die are almost all elderly; so we lock those elderly into care homes where the chances of them contracting the virus are much higher. Very smart! The virus practically does not spread at all outdoors, so let’s “lockup” and keep people indoors. The death rate of people under 19 is virtually ZERO so keep the kids from going to school, BRILLIANT! You do not hear about ventilators anymore because it is now well known that was false that they didn’t do any good in fact they helped people to die. More intelligence!
Something for all the frightened SHEEPLE to think about (most cannot think for themselves):
“Those who sacrifice Freedom for Security will lose both and deserve neither”…Ben Franklin
Do you have evidence to back up what you just said about the virus not spreading outside? That is an honest question.
You also said that deaths for people under 19 is virtually zero, but virtually zero and zero isn’t the same thing. There are at risk people and no matter how small the number is, their lives matter too. Quarantine is inconvenient at worse, but it is necessary.
I always laugh when people accuse others of not thinking for themselves. Why? Because all they mean is, if I don’t think like them, then I’m not thinking for myself. Ironic, no?
The Covid-19 Vaccine is being distributed, there should be a different protocol in place for the persons who arrived with document(s) showing that the person has had covid-19 Vaccine, for returning nationals and visitors. Vincentians should be looking at Covid-19 Vaccine now, and be moving away from things such as electronic bracelets, these do not stop the spread of the virus, only inform that the person wearing is outside the suggested parameters set.
GBrowne New Zealandis Not An European Country
Lol
Country From OCEANIA
Something drastic needs to be done because if people continue the way they are, it will be a disaster, especially if this more virulent strain of covid is brought into St Vincent. Look at how people who haven’t travelled are found to be covid positive. The government need to also put a ban on flights coming in from high risk countries, unless absolutely essential. SVG cannot afford to be overtaken by covid. We would not survive.