Opposition leader urges public to comply with Covid19 protocols

OPPOSITION LEADER, Dr Godwin Friday has added his voice to those which have been encouraging Vincentians to follow established COVID19 protocols, particularly as the country experiences a spike in positive cases.

“Wear a mask in public. Not sometimes, all the time, especially when you are in indoor spaces. Wash your hands regularly. We know these things but we get a little relaxed with them, but you can see when you relax, what happens. The COVID19 virus spreads more rapidly,” Friday said at a New Democratic Party press conference last week. He said that persons should also continue to practice physical distancing wherever possible noting that it is clear the pandemic is the biggest crisis facing the country at the moment.

Positive COVID19 cases soared to 475 on Sunday, September 19 when an additional 39 cases were reported from samples testing.

In the first 19 days of September, this country recorded more than 400 cases, with as many as 63 being reported in a single day.

Three COVID19 deaths have also been recorded this month, bringing the total number of COVID19 deaths to 15.

There are currently 16 persons who have tested COVID19 positive currently housed at the Argyle Isolation Facility.

Friday said that if Vincentians do not follow the protocols regularly, “we really are exposing ourselves to greater danger.”

“Inform yourselves about the pros and cons of vaccination and decide for yourself. No one will force you to take it or can, that’s what I stood up against but we all have an obligation to inform ourselves about it. I did and I chose to be vaccinated because I believe it’s the fastest and safest way for us to get out of this problem of the pandemic,” he said last Friday morning.

The opposition leader said the information available makes it clear that battling the pandemic has become more difficult with the several variants that have emerged, some of which can be found in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

So far, three COVID19 variants: Delta, Gamma and Mu have all been confirmed as being present here.

He encouraged persons not to tire of combating the virus as “the virus obviously is not getting tired of attacking us individually and as a community”.

“Please let us treat it as a deadly, serious matter and do our part to mitigate and end it,” Friday said.