“The Government is not looking to quarantine travellers until Day 8,” Health Minister Kim Wilson said, with the Minister adding that it “would be hugely detrimental to our already struggling tourism sector.”
The Minister — who was addressing an online petition calling for the extension of the quarantine period for arriving passengers — added that the Government will “be tightening up certain aspects of traveller protocols” and she will announce details about that on Friday.
Petition
The petition, which has over 650 signatures as of this writing, said, “Hundreds of Bermuda’s children are currently missing yet another two weeks of school due to the recent positive Covid-19 cases in our community. Many parents have to adapt by taking time off work to look after their children, thereby significantly reducing their monthly income.
“Meanwhile, travellers to Bermuda, who have likely come across a positive case overseas, are only required to fully quarantine until their arrivals test comes back negative, less than 24 hours later.
“Even with a pre-test, there is a reasonable probability that these passengers may come into contact with a positive case in the 5 days to hours before travel. For shorter visits, there is no way to ever tell whether a visitor was positive for Covid-19 while here as there is no requirement to continue testing once they leave Bermuda. In these cases, there is no way to even effectively contact trace.
“Overseas arrivals are the only way that these cases have appeared in our community. Covid-19 cases are continuing to climb overseas and the tests have been shown to be particularly unreliable in the first few days to week after exposure.
“Ask the government to address the problem at its source. Ask for travellers to be more strictly quarantined for at least 8 days. By doing so, Government can regain full control over the epidemic, Bermuda’s children will be able to go back to school safely, and we can certainly avoid a second lockdown.
“Stop the problem at its source. Don’t let children pay the price for travellers’ early freedom. Please sign this petition today!”
Minister’s Response:
Speaking at last night’s [Dec 1] press briefing, Health Minister Kim Wilson said, “I would like to state that I am aware of a petition currently circulating which asks for an extension to the quarantine time for passengers arriving in Bermuda to eight days.
“First of all, I want to say that I am extremely sympathetic to the plight of the parents of children who have had to keep them home from school and quarantine them in response to the latest cases.
“However, I can confirm that the Government is not looking to quarantine travellers until Day 8. This would be hugely detrimental to our already struggling tourism sector. Who would come to Bermuda if they had to quarantine for 8 days?
“We must balance the need to protect public health with the need to keep our economy going.
“However, I can say that we will be tightening up certain aspects of traveller protocols; the details of which I will share during my Ministerial Statement on Friday.”
