Ship ahoy! - Gov’t lays out plan for Royal return
Published:Tuesday | May 19, 2020 | 12:00 AMEdmond Campbell/Senior Staff Reporter
HEALTH AND Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton has made an impassioned plea for the more than 1,000 ship workers who arrive into the country today to ensure that they act responsibly and conform to the home quarantine guidelines.
At high noon, the 1,044 Jamaican ship workers aboard Adventure of the Seas, owned and operated by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCCL), will dock in Falmouth, Trelawny, where they will disembark in batches of 200, every 48 to 72 hours. After testing for COVID-19, the ship workers will be taken to the Grand Bahia Principe hotel, where they will stay until the results are ready.
Ship workers who test positive will be ushered into a state facility for isolation, while a negative result will allow them to be taken home where they will be required to complete a 14-day self-quarantine.
The Government has secured 400 rooms at Bahia Principe for the ship workers at a cost of $81 million. They will be served breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Tufton noted that the workers would spend a minimum of three days at the hotel.
However, in a Gleaner interview last evening, Tufton said the move to receive the Jamaicans at this time was not “risk-free in terms of the COVID response, because it is going to depend, to a large extent, on the individuals remaining faithful to the protocols that we have established”.
He noted that the Government would use the JamCovid19 app, as well as public-health officials, to monitor the individuals on the ground.
The health minister said that the country would have to graduate, over time, to home quarantine arrangements, especially when the borders are reopened.
At the Jamaica House briefing last evening, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said that despite “attempts by third parties” to mislead and confuse the country, negotiations between the Government and Michael Bailey, who represented RCCL, were productive.
From as early as April 21, the Government had written to Royal Caribbean exploring possibilities to repatriate ship workers, Holness said.
Taking aim at his detractors, the prime minister accused them of seeking to exploit a crisis for political gains – an apparent jab at the opposition People’s National Party. Spokesman on National Security Fitz Jackson had urged the administration to facilitate the return of the Jamaican ship workers.
“We demand that our fellow Jamaicans now in distress and uncertainty be allowed to join their families and loved ones here in Jamaica,” Jackson charged.
However, Holness warned: “Be careful how you are led astray by those seeking relevance – those seeking to exploit a crisis for reasons that are not in your best interest.”
In the meantime, the prime minister said that in addition to Royal Caribbean workers, there were some 900 Jamaican crew members that the Government is taking steps to facilitate their return.