68 at Balandra doing well

The group quarantined at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church camp in Balandra, Toco is doing well.

The 68 people who returned to Trinidad on Tuesday, after being stranded on a cruise ship in Guadeloupe, will be at the facility for 14 days.

They all tested negative for the covid19 virus when they arrived at the Piarco airport after coming off a flight, with no other passengers, and taken to the quarantine facility accompanied by police and defence force.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram, at a post-Cabinet news conference on Thursday, said officials from the Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA) have been visiting the group twice daily to assess their health. He said if any of them show any signs or symptoms of the virus, they would be tested immediately.

When Newsday visited the camp on the second day of quarantine, soldiers and ERHA Disaster Management Unit workers were seen delivering food and other supplies.

Toco residents told Newsday on Wednesday they were upset the government didn’t tell them of plans to use a facility in the village to quarantine returning citizens for observation.

They also said their presence is causing some discomfort for villagers.

However, one elderly woman at the facility told Newsday in a telephone interview that the group is comfortable.

“There are no issues here. We are good,” she said.

When asked how she felt about Toco residents calling on the government to find another facility to isolate the group, she said, “It’s unfortunate that the people up here don’t understand what the whole thing is about. It’s not airborne, we aren’t sick. We are just in isolation. No one is coming to threaten them.”

The residents told Newsday on Thursday, their feelings about the situation have not changed.

Camille Small told Newsday she is hoping the government can still meet with them soon if they intend to use Toco as the “remote location” to isolate returning citizens who may have been exposed to covid19.