Health ministry eyes new policies for food, cruise ships

New policies are coming for TT’s food industry as well as for cruise ships when government lifts its covid19 restrictions.

“A change must happen,” said Chief Medical Officer, Roshan Parasram as he contributed to the Health Ministry’s virtual media press conference on Friday.”There needs to be a way in how screening is done, what people coming off and going on the cruise ship will have to go through,sanitation aboard the ships will have to be more rigorous.”

Parasram added, “This is to let everyone know how we are to behave. This is for both the general public as well as for the employers and employees,”

Parasram said that health protocols for cruise ships will be part of the new normal in the near future. He said these changes in the food and cruise ship industry will be in line with the “new normal” the world has to adapt to during and after the covid19 pandemic. Soon, the new guidelines for the food industry— which will include new ways of social distancing and sanitation—will be implemented. He said a committee is working on these new measures in time for when government lifts restrictions on food outlets initiated as part of the overall covid19 restrictions. Specific protocols for dealing with sick employees are also being strongly considered.

“Most critically and the biggest change is, people who are sick need to stay home. We are seeing people have a viral illness, staying home for two days and then returning to work,” Parasram said. “We have to understand if you have a viral illness, yes, you may feel better, but you can continue to spread the virus up to a week, and in the case of children, for up to ten days.”.. He said that before the onset of the pandemic, cruise ships were already known to be high-risk facilities for infectious diseases. He said the virus may continue to lurk on-board cruise ships and without personal hygiene protocols and testing, it can spread rapidly among passengers and crew members.In the future, there will be vigorous screenings for passengers boarding and departing cruise ships in TT.