During last Friday's virtual press conference, the press asked the Prime Minister about the well-publicised difficulties facing San Pedranos. Here's that back-and-forth on the topic, where the Prime Minister discussed the merits and demerits of lifting the lockdown:
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"You are asking for the quarantine to be lifted because of the tremendous hardships that the quarantine causes. At the same time you are saying when you lift the quarantine find a way to stop people from coming to the island. that's the only way to stop them if the island is quarantine and entrance to the island and exit from the island are both prohibited. You can't have it any other way. So the best I can tell you is that I agree and I said at the end of this I will check with the doctors as to the numbers in San Pedro. I am incline to lift the quarantine perhaps on Monday, maybe just have the weekend pass and lift it on Monday, but I do want to check the numbers with the doctors. But once we do that the question of another outbreak on the island is something that of course will be possible. The only way to try to stop that is if you seal off the island and lifting the quarantine means that you are refraining from sealing off the island. What then are you left with? Again, the question of the patterns of behavior. My God, you want the island reopen so that commerce can begin and commerce brings business and other interaction, so that in fact there can be the return to a semblance of life as normal. Well life as normal would mean that people will be free to come and go. I repeat the only way to try to ensure that that reopening does not result in quick order in some kind of return to an outbreak of the virus, is for people to observe the rules."
