by Linda Straker
- Don Thomas fined EC$3,000 for violating the Covid-19 quarantine protocol
- Failure to pay fine would have resulted in 6 months at Richmond Hill Prison
- Grenada has reported 28 positive Covid-19 cases to date
The magistrate at the St George Court on Tuesday, 27 October 2020 fined a returning national EC$3,000 for violating the Covid-19 quarantine protocol. He was charged on Saturday, 24 October.
47-year-old Don Thomas is the first person to be charged under the Quarantine Act, and was ordered to pay the fine immediately. Failure to pay the fine would have resulted in him spending 6 months at the Richmond Hill Prison.
Grenada’s new health protocol to control and contain the spread of Covid-19 provides for each person entering the island to comply with the regulations before being allowed to intermingle with society.
Thomas was charged under Section 8 of the regulations which states, “Where the result of a test under sub-regulation (6) (b) is positive, until a Health Officer determines that the person is free from infection with SARS-CoV-2 or Covid-19– (a) the person shall submit himself or herself to a place of observation and isolation at his or her expense.”
The regulations state that a new prescribed test shall be conducted at the person’s expense at least once in every period of 7 calendar days and, upon a determination by a Health Officer under regulation the person shall be released from observation and isolation and permitted to integrate with the public in accordance with the enactments and protocols of general application within Grenada.
Section 9 of the regulations states “A person who contravenes or fails to comply with these Regulations shall be guilty of an offence against these Regulations. A person who is guilty of an offence under subsection shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding $10,000.
To date, Grenada has reported 28 Covid-19 cases. Health Minister Nickolas Steele disclosed earlier in the month that case number 25 breached the Covid-19 regulations by leaving the observation location without clearance from a health officer. He arrived via a flight from Canada, and his actions resulted in 77 people facing quarantine as part of the contact tracing process. A woman who was in direct contact with him within hours of his breaching quarantine, also tested positive.
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Because of the actions of these individuals the government has imposed new protocols on the existing quarantine facilities – effective last Thursday. All must have 24 security guards posted at any quarantine facility, for the entire quarantine period = 4 days and then PCR testing, and then awaiting results = minimum 5 days. Security is approx $100 U.S. per day. This must be absorbed by the quarantine facility owners. The penalty for these individuals if far too small.
In other news, 1. Sweden just had the lowest monthly death rate ever recorded in that country, without ever mandating masks, socialist distancing, house arrest or any of the other Communist Control-ya virus measures. Herd immunity is achieved.
2. Certain Grenada officials have been charged with fraud, false arrest, and theft of property in the court of heaven.
$3000.00 is not enough,
This article is six paragraphs long. Four paragraphs transcribed the Covid-19 regulations word for word. The remaining two paragraphs repeated information that had already been published. Meantime, who are Don Thomas and “the woman who was in direct contact with him.” What work do they do? Where was the secure facility in which he was quarantined? How did he leave this place undetected? What motivated him? What lessons can be learned from this incident, such as attitudes towards the disease, civic responsibility, security provisions, etc? Can it help us better educate ourselves about the temptations of risk taking and what resources we have to resist them. Etc, etc. in other words, where’s the journalism?
Andy, I read your comments before reading the article, and now I won’t even bother to read it anymore, because my quizzing mind will not be satisfied. The headline already told me how much the “Don Thomas” was charged, and relying entirely on your comments, I guess there is no new information that will answer the questions that I have.
What a joke that works out to be 39 ec per person infected.
Well at least we know what a Grenadian is worth.
So will we be reducing the cost of covid test to 40 dollars.
Did he infect more than one person?
Food 4 thought