The opposition leader addresses the nation on COVID-19 and offers recommendations to the government. He urges travel restrictions on affected countries, increased testing capacity, and the suspension of mass gatherings. The opposition pledges support for meaningful efforts to prevent spread and will work in a bipartisan manner, prioritizing the health and safety of citizens over politics during this crisis.

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ADDRESS TO THE NATION ON COVID-19
By Hon. Philip J. Pierre
Leader of the Opposition
SUNDAY 15th
March, 2020.
My fellow Saint Lucians, good night.
The announcement on Friday 13th March, that Saint Lucia had recorded its first case of the
COVID-19 virus who arrived in the country on 7th March and then another announcement on
Saturday, evening of a second case has caused great concern and fear about the real threat
posed to our people.
The Labour Party has championed and will continue to advocate strongly on healthcare
matters and we have done the same on COVID-19 despite criticism and political banter in
certain circles. In such crises, honesty and transparency are paramount. People need to be
engaged openly and regularly so that they will have confidence and trust in the process.
On Thursday, the Prime Minister telephoned me to discuss the situation and we met and had
an exchange of views. The Opposition was invited to the first meeting of NEMAC and we
are due to attend the second on Monday morning. Last night I received a call from the
Cabinet Secretary to attend the stakeholders’ meeting at 3pm today. The Saint Lucia Labour
Party will attend.
The Saint Lucia Labour Party stands ready to support all meaningful efforts to prevent the
spread of Covid-19 in Saint Lucia. I urge the Government to put together a Covid-19 Special
Task Force involving Government agencies, the Opposition, Civil Society, Churches, health
professional bodies to provide guidance and oversight.

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I urge all to listen to the Chief Medical Officer as she is the authority on such matters at this
time. At the same time, the Chief Medical Officer must be fully empowered and resourced to
take decisions quickly, communicate speedily and accurately and manage a modern
command and control centre.
I wish to share with you tonight some of the recommendations that I will be proposing at the
NEMAC meeting tomorrow morning and our perspectives on the way forward for our
country.
TRAVEL ADVISORIES & RESTRICTIONS
The first and most immediate step which must be taken is to ensure that travel restrictions are
placed on countries worst affected with the virus. This has already been applied by many
Caribbean countries which do not even have confirmed COVID-19 cases. The Saint Labour
Party strongly recommends to the Government that additional travel advisories be applied on
all persons with a travel history from the United Kingdom, the United States of America and
all affected European countries. Persons from these countries should be discouraged from
travelling to Saint Lucia at this time. These should be reviewed regularly. Facilities for the
quarantining of persons from potentially infecting others in the population through local
transmission are urgently required; but such facilities must be humane, supported by trained
and adequately equipped staff who can administer to the needs of those quarantined.
Returning nationals from countries where travel advisories have been imposed should be
properly monitored. We should also close our borders to all cruise ships for the next two
months and limit th4 number of ports of entry into Saint Lucia.
TESTING AND SURVEILLANCE
Essential to the control of our ports of entry and the containment of the disease is the ability
and capacity to screen arrivals and quickly test potentially infected persons. Appropriate
technologies such as infrared scanning thermometers are required to improve screening. It is
said that testing is like turning on the light on the disease. The ability to do testing on-island
is crucial in the battle to contain the spread of Covid-19. Widespread testing is vital but
costly. However, when the lives of our citizens are concerned, cost must not a determining
factor. Republic of China (Taiwan) has been very successful in containing the virus and the
Government should approach Taiwan with a view to procuring the necessary equipment and
support that is required. Saint Lucia should also engage the Government of Cuba for
assistance with medical support.
REDUCING LOCAL TRANSMISSION
My fellow Saint Lucians, we must do everything in our power to prevent the spread of this
disease in our country. For local transmission to be prevented, it re quires ALL of us to
practice good hygiene and social distancing. We therefore recommend an immediate
suspension of all mass crowd events and large gatherings in the country for the time being.
While Carnival is still four months away, the responsible action for the future of the activity
in July is to be postponed to later in the year, discuss with the bands, health officials and
other players another timing of the event. Businesses such Cinemas would have to practice
social distancing in their operations.

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While we welcome the early closure of educational institutions, it would have been better that
our form IV and V students would have been going home with their laptops to complete their
assignments and SBAs.
As a responsible organisation, the Saint Lucia Labour Party will suspend all its public
meetings and town halls and observe social distancing at smaller internal meetings.
Furthermore, Government should create a corps of sanitation crews with the right equipment
to help disinfect busy public places such as public transport, markets, public buildings and the
like. The Government should also pursue the installation of hand washing areas to aid in
better hygiene.
We advise businesses to ramp up their sanitation and personal protection efforts – ensure that
all staff and trained in keeping surfaces clean.
We must also prepare for the eventuality that we will have to close down the country for at
least a short period in order to contain the virus.
Once a case has been suspected, the work of tracing who this person has come into contact
with begins. We recommend that the Government communicates honestly and truthfully with
the population as to the details on all aspects of the disease generally. The Government must
move speedily to ensure that the Hotline is up and manned 24-7 so that persons can quickly
give and receive information related to Covid-19. It is essential that there is messaging in
Kwéyòl on the disease, particularly for the older segments of our population who are most
vulnerable to the virus.
TREATMENT
We are relieved that after being placed on hold for over three years, the Government may be
forced to commission the Owen King-EU Hospital. We hope that Government will commit
the necessary funds to acquire in short order more ventilators, respirators and ICU equipment.
Our healthcare system will be stronger in the long run.
The government should also reconsider its position regarding the St. Jude Hospital.
ACCESS TO GOODS AND FOOD SUPPLY
While it is true that we should prepare for any eventuality including large scale self-
quarantining or even self-isolation, the Government must assure the public that there is a
sufficient food on island to provide a reasonable amount of cover. The Government must also
guard against price gouging of certain items. It would be a good idea for the Government to
purchase supplies such as soaps and sanitizers for broad distribution. There must also be
special support at this time for those who are most vulnerable (the poor, seniors and persons
with disabilities) so that they can access food and other essentials. Now would also be an
opportune time to ramp up local food production!
SUPPORT FOR JOBS & THE ECONOMY
We must find means to overcome the economic shock particularly on our tourism industry
from COVID-19. There will be options available to the Government. The World Bank has

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already indicated its willingness to support countries in quick time. However, we will require
a sizable fiscal stimulus to counteract the loss in tourism revenue.
Therefore, the Saint Lucia Labour Party will support the Government if it goes to Parliament
to break the lockbox which has been collecting airport tax revenue for nearly three years now.
We believe it is the only large pool of funds the Government can easily mobilize towards the
costs of directly fighting COVID-19 as well as providing the kind of support necessary to
businesses, employees and the unemployed.
We believe that the National Insurance Corporation should play a role in providing “sick
leave” benefits to persons who are quarantined, isolated or temporarily lose their jobs.
We must remember that there can be no economy without people.
CONCLUSION
This, therefore, is a time when we must put all our minds, our ideas and our prayers together
to save our country from the disastrous scenarios that we have witnessed elsewhere from a
laissez-faire approach to dealing with the virus. Our recommendations are based on
consultations and sound advice from medical experts and best practices from other countries
that have been affected by the COVID-19.
We must be resilient against this virus. It will take discipline. It will take the giving up of
some liberties for a while to secure them for everyone in the future. It will take you changing
habits and adopting new social norms. It will take you keeping away from crowds more, and
practicing social distancing. It will take all of us to keep an eye on everyone. It will take
perseverance.
That will be an emotionally stressful time, the Saint Lucia Labour Party stands with the
people of Saint Lucia. No one should panic. Yet we must be vigilant and take every
precaution.
We shall overcome this but we must all be really in it together.
I urge the Government to take a bipartisan approach in defeating COVID-19.
We in the Labour Party are ready!
Thank you and may God bless Saint Lucia.
END.
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