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Lorna Perez, Surveillance Officer MOH
"Actually as you rightly mentioned, there are Belizeans coming back home. I mean, we have public officers coming from duty leave, we have people who were on vacation, we have different people travelling back and definitely, if there is a person who resides in Belize, we get that information and the follow up we do is basically just to monitor there health status. So, for example yesterday we did have a Belizean family coming in, we are following up just ensuring that they are okay because you know how the negative communications affect them as a family and as a person. They work, they go to school and as a Ministry of health, I mean we really have to try to be as supportive as possible with persons that are undergoing this level of scrutiny, I would say. I mean, no matter how hard they try to have that privacy, the word always gets out, so we have to try our best to ensure that they and their families are safe. Presently we have being following with this family now it will be like 15 persons. So right now, it will be 10, 12 because today will be the last day for the 12 persons who have completed their 14 days surveillance. They are doing well and so we won't keep monitoring them. We always because of the unknown we still maintain communication. They have our numbers that they can communicate with us in the event, that they are stuck with anything or they have any questions. So that is maintained and if it's a tourist coming in, we follow them until they leave and once they leave, well I mean, that's it. Because of the measures that have been put in other countries, then most of the persons that are reaching probably already passed the 14 days of interest, that we are looking at."

"The message out there for the general public. Because it's very important that, based on what we know, we go with the recommendations of just the regular protections which is hand washing, coughing on a tissue or in your elbow, avoiding if you have a flu."

"I would want to encourage people try to minimize that exposure then to public places."

"Once, if you're in your neighborhood and somebody has the flu-like symptoms it might be a regular flu going around, because that's where the rumors start. They were at a Chinese store and now they start with the flu and now they are all concerned and come to the health center. Why what happened? I was at a Chinese store and now I start with a flu. So, these are the things that we have to ensure that people are aware of how you get it and how you prevent it. And once they put in these measures, I think we can minimize the doubts and the fears and hopefully people take the measures within their own hands and prevent the spread of the virus, any virus for that matter."