But, will the government be forced to eventually institute a lockdown when it is too late?
Consider this; in March when the first case appeared on san Pedro; there was an immediate lockdown; this time around, when case 57 was confirmed there on August second, there was no lockdown for days - giving infected persons ample time to leave the island, go back to their communities, and unwittingly infect others.
PM said that argument is false:
Jules Vasquez:
"Are we facing a situation where we may be, by the time a decision is made, it may be too late as has been hinted at may have happened with San Pedro because if it had been locked down immediately like last time at the instance of one case all those construction workers who have now gone on to infect other areas may not have left?"
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"Oh no, I think that is a fallacy, from the time the first case reared its head in San Pedro and I was told this by somebody who is involved in the ownership of the, one of the partners in the construction enterprise, people high tailed it out of San Pedro precisely because they were not going to be caught in the situation that happened the first time. Remember too that when we decide to do a lockdown there has to be some drafting done and so you certainly going to lose a day or so from the time you make the decision to the time you actually get the statutory instrument promulgated so no there was no way… we could have moved a little earlier but that would not have stopped the mass exodus you started to hear about that index case in San Pedro the Sunday, the owners of the construction site told me that by Monday morning the vast majority had taken off."
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