7 News Belize

Quarantined For 42 Days
posted (August 20, 2020)

So, while Usher is complaining that he is being held in the quarantine facility for almost 3 weeks now, a family of 7 from Blue Creek Village is accusing the authorities of leaving them in quarantine for 42 days and counting.

The Marroquin family says that an unknown member of the public reported to police that they engaged in border jumping and crossed over into Mexico. They dispute that, but they say that they were promised that the misunderstanding would be cleared up quickly. All that changed when positive tests came back saying that they were all infected with the coronavirus.

They say that they've cooperated with the authorities, and now, they have no idea when they will be released from custody.

Kevin Marroquin, one of the 7 family members granted us an interview via telephone to describe their misfortune. Here's how he explained it this afternoon:

Reporter

"How many of you from your family are in quarantine currently?"

Voice of: Kevin Marroquin - Detained in Quarantine

"It is 7 in total."

Reporter

"Okay, to tell us about the family members, who all are they?"

Voice of: Kevin Marroquin

"Well, they're all my sisters. I have 4 sisters. One is 18, the other is 16. One is 13, and 1 is 6, and well, my parents."

Reporter

"How long have you been in quarantine?"

Voice of: Kevin Marroquin

"Well, they brought us. They didn't bring us. We came ourselves on July 7th, and well, first, they brought 3 of my sisters, and one of my aunts. They went to pick them up at my house, for I don't know what reason. They brought them here to the quarantine centre, and we came, ourselves, here on July 8th. So, we've been in here for about 43-42 days. They had told us that we had been across over to Mexico, but we had been at home since the quarantine started because we knew we couldn't go out there for any reason. We didn't need to go out there. Apparently, there had been somebody that reported that we had been across. As far as I know, I hadn't been across, and nobody else had been across. And they had also said that we were sick. But that was just the flu. That was like a week that we were sick, but nobody had any symptoms. We just had a mild cough and runny nose, and that's it. Once we came here, then we got tested."

Reporter

"And what was the result?"

Voice of: Kevin Marroquin

"Well, the first was positive, everybody."

Reporter

"Okay, and since then? When were you guys tested again?"

Voice of: Kevin Marroquin

"Well, we were tested again 2 weeks after the first result. 3 of us positive, 3 negatives, and they had lost my results."

Reporter

"The members of your family who tested negative, what happened to them?"

Voice of: Kevin Marroquin

"Well, they are still right here. Nothing ever changed."

Reporter

"No one seems to be addressing what's the next step for your family."

Voice of: Kevin Marroquin

"Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what they are thinking. Yes, they are busy. I understand that, but I think they should know that we have been sitting in here for this long, and they're just not doing anything about it. The biggest thing that worries me is my pets at home. All my chickens and all that stuff have just been sitting out there. And almost all of them have died already. Another worry is that my dad is all fine, but the thing is he is a diabetic patient, and he's probably one of the ones that I get worried about the most. Another thing is, well, money because we haven't been working for the past 4 months, and then, all of a sudden, they put us in here. And now, we don't even get to go and look for work. Now, we've just been sitting in here."

The Marroquin family is also taking issue with the quality of food they have been given while on this 42-day quarantine. They are pleading for a decision to be taken so that they can be released from isolation.

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