Yes to home quarantine for returning Guyanese

Dear Editor,
It is a beautiful, compassionate and caring suggestion by the Private Sector Commission to consider allowing returning Guyanese “who are tested negative before and upon arrival for coronavirus” to be home quarantined. Unlike other countries, Guyana is not equipped with adequate facilities to accommodate the return of the 300 stranded Guyanese who are pleading to return to their homes. It would prove very costly to obtain a standard fit for quarantining suspected coronavirus patients up to the standard of the World Health Organisation (WHO) as indicated in this article: Considerations for quarantine of individuals in the context of containment for coronavirus disease, “Those who are in quarantine must be placed in adequately ventilated, spacious single rooms with en suite facilities (that is, hand hygiene and toilet facilities). If single rooms are not available, beds should be placed at least 1 metre apart.”
Quoting from the article by WHO word for word, “Possible settings for quarantine include hotels, dormitories, other facilities catering to groups, or the contact’s home. Regardless of the setting, an assessment must ensure that the appropriate conditions for safe and effective quarantine are being met. When home quarantine is chosen, the person should occupy a well-ventilated single room, or if a single room is not available, maintain a distance of at least 1 metre from other household members, minimise the use of shared spaces and cutlery, and ensure that shared spaces (such as the kitchen and bathroom) are well ventilated.”
Amongst the 300 Guyanese who may be allowed entry, there would be families of a couple, with 3, 4 or even more, there are high chances that most, if not all, of these families are returning to their own homes that have been locked up since their departure. There is no reason why a typical family of 4 that is on vacation together should suddenly be separated into separate single rooms after returning home.
If the major issue at hand is the lack of social distancing amongst Guyanese, then forcing a meagre 300 Guyanese to be quarantined outside of their homes would not solve this problem. As you have mentioned, isn’t it the citizens of Guyana’s right now who are in Guyana who lack the practice of social distancing? It would be more appropriate for the Government of Guyana to quarantine every single Guyanese from each other or to, better yet, target the source of the problem; the market, stores and supermarkets that do not enforce the minimum 3 ft distancing, and the limitation of non-essential businesses.

If I must spell it out for those who do not understand, majority of the 300 Guyanese who are pleading to return home are coming from countries with little or no coronavirus cases: Trinidad (0), Aruba (0), St Martin (2), St Vincent and the Grenadines (12), Barbados (9); with the exception of USA and Cuba, but the number of cases has reduced to less than 0.0013 per cent of the population.
Penultimately, your fellow citizens are pleading to return home because they are financially unable to stay in another country when all their assets are in Guyana. Plainly put, it would be more detrimental to leave your own citizens to suffer away from home and, more costly to even consider sending aid.
Lastly, our hardworking administrators have produced an article outlining the conditions required to be granted acceptance to return home. One of the conditions is: They must be tested negative at least 2 days prior to arrival. Anyone who is tested positive will not be allowed entry. Therefore, they are not coming home as infected people, so why should they be denied quarantine in the comfort of their own homes?
Sincerely,
Al-Ahmad Omar