Health Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton - file photo
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Dr. Christopher Tufton
Due to the increase in the number of visitors expected to arrive in Jamaica starting today, July 1, the government says health teams at the airports have been instructed to use their discretion in testing for COVID-19.
Health Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton says this means that not all visitors will be tested.
According to Dr. Tufton, it is for this reason that the government announced that as of July 10, non-residents from high risk states in the US will be required to present recent pre-testing results at the airports and upload them to the JamCovid website.
He addressed the matter Wednesday while speaking on the Morning Agenda on Power 106.
Dr. Tufton said there will be a deviation from the standard from July 1 to July 9.
"As we said, you have high risk states now. We've spoken to areas of the US where the virus is more aggressive, where the spread is at a higher rate. So the decisions around the testing will be determined by those variables. I don't think it is practical for all to be tested based on the numbers that are coming in July. So we will have some sort of anomaly, I think, between the 1st and the 9th, hopefully, until we get to the 10th when the pre-testing can take place," he explained.
He said all arrivals will be screened.
The Health Minister also responded to the concern raised on Tuesday by the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) about the pre-testing requirements.
JHTA President Omar Robinson questioned how the government will deal with visitors who have connecting flights through one of the high risk states or persons who are from a high risk state who seek to circumvent the process by travelling through an area for which pre-testing is not required.
"It's tragic and unfortunate if persons were to take that risk, both for themselves and for others," Dr. Tufton lamented, adding: "If someone is not tested because they have misled by putting information or not putting the information on the form, then they are going to be screened anyway and hopefully we will pick up any challenges that may exist with those individuals."
Dr. Tufton argued that the concern of persons attempting to circumvent the system is not enough reason to have US visitors from all states present pre-test results.
However, he said the protocol will be reviewed and more US states could be added.
"Generally speaking, every two weeks there is another announcement about what adjustments are required and that's very much because of how dynamic the environment is," he noted.
On Tuesday, medical practitioner Dr. Winston Dawes and Opposition Spokesman on Tourism Dr. Wykeham McNeill urged the government to have mandatory testing of all visitors from the US.
Dr. Tufton, in the meantime, said an adjustment is to be made to the pre-testing protocol.
It was announced that test results should be no older than seven days.
However, the Health Minister said this is under review and could be changed to 10 days "because of the period of time it would take in those source markets or markets of origin to get the tests (and results) done."
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