Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 24, 2020 (SKNIS): St. Kitts and Nevis’ Attorney-General and Chair of the Disaster Mitigation Council, the Honourable Vincent Byron Jr. commends front-line and essential workers who work diligently to curtail the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Federation.
“We have to commend all of our front-line workers in this very trying time. Our nurses, doctors, they put themselves on the line when they have to meet with and treat those who are ill, especially in relation to such an infectious disease as COVID-19 where symptoms are not always observed,” said Attorney-General Byron at the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) COVID-19 Daily Briefing for April 24.
He noted that from very early front-line workers in St. Kitts and Nevis faced the virus head-on in the execution of their duties.
“This is something we have seen very early at the airport when we began screening passengers who came from international flights and we have teams of healthcare workers, the immigration officers had to come [into contact] with people who may have visited hotspots and, of course, the police are constantly on the road and were at the airports as well. So, there is a risk to many of our workers and I am sure that our government will make an appropriate form of gesture to these workers,” said the Attorney-General.
The Attorney-General also recognized other essential workers who put their lives on the line to serve in their respective capacities.
“I would also want to make the point that many of our citizens, not just healthcare workers, but people who are cashiers at supermarkets, people who do critical work at this time, especially when there are such things as partial lock-downs, partial curfews and limited operations where essential workers can be exposed, we all in our society may well be exposed,” he said. “I would just like to commend all of you who see your work as a commitment to duty, duty for our country, duty to your establishment. And I am sure that while we would want to give some sort of encouragement to those who expose themselves, that they love what they do, and the work they see themselves performing – a critical function for all of us in our society – each one of them must be commended and lauded for that.”
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