Georgetown: Adults are now required to be vaccinated to access public buildings and some private buildings that members of the public have lawful access to, including learning institutions.
This is according to the updated COVID-19 Emergency Measures (No. 22) that were published in the Official Gazette late Saturday. These guidelines are applicable for the month of September, unless earlier revoked or amended.
Importantly, the No. 22 measures replaces the Emergency Measures (No. 21) which previously applied to September. That order has since been revoked.
Paragraph 17 of the updated guidelines, an addition to the measures, now addresses entry to public buildings.
Paragraph 17(1) states: “… any person who wishes to enter a public building shall be vaccinated.”
The previous order stated that these requirements were in place for government ministries and government agencies. Now it has been extended to all public buildings.
The updates measures state that “public buildings” means any building to which the public has lawful access to and shall include both publicly and privately owned buildings including all institutions of learning.
This includes places of worship, supermarkets, stores, banks and other commercial places.
For unvaccinated people seeking to enter these buildings, an appointment must be made and those people must produce a negative result from a PCR COVID-19 test taken within seven days of the appointment.
These PCR tests must be done at a private facility approved by the Ministry of Health. This test costs about $20,000.
The guidelines do not specifically mention children. But Attorney- General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall SC explained that the latest addition to the COVID guidelines do not apply to children
“That is why when they say ‘any person’, we didn’t make any reference to children,” Nandlall told the News Room in an invited comment on Sunday.
Further, he explained that children are excluded from these requirements because the local health authorities are still in the process of administering vaccines to children.
Currently, children aged 12 to 18 years old are being immunised with the US-made Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines.
And until this vaccination rollout is completed, the Attorney- General said that the COVID-19 measures will not address requirements for children. As such, the reopening plans for schools remain unaffected.
While the reopening of schools are currently unaffected, these new measures do place limitations on unvaccinated teachers and parents.
As such, teachers will be required to be vaccinated or present a negative PCR test result before entering schools. Similarly, parents will have to be vaccinated or have a negative test result to visit schools.
In recent weeks, unvaccinated workers attached to various government agencies were barred from entering the compound of their workplaces if they cannot present a negative PCR test result.
As such they have protested these measures stating that they appear to be coercive.
Further, Government continues to order the rotation of staff in the public and private sectors, amid a sharp rise in the number of COVID cases and deaths, according to the latest Order issued on Saturday.
“All persons employed within the Public Service, a semi-autonomous agency, statutory body or State-owned enterprise shall work on rotation unless otherwise instructed by their respective Minister or Head of Agency to work from home. Private sector entities may be opened, but employees shall work on rotation as determined by their employer,” the Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony said again in his latest Order dated September 4.
The Order states that every employer shall ensure that appropriate COVID-19 guidelines are prepared and implemented to reduce the risk of transmission of the virus among workers.
The COVID-19 guidelines shall include measures addressing screening of workers; the organisation of work; preventative measures before and after work; preventative measures while using transportation; procedures to be adopted when there is a suspected COVID -19 case at the workplace; dealing with stress at the workplace during COVID-19; employee education, training and capacity building in the area of COVID- 19 and cleaning and disinfecting protocols as well as use of personal protective equipment.
Employers and employees are also required to follow physical distancing guidelines and workplace measures must consider clients and customers’ interactions; communication materials; continuous monitoring to assess the COVID-19 pandemic at the workplace; and the resumption of work after a period of quarantine or isolation that was approved by the Ministry of Health.
The order, which has been published in the Official Gazette, states that every employer and employer shall comply with any guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health in relation to the work environment to prevent and reduce transmission of Coronavirus and maintain healthy work environments.
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