Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 06, 2025

Gov't has shut us out as COVID spreads to our districts

Gov't has shut us out as COVID spreads to our districts

With the COVID-19 virus now reaching the communities of East End/Long Look and Sea Cow’s Bay, district representatives for those areas have said government has kept them in the dark regarding information on the matter.

Responding to questions at a media conference on Wednesday, Eighth District Representative Marlon Penn and Third District Representative Julian Fraser described the current atmosphere in their respective constituencies as ‘very uncomfortable’.

Penn said he had made several attempts to gather information from the government regarding the direct impact of COVID-19 within his district but was unsuccessful.

“I sent a message in the House of Assembly chat asking for a conversation between all the elected members. We need to understand. If not the specifics, we need to understand what we are up against so we could prepare our constituencies for the eventuality … This is not a ‘government against Opposition’ situation,” said Penn who is also Leader of Opposition.

“I stood right in this same room next to the Honourable Premier, giving my support to get those things done to support the people. [But] we, for some reason, recently have been shut out of any discussion on COVID-19,” he added.

Representatives need the facts


Penn further said this is not the first time government has been keeping members of the Opposition in the dark regarding information on COVID-19.

He said the Opposition had to force the government in a recent session of the House of Assembly to have a conversation with them about the recent suspected case on the sister island of Jost Van Dyke.

“We ask for a similar conversation on this recent and most pronounced spread that we’ve had to date in this territory and we’ve not yet been afforded the opportunity to sit around the table and to understand, especially somebody for who represents the largest community in this territory,” the Eighth District Representative stated.

“I need to be able to talk to my people and I need to talk with them with facts. And to be honest with you, I can’t say that I have all the facts that I can communicate clearly with my people and I think that needs to change,” Penn explained.

Have to rely on rumours from residents


Senior Opposition legislator Fraser shared similar sentiments, stating that the information he receives regarding COVID-19 in the territory is usually either through media entities, word-of-mouth or through social media messages.

Fraser referenced a his recently failed attempt to gather information from the government following reports of his district being affected by the virus.

He said: “That situation that we talk about in Sea Cow’s Bay, yes, the young lady that came from Jost Van Dyke; she was in Sea Cow’s Bay whether people want to admit to it or not.”

“And when I go to the government asking them about it, it’s like I can’t get any information while the people are screening. They won’t tell me what house the person was in, I found out. They won’t tell me who the persons were with, I found out. The secret that they are keeping from me I found out by other ways because there are people in the community who know full well what was going on,” Fraser added.

Screening to be conducted


The East End/Long Look and Sea Cow’s Bay communities are among four areas across the territory which have already commenced COVID-19 screening.

The other areas include the sister Islands of Virgin Gorda and Anegada.

The BVI currently has 17 active COVID-19 cases.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
×