By Machela Osagboro
An unspecified number of guests at the luxury Hodges Bay Resort are currently under self-quarantine as a measure to keep the coronavirus at bay.
Chief of Staff in the Office of the Prime Minister, Lionel Hurst, said tourists had decided to stay on at the hotel soon after Covid-19 was declared a pandemic.
“There had been some buzz on social media because there were some yellow stickers in places on the fence at the Hodges Bay Club,” Hurst said during a post-Cabinet press conference.
“A as it turns out, several of their guests determined that they would rather remain in Antigua than get on a crowded aircraft to fly back to the United States and the United Kingdom, fearful that they would become infected.”
Photographs showing biohazard stickers placed around the premises of the resort, located in the north of the island, had been circulating on social media.
Hurst added that some hotel workers had also decided to stay at the premises for the remainder of the 24-hour curfew, so that they would not pose any risks to their families.
“These guests also have the benefit of a number of staff members who have determined that they would live at the hotel so that they are not even exposed to members of their families. As a consequence, the guests and the hotel staff are living in the same compound under the same rules governing social distancing,” Hurst explained.
Minister of Information, Melford Nicholas, applauded the hotel for helping stem the virus’s spread.