Got TIPS or BREAKING NEWS? Please call 1-284-442-8000 direct/can also WhatsApp same number or Email ALL news to:newsvino@outlook.com;                               ads call 1-284-440-6666

Gov’t offices with high public interaction to implement COVID mask mandate

- Following discussions with Deputy Governor & Senior Public Service leaders
Workers at Government offices with high public interaction will have to continue wearing masks despite the dropping of the mask mandate in the Virgin Islands (VI). Photo: VINO/File
According to the Deputy Governor, David D. Archer JR discussions were held with Senior Leaders of the Public Service regarding developing and instituting a mask policy for public officers and offices in the absence of a legal mandate. Photo: VINO/File
According to the Deputy Governor, David D. Archer JR discussions were held with Senior Leaders of the Public Service regarding developing and instituting a mask policy for public officers and offices in the absence of a legal mandate. Photo: VINO/File
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI– Workers at Government offices that interact frequently with the public will have to continue wearing masks, despite the legal dropping of the mask mandate in the Virgin Islands (VI).

According to information, Deputy Governor Mr David D. Archer Jr, has stated that there is an extension of the previous ‘Public Health Measures in the current context Of COVID-19’ policy, specifically related to wearing masks in certain Government offices with high public interaction.

Policy adjusted 

This comes following the adjusting of local Public Health Measures by Minister for Health and Social Development Honourable Marlon A. Penn (R8) on June 13, 2022.

According to Mr Archer Jr, discussions were held with senior leaders of the Public Service regarding developing and instituting a mask policy for public officers and offices in the absence of a legal mandate.

The Deputy Governor added: “For the next 3 – 6 months, considering the high interaction with the public, especially frontline support, receptionists and other officers who give direct and regular service to external clients, an extension of the mask policy will be implemented.”

This extension applies to all courts, the BVI Post; the Civil Registry and Passport Office; the Department of Information and Public Relations; the Department of Labour and Workforce Development, the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of Trade, Investment Promotions and Consumer Affairs.

Other departments under the mandate include the Deputy Governor’s Office Apostille Unit; the Environmental Health Division; Her Majesty’s Customs; the Immigration Department; the Inland Revenue Department; the Land Registry as well as Law Enforcement and Border Control Agencies.

Mandate also extends to social care services 

More departments to adopt the policy include the Public Health and Healthcare Services, including but not limited to the Environmental Health Division, the Public Health Unit and Schools and Educational Centres with an announcement to be made by the Ministry of Education.

The mandate will also extend to Social Care Services, including senior homes and other residential facilities plus the Survey Department and the Treasury Department, along with the Water and Sewerage Department

The Deputy Governor added that the 3 to 6-month period is not limited to, nor does it solely affect the offices listed and added that officers outside of the named offices are also allowed to continue wearing masks if deemed necessary for their safety and peace of mind.

19 Responses to “Gov’t offices with high public interaction to implement COVID mask mandate”

  • Secret Bear (22/06/2022, 11:57) Like (11) Dislike (6) Reply
    The fact that schools are on the list is extremely disappointing. Children should not be forced to wear masks all day when they are at the lowest risk of Covid of anyone in the population. Most countries never forced children to mask, and mask mandates have been dropped virtually everywhere in the US now. The difference in Covid rates between masked and non-masked schools is nonexistent. Let the kids breathe.
  • ok (22/06/2022, 12:17) Like (5) Dislike (10) Reply
    Thank God because it was reckless for the health minister to lift everything. Shhhhhhsh
  • Jose (22/06/2022, 12:44) Like (44) Dislike (7) Reply
    Mass psychosis continues. 2 years of brainwashing and fearmongering did a lot of damage. The parrots got comfortable in the cage and do not want the freedom. Sad!
    • @Jose (22/06/2022, 14:51) Like (3) Dislike (8) Reply
      I’ll admit I’m stuck in the loop, even when I’m driving alone I have my mask on. I love to smell the air through my mask. Makes my brain cells tickle
  • From the US (22/06/2022, 15:00) Like (5) Dislike (0) Reply
    Even though the mask mandate was dropped, you have to wear a mask when you are entering any health facility, hospital, clinics, dental facilities and other Government facilities or agencies.
  • Wrong Focus.. (22/06/2022, 15:14) Like (8) Dislike (3) Reply
    Government needs to focus on the stinking service the public getting... Make that a priority and not a COVID...That's what pulling us down..We not getting Valve for money from Civil servants...
  • Makes Sense (22/06/2022, 15:19) Like (5) Dislike (5) Reply
    Makes sense. COVID is still out there.
  • resident (22/06/2022, 15:22) Like (6) Dislike (7) Reply
    Most places I go to everybody continues to wear masks and sanitize. People are still dying everyday with covid. I like wearing the masks. It's not only covid you can catch. The environment is just dusty. You don't know what's in the air.
    • @resident (22/06/2022, 19:08) Like (5) Dislike (2) Reply
      “You don’t know what’s in the air.” The lord must be proud of you living in fear like that lol smh
    • lol (22/06/2022, 19:17) Like (6) Dislike (0) Reply
      We should have been wearing masks long time ago with shit running in the streets and the burning hill
    • Thinker (22/06/2022, 21:26) Like (2) Dislike (0) Reply
      Maybe you shouldn't go out at all. It's scary outside!
  • same shite different day (22/06/2022, 15:40) Like (7) Dislike (3) Reply
    is the same people we meeting on the road without mask.. lol everyday is the same set of faces you talking to everyday.. so you telling me we can talk to each other outside without mask, but if we step inside the same 2 people have to put on mask.. exactly what this preventing again.. PLEASE ENGLAND COME QUICK TO STOP THIS NOSENSE FROM STARTING AGAIN..
  • well it seems (22/06/2022, 17:03) Like (1) Dislike (0) Reply
    That the right hand dont know what the left hand is doing
  • Myocarditis (22/06/2022, 17:22) Like (16) Dislike (0) Reply
    Talk about all these swelling of the heart and the hearts racing. So many people falling Kielce flies every single week. Heart attack. You can no longer say underlying conditions cause all who passing are healthy not near 50 yet. 50 is the new 3 scores and 10.
    When it hits home you all going wake up. Keep sleeping and pretending nothing isn’t coming to light with the agenda.
    • Exactly (23/06/2022, 15:55) Like (2) Dislike (0) Reply
      Because you are not breathing fresh air, no oxygen causes the blood oxygen to drop over time and the body just shuts down. All you are breathing in is the poison you let out, Carbon Dioxide!!
  • asking for a friend (22/06/2022, 17:33) Like (2) Dislike (0) Reply
    Who is government official #1?
  • It is not (22/06/2022, 18:14) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    I not only wear a mask outside of the house because of COVID, I also wear a mask outside to keep the toxic poison that is blowing in the air from the open dump site. Think about it people, everything is being burned at that dump. Correct me if I am wrong, where is the waste from the funeral home being burned? Where is the waste from the hospital being burned? Where is the dead animals that is picked up of the road being burned? That is a lethal dose. No wonder so many women who was otherwise healthy being diagnosed with some type of cancer and dying at a alarming rate. Ask me, it is the toxins in the air that they are breathing in 24/7 from the poisonous in the air.
  • Island Peep (22/06/2022, 21:28) Like (2) Dislike (1) Reply
    I've lost a lot of respect for David Archer. Yet again, the tail is wagging the dog. Government needs to get working and stop pandering to people who live off fat salaries and couldn't hack it in the private sector


Create a comment


Submit comment

Create a comment

Submit comment
Disclaimer: Virgin Islands News Online (VINO) welcomes your thoughts, feedback, views, bloggs and opinions. However, by posting a blogg you are agreeing to post comments or bloggs that are relevant to the topic, and that are not defamatory, liable, obscene, racist, abusive, sexist, anti-Semitic, threatening, hateful or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be excluded permanently from making contributions. Please view our declaimer above this article. We thank you in advance for complying with VINO's policy.

Follow Us On

Disclaimer: All comments posted on Virgin Islands News Online (VINO) are the sole views and opinions of the commentators and or bloggers and do not in anyway represent the views and opinions of the Board of Directors, Management and Staff of Virgin Islands News Online and its parent company.