CASTRIES, St. Lucia, The US-based University of Vermont (UVM) is surveying to determine the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on St. Lucian households in various communities, the St. Lucia government has confirmed.
The Ministry of Commerce, Manufacturing, Business Development, Cooperatives, and Consumer Affairs, said a contingent of 19 students and two professors had arrived here to conduct the survey, which is intended to gather data from 400 households in the communities of Gros-Islet, north of here, the capital Castries, and the southern towns of Soufriere and Vieux Fort.
The four-day exercise will end on Thursday and “will be in the form of face-to-face interviews and the completion of a short questionnaire,” the ministry said.
“The valuable data collected during this survey will help to improve policies and decisions aimed at addressing the needs of households. Therefore, we solicit the general public’s cooperation to ensure the success of this exercise,” the ministry said, adding that the Burlington, Vermont-based university has aided the island in several initiatives since 2004. Including the installation of a hydro power unit and the launch of a Mangrove Eco-System project.
St. Lucia has recorded 409 deaths and 29 759 infections since the first COVID case was registered here in March 2020.
In his broadcast to the nation on Sunday night, Prime Minister Phillip J Pierre said he wanted to record his thoughts to the various stakeholders, including the COVID Management Committee, “for their support and cooperation in our battle with the pandemic.
“It seems like a long time ago, but at precisely this time last year, we were preparing for the onslaught of the fifth wave of the COVID-19 Omicron variant in our country. It was a challenging and uncertain period for our country, with an economy severely affected for two years.
“We persevered with the task of combating the Omicron variant, and by the second half of 2022, the situation with virus spread and hospitalization of patients had improved to manageable levels, which allowed us to remove the health restrictions, and for society to return to normalcy,” he said, urging the population to “take a moment to remember the many families who were left in grief over loved ones, taken from them too soon and with little warning by this COVID virus.”
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