PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Less than two weeks after he was chosen for a second term as prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Keith Rowley went into voluntary quarantine after it became known he was exposed to a person suffering from the coronavirus (COVID-19) on election day, Aug. 10.
In a message posted on his Facebook page last month Rowley, 71, said that it had come to his attention on the night of Aug. 20 that he was exposed to someone who later tested positive for COVID-19.
“I have been tested and the results are negative,” he wrote then. “Out of an abundance of caution I have been advised to remain in quarantine at home …”
His quarantine was expected to last 14 days, until Aug. 24.
CAUTION
Rowley was sworn into office on Aug. 19 as the of a new 22-member Cabinet.
He said that, given the circumstances under which “we all now live I once again take this opportunity to appeal to all citizens to each do your part to help fight this virus by strictly following the health instructions of regular attentive hand washing and sanitization, physical distancing and no congregation in groups above five persons.”
The announcement by Rowley that he had gone into quarantine followed the latest statement by the Ministry of Health that there had been 39 additional positive cases pushing the total to 806. It said that, at that time, the number of active COVID-19 cases was 632, with 12 deaths.
