Market warning: 58,000 COVID cases - Vendors urged to avoid virus spread amid sobering month-end alert

Vendors and shoppers in the island’s 77 markets are being urged to strictly adhere to social distancing and sanitisation guidelines as the island tries to defy projections which show that Jamaica could record up to 58,000 COVID-19 cases by the end of April.

The pandemic caused by the new coronavirus, which emerged in China late last year before infecting almost a million persons in 200 countries across the globe, has caused three deaths among the 44 cases confirmed on local shores up to yesterday evening.

With the virus being easily transmitted, places such as markets could cause case numbers to balloon if there are lapses in protocols.

“If we maintain the social distancing, our numbers will remain very low, we will flatten our curve. If we don’t – and in especially a place such as a market – we could see numbers as high as 58,000 Jamaicans being affected by the end of the month,” Dr Kurdell Campbell, acting director of emergency medical services in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, warned during a virtual town hall meeting on Tuesday evening.

The meeting was hosted by the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development as part of an islandwide sensitisation of market stakeholders.

Pointing out that Jamaica’s healthcare system could be crippled by an influx of cases, Campbell urged vendors and shoppers to maintain a safe one-metre distance while conducting trade.

Local Government and Community Development Minister Desmond McKenzie said that while “it is important [that] we understand the importance of market trade as we tackle the COVID virus here in Jamaica”, guidelines ought to be observed to help save lives.

Kingston Mayor Delroy Williams, whose municipality governs 30 of the 77 markets and is considered the epicentre of trade in Jamaica, said that over the past 18 months, his team has been looking at ways to redesign markets.

“We have to redesign for enforcement, commerce, traffic flow, and movement of pedestrians,” Williams said, adding that within another three months, this redesign should be completed.

Spanish Town Mayor Norman Scott said it has not been easy getting St Catherine vendors to comply with the restrictions imposed to limit the spread of the virus locally. The restricted opening hours of 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily, with an allowance for operations up to 6 p.m. from Thursday to Saturday, has been hard to enforce.

“We have to find a modus operandi, and as the municipality try and get to them ... ,” Scott said. “Since the restriction, we have had challenges, challenges as it relates to closing at 2 p.m. It’s a difficult proposition to get the vendors out of the markets by 2 p.m.”

Dunstan Whittingham, president of the Jamaica Vendors, Higglers and Markets Association, expressed gratitude for the weekend extensions, adding that hawkers were willing to play their part in containing the spread of the deadly virus.

editorial@gleanerjm.com