Bartlett: Don’t blame tourists for COVID-19 spike
Published:Thursday | December 10, 2020 | 12:16 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
Western Bureau:
Tourism Minster Edmund Bartlett has rejected claims that the tourism industry is to blame for the recent spike in COVID-19 cases, especially in the western region, instead blaming locals for their blatant disregard for the orders under the Disaster Risk Management Act.
He said that since the country’s borders were reopened in June, 300,000 visitors, including 80,000 Jamaicans, had entered the island up to Tuesday with no outbreaks linked to the industry.
“I want to say, don’t make it be felt that tourism is to be blamed for any undue spread,” Bartlett said at yesterday’s unveiling of the road safety improvement project at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James.
“I am not the one to say there have not been any incidents in the corridor, [but] what I can say is that from all accounts, the incidents of infection within the corridors, where the international visitors are, that is solo,” he added.
He pointed to disregard for mask-wearing, physical-distancing, and other protocols in many communities as well as the staging of unauthorised parties as possible causes for the increase in cases.
As at Tuesday, Jamaica had recorded 11,369 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Of that figure, males account for 5,192 and women account for the other 6,175 cases. To date, at least 266 persons have diednwhile 7,390 have recovered.
Westmoreland, which has recorded more than 100 new confirmed cases and 12 deaths in the last two weeks, is now the local epicentre for the virus.
With the Christmas holidays approaching, heath officials have been urging extra caution as they brace for a spike early next year.
Bartlett is appealing to Jamaicans coming home for the holidays to resist the temptations of leaving the confines of their resorts to socialise with friends and family.