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Hint of Christmas COVID lockdown

Published:Monday | December 14, 2020 | 12:15 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton fits a mask on Beverlyn Burgess' face during a sensitisation event in downtown Kingston on Thursday, December 10, during which masks and hand sanitiser were distributed.
Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton fits a mask on Beverlyn Burgess' face during a sensitisation event in downtown Kingston on Thursday, December 10, during which masks and hand sanitiser were distributed.

WESTERN BUREAU:

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton says the COVID-19 scrutiny being placed on Westmoreland, the nation’s new epicentre for the coronavirus, could be extended to other parishes as part of a major push to control the outbreak.

Describing Westmoreland as “ground zero now”, Tufton said any decision to exert greater control by way of quarantines rests on the trajectory of the numbers of new COVID-19 cases and the threat a spike presents to hospital capacity.

“The belt from Hanover, St James, into Trelawny, St Ann, also represents points of concern for us, and a lot depends on what the numbers look like, what the projection says, and how much people comply,” said Tufton at a Gleaner Editors’ Forum held in conjunction with the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“It’s very fluid, but it’s a situation that we are monitoring and will comment more definitively on as time progresses.”

As at Saturday, December 12, Westmoreland recorded 541 positive cases of COVID-19, with 23 deaths.

Hanover had 266, St James, 1,229; Trelawny, 298; and S Ann 690. The country has a national infection figure of 11,710 cases and 273 deaths.

CULTURAL PRACTICES A HINDRANCE

The health minister charged that the cultural practices of Jamaicans will make it difficult for the police and healthcare workers to enforce the protocols imposed under the Disaster Risk Management Act during the Christmas season. However, he said that the authorities have not ceased in their duties in enforcing the rules.“The protocols have been tightened, and enforcements continue, but the temptation to engage in the traditional activities around Christmas makes it that much more difficult for our law-enforcement agencies,” Tufton said.

Businesswoman Angela Whitter, director of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, expressed doubt that the security forces would be able to deter people from staging parties and other illegal social gatherings. Last week, Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie said that 300 illicit parties were being staged very week.

“I don’t think the police are going to be able to control the parties. Jamaicans are so innovative and they are finding ways and means [in secret] locations to get out of the radar of the police,” said Whitter, who nonetheless urged Jamaicans to be responsible.

Meanwhile, Bertel Moore, the mayor of Savanna-la-Mar, is calling for more police personnel to be deployed to the streets of Westmoreland, which he says is being overrun by “party animals”.

With one district recording twice the national average in coronavirus infections, he has also urged the Social Development Commission to ramp up public education.