Combined Disabilities Assn grateful for mask gift
Published:Saturday | February 12, 2022 | 12:09 AMChristopher Serju/Senior Gleaner Writer
The donation of 50,000 masks to the Combined Disabilities Association (CDA) by the National Health Fund (NHF) will go a far way in easing the burden on the non-profit, which has been having difficulties in meeting the constant demand from its members.
Shortly after the handover ceremony at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston on Friday, Executive Director Gloria Goffe told The Gleaner that this was a big help in replenishing the supplies they had received from the Council of the Voluntary Social Services and Food For The Poor.
“There is always a high demand for masks, so this will allow us to provide, especially for those who cannot afford to buy,” she explained.
The CDA was one of 17 stakeholder groups which accepted donations, with the Ministry of Education getting the highest number of masks (400,000), followed by the Social Development Commission, the Jamaica Defence Force, Jamaica Constabulary Force and Regional Health Authority, which will get 200,000 each.
“This donation will go a far way because we get requests for masks almost every day, and these masks are not necessarily reusable and therefore, you can’t wear them for maybe more than a day or two, and the cloth mask, a lot of people complain that are uncomfortable – too close-fitting – and so they can’t get breathing space and all of that,” Goffe pointed out.
“It’s really appreciated because we are now able to provide more than we could before and so we are now going to be distributing to other agencies. I think that’s an added responsibility that has been placed on us because we usually distribute to individuals who come into office [at 5 Ripon Road, New Kingston] and so will have to put measures in place to ensure that when we distribute to the agencies, they distribute to the people who they are there to serve.”
NOT A REASON FOR COMPLACENCY
Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton used the occasion to warn against complacency in the fight against COVID-19, despite the fact that the island is now in the tail end of the fourth wave.
“It is not a reason to be complacent and as the standard-bearer for public health at the level of policy, I have to continue to drive the message around the need for us to remain vigilant to follow the protocols, even as much as I am also desirous of restoring normality and the way of life as we all know it and are looking forward to it.”
The public health approach to COVID in Jamaica has always been grounded in the science, in the first instance to understand the nature of the virus, Tufton said. Having had the benefit of science and the expert opinion of all the agencies and experts globally, the country’s response strategy involves mask-wearing, which has always been an effective tool.
“So this strategy, this new approach of providing two million masks to a range of stakeholder groups of the population is really an assault on COVID. Recognising the risk profile of greater opening [up of the society], the prime minister has said we not going back into lockdown. That’s a decision that we have made as a Cabinet and I think rightfully so.
“But mask-wearing is important because the extent to which the virus remains in the population and remains a threat is a function of some of the other circumstances that have to be contextualised, such as low vaccination rates.”