Jodian Fearon's mom among nearly 200 Jamaicans flying home Wednesday

PORTIA HAUGHTON, the mother of the late Jodian Fearon, whose heartbreaking death in April stirred national outrage, will be among just under 200 Jamaicans returning from the United States under the controlled re-entry programme on Wednesday.

Fearon died at the University Hospital of the West Indies on April 25, six hours after delivering her baby at the Spanish Town Hospital in St Catherine. Police and administrative investigations have been launched into whether neglect or criminal negligence led to her demise.

Two flights carrying just under 100 Jamaicans each will leave New York and Miami on Wednesday bound for Jamaica.

Those on these first two flights will be a mixture of students, seasonal hotel workers, and others with emergencies. They will be quarantined for 14 days on their arrival in Jamaica.

Those travelling via JetBlue flights on Wednesday fall in certain categories – medical reasons, death in the family, young children at home, running out of money, and accommodation, and so on.

Consul general in Miami, Oliver Mair, said that the Jamaican Embassy in Washington, DC, as well as consulates in New York and Miami, worked assiduously to get locals back home.

Some Jamaicans were disappointed not to make the first few flights but will be accommodated on others set for June.

“Not everyone who wants to go could go down, but we are happy that some movement has started,” he said.

The Gleaner understands that the returning Jamaican accepted under the controlled re-entry programme will pay their own airfare.

The Jamaican Embassy and consulates in New York and Miami have been in constant touch with Jamaicans who have been stranded in the United States since Jamaica closed its borders in March.

The Government set up the JamCovid19 app through which Jamaicans seeking to return home under the controlled re-entry programme could apply.

Jamaica’s ambassador to the United States, Audrey Marks, said in a Facebook post yesterday that persons with the most urgent cases would be on the flights this week.

“I want to assure you that every Jamaican citizen waiting to return home is a priority and the Government of Jamaica has been working tirelessly to get each of you home safely,” Marks said.