Gov’t imposes seven-day lockdown of St Catherine amid COVID-19 spike

Effective April 15, commencing five o’clock in the morning, all persons within the parish are prohibited from leaving their homes save and except in cases of emergency and during certain specified time allowed by the state. Essential services such as hospitals, health clinics, doctor’s offices, pharmacies, supermarkets, corner shops and gas stations are all exempted under the new decree by Prime Minister Andrew Holness during a live televised press briefing this evening.

The decision became necessary after 31 of the 32 new confirmed COVID-19 cases today, which brings the country’s total number to 105, were all linked to Alorica, a business processing outsourcing company based in Portmore.

“This facility has a staff complement of some 787 workers. We have so far in our intervention 258 individuals have been interviewed and sampled.

“A senior team from the ministry visited the entity over the weekend and the entity has since closed,” said Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton.

As a result of this sudden jump in numbers Dr Tufton said the St Catherine Health Department has commenced a comprehensive and intense contact tracing programme with regards to the infected individuals.

The massive undertaking by the St Catherine Health Department is likely to test the country’s resolve in its attempt to “contain and slow the spread” of the virus on the island. But the country has been preparing for scenarios such as this, Holness said.

“As I’d indicated before the government will put in place actions that are appropriate to the circumstances that we face. We, therefore, having discussed the matters at length today at Cabinet and after considering the advice of the public health team and carefully considering all the dimensions of the problems we face, the government at this point is announcing that there will be a lockdown of the parish of St Catherine starting at 5:00 am April 15, 2020 through to 5:00 am Wednesday, April 22, 2020,” Holness declared.

The prime minister added: “The reason why we are looking at putting in the lockdown now on St Catherine is that we have done a GIS, that is a geographic information system, mapping of the addresses of the affected persons; and we are seeing where the addresses cluster, the addresses of the 300 plus we have already mapped, have clustered mainly in St Catherine and parts of Kingston and St Andrew.

“For Kingston and St Andrew we are doing further work. We have a further 300 plus addresses to map. And once we can fully identify the clusters then other actions will be taken.”

Things you should know

During the lockdown period movement will only be permitted for the “essentials of life” primarily food and medical needs.

• All persons in public spaces must have identification: a government issued ID, (passport, drivers licence or voters ID), picture IDs issued by government ministries, departments and agencies, registered university IDs.

• During the period of the lockdown in St. Catherine, two days, Wednesday and Saturday, will be designated to pursue essential activities. These are Wednesday April 15 and Saturday April 18, (within a given time-frame).

• For those under 65 years old, on Wednesday and Saturday, between 10:00 AM and 1:30 PM, persons with surnames A-M, preferably one person per household, with ID, may pursue the essentials of life. Surnames N-Z, between 1:30 and 5:00 PM may pursue the essentials of life.

• Those in public spaces in St Catherine during the period of the lockdown, MUST wear a mask covering the nose and mouth.

• Businesses which are allowed to remain open MUST implement a system for enforcing social distancing and other such measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19

• The general curfew hours, from 9:00 PM to 5:00 AM which was previously announced, remain in place.

• Essential workers within the lockdown zone will be allowed in and out, however they must present their IDs and submit to temperature checks at checkpoints.

Persons displaying any form of flu-like or respiratory illnesses, even if they are an essential worker, must self-isolate at home and if necessary seek medical attention.
Of the 105 confirmed cases, the country has recorded five deaths, while 21 persons have recovered and released.

Meantime, the prime minister is urging Jamaicans to remain calm and to adhere to the measures being imposed, as the consequences could be dire for the country.

“We do not want to make decisions about who lives or dies, who gets a bed or who does not, who gets a ventilator or who does not. But if our citizens do not act responsibly in the face of Covid-19, this is the burden they would place upon the government.

“Covid-19 is very dangerous; it has taken many lives. With the prevalence of non-communicable diseases in Jamaica such as diabetes and hypertension, our population is at great risk, and a large outbreak will cause significant strain on our healthcare system.

“I continue to stress the importance of following the regulations under the Disaster Risk Management Act, and the principles of common sense in containing Covid-19,” he said.
As news spread late this evening of the new impositions for St Catherine, residents made a rush on shops and supermarkets to stock up food and other essential items. Here in Old Harbour long queues were quickly formed outside those food stores that were still open, and the shopping lines will be longer for sure on Wednesday and Saturday.