‘You tink unnu see COVID yet!’ - Councillor sounds alarm over Spaldings

Rampant breaches of Jamaica’s coronavirus law in the Spaldings division have prompted the sitting councillor to warn of looming catastrophe if residents and commuters continue to flout safety rules.

Trevor Gordon charged that commuters – from shoppers to taxi men – were ignoring the appeals of the Government to stay safe.

“You tink unnu see COVID yet!” he said at the monthly meeting of the Clarendon Municipal Corporation on Thursday.

Gordon said that he observed widespread non-compliance to safety protocols among Clarendonians as he travelled throughout the town of Spaldings. He lamented that there were clear breaches of the Disaster Risk Management Act, the coronavirus law.

“When I went into the supermarket, I see at least 70 persons in the supermarket. When I go to a place where they sell chicken and chips, lots of people there,” he said.

Gordon called for supermarkets and stores to abide by social-distancing and occupancy rules and to insist on sanitisation and temperature checks for customers.

The councillor reported that he had observed reckless behaviour in Spaldings, which straddles the border of Clarendon and Manchester, especially during the nightly curfews.

Before Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced, on Tuesday, a blanket 8 p.m. curfew deadline for the country, Manchester residents left the streets by 7 p.m. while 10 p.m. was observed in other parishes.

But the councillor said that shops in Spaldings were open well beyond curfew hours.

“Every single shop a Manchester lock down a 6 p.m. Spaldings never lock down till bout 12 midnight,” he said.

Gordon made his comments in response to worrying findings in a report from Dr Kimberley Scarlett Campbell, medical officer of health for Clarendon.

Campbell said that the parish has recorded 439 new cases in 2021 – 244 in January and 195 in February.

Hotspot communities with active cases include Sandy Bay, Hayes, and Spaldings.

Campbell also reported that 20 healthcare workers in Clarendon have so far been placed on home quarantine.

Cecelia Campbell-Livingston