PSOJ says new curfew hours could see reversal of recent economic gains

The Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) has stated that while it understands the tightened curfew hours announced by Prime Minister Andrew Holness as part of continued COVID-19 containment measures, the reduction in working hours could see some reversal of the recent economic gains and the recovery of jobs.

On Tuesday, Holness announced that effective today, February 10, the island-wide curfew will commence at 8 p.m and end at 5 a.m, daily.

This new curfew will be in effect until February 24, 2021. Public gatherings have also been reduced from 15 to 10 people.

This new curfew hours came after it was announced that on Monday Jamaica recorded its highest number of COVID-19 cases in a 24-hour period, with 403 cases recorded from 1,935 samples tested.

"If we don't act now, we could overwhelm the health system," Holness said.

The Organisation, said it is of the view that there should be a greater emphasis on compliance and enforcement, which is a more sustainable approach to controlling the spread of the virus without further curtailing business activity.

It noted that proposals have been made by the Government for the development of a ticketing system to increase compliance as this is where the greatest challenge resides.

"We implore the Government to fast track this effort of enforcement and compliance through the issuing of tickets with prohibitive fines for non-compliance. As we are all painfully aware that the Jamaica Constabulary Force have real capacity constraints, the enforcement measures could be supplemented by the Transport Authority, the Municipal Police and Special District Constables," a statement from the group said.

It continued: "We recognise that even with the addition of these resources, there may still be human resource constraints to effectively manage this ticketing system. The private sector is, therefore, willing to complement these efforts through partnership with security firms"

The PSOJ urged all Jamaicans to comply with the COVID-19 protocols, noting that failure to comply will only result in even tighter measures and a prolonged negative impact on the livelihood of every Jamaican due to the slowdown of the nation’s economic recovery.

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