Don’t drop your guard, politician urges St. Catherine before borders reopen

April 28, 2020 0 By Horace Mills

As the government prepares to this week reopen the borders of St. Catherine and remove shopping restrictions, businessman and politician Hugh Graham is urging residents to not slip deeper into complacency regarding sanitation and social distancing protocols.

In Jamaica, people are required to maintain social distancing of at least six feet from each other; this as Government tries to minimize the spread of the highly contagious Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Graham said: “I would implore the shops and supermarkets that are conducting business to really enforce in a stricter way the social distancing and the sanitation protocol for persons coming in the supermarkets or shops.”

Graham, who is Councillor for the Lluidas Vale Division and candidate for the People’s National Party in St. Catherine North West, also emphasized the continued wearing of masks especially in public spaces.

“North West St. Catherine is a constituency with a lot of workers that have to move about and get their things done, and they can’t work so much from home – it is challenging. In that regard, I would implore the government to push the wearing of masks for everyone… It doesn’t have to be the N95 [masks], but as a country we need to do everything possible to stem the spread [of COVID-19].”

Graham also urged local dressmakers and tailors to capitalize on the increased demand for masks. He added that the manufacturing company he owns – Paramount Trading Jamaica Limited, is also ensuring that it meets the demand for sanitizers across the island.

“Paramount makes sanitizers and they will make a special effort to ensure the establishments have hand sanitizers, including bleach, to increase their protocol and vigilance,” Graham told The Beacon.

He, in the meantime, commended the island’s providers of essential services, as well as the government for the work being done to minimize the spread of COVID-19.

“I congratulate the government and in particular the minister of health, Dr. Chris Tufton, for his leadership and forthrightness in taking on the fight against COVID, and bringing the information as best as he can to the people of Jamaica,” Graham said.

He reiterated the need for people to not think they are immune from the potentially deadly virus.

“I know that some people, unless they can see it or feel it (the virus), they don’t respond in the way they should… If you take on the discipline and enforce these protocols, it must make life better in the long run even though in the short run it might have been hard. If you think about the consequences, then you realize that the consequences are far greater than enforcing and employing the discipline,” Graham added.

Jamaica so far has confirmed 364 cases of COVID-19, including seven deaths and 28 recoveries.