New Restrictions as Cases and Hospital Admissions Increase

For the first eight days of August Jamaica recorded 1,903 new COVID-19 cases, averaging 238 cases per day. New restrictions have been imposed for the next three weeks to curb the spread of the virus, as the third wave of COVID-19 infections reach its peak, causing great concern for the already stretched health system.

On Monday, August 9, it was revealed that approximately 500 of the 700 beds allocated for COVID-19 patients are occupied island-wide. Health and Wellness Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton says field hospitals have been activated to increase the number of beds available.

New restrictions have been imposed for the next three weeks to curb the spread of the virus. Effective August 11 through to August 31, the nightly curfew will commence at 7 until 5am from Monday to Friday, Saturdays at 6pm to 5am and on Sundays at 2pm to 5am. Beaches under no management are to be closed, rivers are restricted and only to be used for domestic purposes. For churches and weddings, no more than 50 people are allowed and for funerals the limit remains at 30 people.

Meanwhile, PM Holness says the Government has no intension to mandate vaccines as it would be a violation of the constitution.

Dr. Tufton says based on his interactions with officials of the Regional Health Authorities, the majority of people hospitalized are among the unvaccinated, noting that there are a few who are vaccinated. 

The Government remains steadfast in meeting its target to administer some 700,000 doses of the vaccine by the end of September, in pursuit of 65 per cent of the Jamaican population vaccinated by March 2022. Another shipment of vaccines are expected to arrive in the island by the end of this week. Also in the coming week the Government will roll out a plan to take the vaccines directly to communities.

Meanwhile the People’s National Party (PNP), has since expressed disappointment with the re-imposition of tighter COVID-19 measures. In a release on Tuesday, August 10, the party says, the “Prime Minister is merely reshuffling the past measures that have not worked” while describing the press conference yesterday as “hollow”

It further states that the PM has failed to explain how COVID-19 will be contained by starting the curfew one hour earlier each day, as people leaving work in the afternoons will be bungling up in supermarkets and grocery stores so as to get off the road before the earlier curfew starts.

The Opposition says by all accounts, the quarantine system for visitors to Jamaica has broken down. They are demanding that the Government immediately re-commence meetings of the parliamentary committee on COVID-19, so that it can focus on devising containment strategies for the COVID positivity rates, hospitalizations and deaths.

More in this CVM Live story from Robian Williams: