Jamaica Relaxes Some COVID-19 Restrictions
KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Jamaica government has announced a relaxation of some of the measures put in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) that has killed 2,184 people and infected 88, 480 since March last year.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness hosting a digital press conference on COVID-19 on May 18th. (JIS Photo)Prime Minister Andrew Holness said that new curfew hours, from 8:00 pm to 5:00 am (local time) will come into effect on Friday and that Sunday will no longer be a no-movement day.
“This new curfew will remain in effect until December 10, 2021. I will have some consultations with interest groups, and I will definitely call up the Leader of the Opposition (Mark Golding) early so that we can have a consensus as to what to do [during] Christmas,” Holness said.
He said that the closing hours for businesses is generally one hour before the curfew period and that the public gathering limit remains at 10 persons, and places of worship will continue to be restricted to having no more than 50 people in attendance
There will be no crusades, conferences or conventions. Additionally, the number of people permitted to physically attend weddings, annual general meetings and events hosted by public entities, is limited to a maximum of 50.
There are no changes to the existing measures regarding funerals and burials.
“Funeral services are permitted with a maximum of 20 persons physically present including mourners, clergy and support personnel. Burials are permitted Monday to Friday between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. with a maximum of 15 persons present,” the Prime Minister said.
Further, the existing work-from-home directive in the public sector remains in place until December 9.
Holness said that the COVID Subcommittee of Cabinet will review the measures in three weeks.
“Depending on the level of increase in our vaccination rate (and) continued decrease in the positivity rate, then we could come back with even better news,” he said.
Prime Minister Holness also announced that face-to-face learning will resume for 376 of the island’s 759 primary schools on November 8.
He said the move was being made with the recognition that the resumption of face-to-face classes will come with some level of threat of novel coronavirus infection spread, but that it had to be done to stem the tide of learning loss affecting the nation’s children
“We are doing this knowing that reopening and sending our children back to school could also cause the numbers to increase. There is no perfect and easy solution. We believe we can manage the risk of outbreak by strategically allowing some children to go back and putting in place a measure to allow vaccinated students where vaccines are accessible,” Holness added.
The government said 191, or half of the selected schools are small primary schools with enrolment of less than 100 students. These schools will be allowed to engage the cohort of students full-time or on a rotational basis.
“In all cases students of these primary schools must have some face-to-face learning every week,” Holness said.
The authorities said another 185 are medium-sized institutions with 630 students or less, where three streams of classes at each grade level will be targeted for face-to-face learning. For these schools, a rotation approach will be required, including virtual learning.
Holness said the education ministry will issue further advice about how schools will be ranked for risk, examining factors such as enrolment versus space, the number of COVID-19 cases in the communities in which the schools are located, access to water, technology, and the average distance travelled by students to and from school.
