Thread by @AndrewHolnessJM

#Thread Covid-19 Update:

Yesterday, we had 673 positive cases out of 3,027 samples tested which is a test positivity rate of 22.2%. The public sector test positivity rate which is based on the more reliable PCR tests was however 36.7%.

Unfortunately, 533 persons have died due to the pandemic; the case fatality rate is 1.5%. There have been deaths in every age group, however, 3.7% of those who contract the disease in the age group 60 – 69 have died and they account for 21.2% of all deaths.

7.1% of persons who contract the disease in the age group 70-79 have died and they account for 24.6% of all deaths. 11.6% of those who contract the disease in the age group 80 – 89 have died and they account for 19.5% of all deaths.

I offer my sincere condolences to the family of all who have lost a loved one. While our case fatality rate remains below the global average, the number of deaths is increasing.

The trauma of losing loved ones is beginning to have a visible psychological and emotional impact on the society. For persons grieving and unable to cope with the pain of losing a loved one we urge you to seek counselling.

Our case numbers remain unacceptably high. Our rate of new hospitalizations is beyond our health system capacity. Our oxygen tanks are in short supply.

We have more than doubled our bed capacity, however, the persons in need of treatment are growing much faster than we have the capacity to respond.

The Cabinet met yesterday and decided on the following measures which will apply effective Tuesday, March 23, 2021.

Curfew:

From March 23 to March 26, the nightly curfew hours will remain at 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. the following morning ending at 5 a.m. on Saturday, March 21, 2021.

On Saturday, March 27, 2021, the curfew will begin at 12 noon and continue through the rest of Saturday and the entire day on Sunday and end at 5 a.m. on Monday, March 29, 2021.

On Friday, March 26, 2021, workplaces will be required to close at 12 noon, (except for essential services, medical establishments, supermarkets, wholesale stores, pharmacies, restaurants & other food establishments which will remain open noting that the curfew will begin at 8pm)

From Monday, March 29, 2021 to Wednesday, March 31, 2021, the curfew will commence at 8 p.m. nightly to 5 a.m. the following morning ending at 5 a.m. on Thursday, April 1, 2021.

On Holy Thursday, April 1, workplaces will be required to close at 12 noon (except for essential services, medical establishments, supermarkets, wholesale stores, pharmacies, restaurants & other food establishments which will remain open noting that curfew will begin at 8pm ...

...Thereafter the will continue through the entire day on Good Friday and end at 5 a.m on Saturday, April 3, 2021.

On Saturday, April 3, 2021, the curfew will begin at 12 noon and continue through the rest of Saturday, the entire day on Easter Sunday, the entire day on Easter Monday and end at 5 a.m. on Tuesday, April 6, 2021

On Tuesday, April 6, 2021, the curfew will commence at 8 p.m. nightly to 5 a.m. the following morning ending at 5 a.m. on Saturday, April 10, 2021.

On Saturday, April 10, 2021, the curfew will begin at 12 noon and continue through the rest of Saturday and the entire day on Sunday and end at 5 a.m. on Monday, April 12, 2021.

On Friday, April 9, 2021, workplaces will be required to close at 12 noon to facilitate persons to conduct their shopping to prepare for the tighter weekend curfew.

Despite the extended curfew hours, we want the vaccination programme to continue. Certain vaccination sites will remain open during curfew hours and on no movement days.

Persons with appointments to receive a vaccine will be allowed to do so during curfew hours. Persons will be required to present evidence of the appointment (text message or email) to the police

On no movement days, persons will be allowed to seek urgent medical care and those who have overseas travel plans can make their way to or from the airport.

Essential services will still be operational (and in this group I include our fisherfolk, farmers and the media) but I remind those persons employed to essential services who must move on the no movement days to ensure you have your work IDs to present to the police.

Controlled Entry Protocols:

The existing protocols including the requirement for all travelers to present a negative COVID test conducted within three days of travel will be extended to June 30, 2021.

The pre-testing requirement does not mean that travellers do not need to quarantine for 14 days after arrival. The 14-day self quarantine period still applies and it is extremely important that persons do so.

The existing ban on direct flights from the UK will be extended to April 13, 2021. Travellers from the UK coming through other countries will be required to test on arrival and await the test results in state quarantine at their own cost.

If the test is negative, they will be required to complete the rest of their 14-day quarantine period at home. If the test is positive, they will remain in isolation until they recover.

Stay at home for Persons of Specified Age:

The age limit for the stay-at-home measure remains at 60 until April 13, 2021.

Work from home:

Workplace clusters are increasingly becoming a grave matter of concern.
The existing work from home directive in the public sector is being extended until April 13, 2021.

As a reminder, the Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Agencies are directed to ensure that only persons who work in critical service delivery and perform job functions that require them to be at the physical location should be at the office.

For the private sector, employers should allow all persons who can work from home to do so.

Employees may still request to work from home in circumstances where they have an underlying illness which is not under control or where they can make no alternative arrangements to care for a child, elderly or ill family member or someone who has a disability.

Employers are not to require employees who have COVID-19 symptoms to report to work.

Gathering Limit:

The public gathering limit will remain at 10 persons until April 13, 2021. Public sector entities are reminded that social events, handing-overs, launches, ground-breakings, opening ceremonies or any other similar events are prohibited until April 13, 2021.

Markets:

For markets and vending in public arcades and public transportation centres, operating hours will be one hour after the end of curfew to one hour before the start of curfew.

Therefore, when the curfew ends at 5 a.m., markets will open at 6 a.m., When the curfew starts at 8 p.m., markets must close at 7 p.m.

On Saturdays when the curfew starts at 12 noon, markets close at 11 a.m. Markets remain closed on Sundays and public holidays including Good Friday and Easter Monday until April 13, 2021.

Public Transportation:
The operation of public transportation will continue and drivers / conductors are allowed to be on the road one hour before and one hour after curfew but be reminded that no passengers are to be in the vehicles during those periods.

All persons in PPVs are reminded to wear masks at all times and sanitize before entry and as you exit the vehicles. The PPVs which are motor cars are to ensure the windows remain open and the AC is off during each trip.

Motor cars that provide public transportation are to have one less passenger than is allowed by the licence.

Schools:

There should be no face-to-face instruction in all primary and secondary schools (public and independent) until April 13, 2021. Students are to be instructed using other modalities. and for clarity note that this includes students who are to sit exit examinations.

Funeral Services:

Funeral services will still not be allowed during the period ending April 13, 2021.

Burials:

The existing restrictions on funerals and burials will continue until Tuesday, March 23, 2021. As of Wednesday, March 24, 2021 until April 13, 2021, burials will be allowed Mondays to Fridays only during the hours of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Only 10 mourners will be allowed & an additional 5 persons can be present who comprise officiating clergy, grave diggers and undertakers.The time for conducting the burial is not to be longer than 30 minutes. Note that no burials will be allowed on Good Friday & Easter Sunday.

Worship Services:

Until April 13, 2021, services will be permitted for places of worship during the hours 5 a.m. to 8 p.m.A maximum of 12 persons (including officiating clergy & IT personnel) may be physically present to facilitate electronic broadcast from the place of worship.

To ensure this is done in an orderly manner, applications are to be submitted to the Divisional Commanders of each Parish through the police station closest to the place of worship with the list of no more than 12 persons who will be involved in the services...

...The address of the place of worship and the times of the services. The application form will be set out in the new Order.

Weddings:

As of April 6, the cap on the number of persons permitted at a marriage ceremony will be reduced from 25 to 15. This will be in place until April 13, 2021.

Beaches and Rivers:

Beaches that are not under organized management and control and rivers will remain closed until April 13, 2021.

Zoos, parks, gyms, attractions and bars are subject to the existing restrictions and must close two hours before the curfew during the period ending April 13, 2021.

I am sending a signal that the opening of zoom gyms, parks, bars and attractions remains under review and continuation of these restrictions is dependent on factors including the level of compliance as well as case numbers and the numbers in hospital.

Amusement or gaming arcades not licensed under the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act) must be closed for the period March 23 – April 13, 2021.

Indoor cinemas and establishments that stage theatrical or artistic performances will remain closed from March 23, 2021 to April 13, 2021.

The ban on events such as concerts, parties, tailgate parties, round robins continue until April 13, 2021.

AGMs or EGMs of companies and general or special meetings of co-operative societies, friendly societies or industrial or provident societies are not to be held from March 23, 2021 to April 13, 2021, unless the court has authorized a fully virtual meeting.

In extenuating circumstances, an application may be made to the Medical Officer (Health) to allow a physical gathering to hold AGM or EGM meetings.

Always wear a mask to cover your nose & mouth in a public place continues, as well as the requirements to be physically distanced from other persons especially those not in your household & to either wash your hands for at least 20 seconds or sanitize frequently.

On Thursday, March 18, 2021, we tabled the amendment to the Disaster Risk Management Act which is to be debated. This will give the authorities the capacity for greater enforcement.

I mentioned at the last Press Conference that a Cabinet sub-committee has been working with the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica to develop a model through which the quick serve industry can be allowed to continue for longer hours within the curfew.

I am pleased to report the development of the model, which will be called the Ecommerce National Delivery System (ENDS), is far advanced.

Businesses and delivery operators registered on the ENDS system will be able to operate after curfew until midnight. We have already commenced limited testing of this service and plan to launch it as a pilot in Portmore by Friday, March 26, 2021.

I want to emphasise that the system will be fully inclusive and enable the smallest vendors like your favourite pan chicken vendors and fried fish vendors to participate.

Vaccination:

Now that our vaccination programme is underway, things will gradually improve. But it will take time for sufficient numbers of Jamaicans to be vaccinated before we see an impact in our case numbers and hospitalisations. In the meantime, we all need to hold strain.

We all need to exercise personal responsibility by strictly observing the protocols. Our health professionals need our support and cannot do this alone.

Jamaica has had a long, highly successful history with public vaccination programmes. In the 1970s and 1980s, many of the childhood diseases that are now prevented by vaccination were very common.

We do not see diseases such as measles any longer, because of our childhood vaccination programme. Jamaica and the Caribbean led the world in eliminating common childhood diseases that were preventable by vaccines.

The other important point to note is that the science around vaccines and the regulatory scrutiny have both improved greatly.
The vaccine that we are using has been tested extensively and approved by several countries around the world.

I know one of the common questions that causes skepticism among persons is “How was the COVID-19 vaccine developed so quickly?”
See next tweet for answer.

Efforts to develop a vaccine against the coronavirus started after the SARS outbreak in 2003. The SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 is genetically similar to SARS-CoV virus that caused SARS. The two viruses have an 86.85% genetic similarity, reflected in their similar names.

Over half of the deaths from COVID-19 are among persons over 70 years old. The risk of hospitalization and death increases significantly the older you are.This is why we have prioritized our elderly in addition to our front-line workers in our vaccination programme.

I really want to encourage everyone, particularly those most vulnerable, to take the vaccine as soon as it becomes available to you.

The vaccination programme must proceed according to the established priorities. Public order must be maintained at all vaccination locations as well as strict adherence to the infection prevention & control protocols.Vaccination locations cannot become super spreader gatherings.

The measures we have introduced will only work if we all co-operate & take personal responsibility.I am appealing to every Jamaican to do their part.The sooner we bring the infection rate down, the sooner we will be able to lift some of the restrictions & get our economy growing.

Conversely, if our numbers continue to spike through lack of compliance, we will have no choice but to introduce further measures to restrict movement which will inevitably have an adverse impact on the economy.