Sweet relief at Hellshire
As beaches reopen, a little boy gets his wish
HAVING NOT visited the beach for the last six months, Junior ‘Jah’ Marsh and his wife, Mary, decided to risk heading from Spanish Town to the seaside haven of Hellshire, Portmore, on Sunday, even if they would be in breach of coronavirus containment measures. They had just about had enough of the pestering from their son Seth, who wanted to go horseback riding on the beach.
But Marsh had been unaware of the Government’s announcement late Friday evening that beaches and rivers would be reopened for swimming and exercise from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., effective June 7.
The approval, which will run for 14 days under review, had been long in coming since the April 8 ban on leisure activities at all beaches and rivers to curb the spread of the new coronavirus.
“Mi son tell mi seh him wah come pon di beach because him wah ride the horse. I was just hoping the beach would be opened,” Marsh told The Gleaner of his good fortune.
“We took a stroll, and to our surprise, we start to see people,” he said, though cautioning Jamaicans to be moderate in their interaction.
Nina Mitchell travelled approximately 80km from Ocho Rios, St Ann, to be among scores of persons at Hellshire Beach Sunday morning. The north Jamaica resort town has a popular public beach, and there are several more further west in the parish. But she said she needed a change of scenery.
“I am happy about that,” she said of the reopening of beaches. “This is my first time at the beach since quarantine. Di Ochi beach dem all right, but mi cyaa tek di Ochi scene.”
Shackeria Lindsay, who celebrated her birthday yesterday, also took in the cool morning breeze at Hellshire with her co-worker, his girlfriend, and children.
Meanwhile, vendors like Omar Jumpp, joint operator of Hopie’s One Stop, which sells seafood, were smiling at the prospect that business might begin thriving once more. Jumpp said that COVID19 restrictions had dealt a big blow to operations since the disease’s emergence in the island on March 10.
He is also aware of the risk of COVID-19 spread as beaches and other businesses emerge amid the recession but said the Government may not have had a choice. The Jamaican economy is projected to contract by as much as 14 per cent in the April-June quarter and six per cent for the 2020-2021 fiscal year.
“Mi feel good. Dem open back the country and a seh we must adhere to social distancing, but tourist ago come here with the corona,” Jumpp said.
“We must expect a spike, but whenever you have a cold or cough, the best place to come is the beach or the sea. It can spiral even more, but the bottom line is that we have to live with it.”