‘Jus give mi likkle food’
Shernette Brown, 44, suffers from an enlarged heart, and is currently on medication to control her medical condition.
Unemployed with two small children, she said that she is trying to keep herself and her family safe, but is extremely worried how they are going to survive should the area be placed under COVID-19 quarantine lockdown.
“Right now mi nah work or anything and mi barely have anything inna mi house and a mi and mi two daughter live, so it kinda hard. Mi have to take medication every day, so if mi relative dem can’t come in come give mi a little ting, mi a go go thru it,” she said.
Brown is a resident of Corn Piece Settlement in Clarendon, the community that recorded the first local death of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Mi would really waan see Ministry of Health do a house-to-house visit and test everyone to see if dem have the virus because some people will have it and nuh say anything to anyone. Dem can quarantine all dem want if dem want. The only thing mi would beg dem give mi is likkle food and mi OK. Just give mi some food and mi medication and I will lock down for the 14 days,” she said.
Member of Parliament for the area, Pearnel Charles Jr, said that res- idents have “some serious concerns” about their health. He, however, said that there are persons in the community who have sought to dismiss the health ministry’s statement that the 79-year-old resident died from the novel coronavirus.
Prime Minister Andrew
Holness announced in Parliament on
Thursday that relatives of the deceased have been uncooperative and have
refused to be self-quarantined in their homes. This, he said, left the Government no choice but to put the entire community under medical lockdown for the next 14 days.
RAPID INCREASE PHASE
“The Jamaican state cannot run any risk with this disease,” Holness said. He said the country runs the risk of the disease entering the rapid increase phase if deliberate and decisive actions are not taken to prevent its spread.
The 79-year-old man, who is Jamaica’s first COVID-19
death, stayed at home after his arrival on March 12 until March 16 when he was taken to hospital.
Holness said that he had several visitors from several homes in the community at a time when he would have been most infectious. This included family members from two other households within the community.
“For this family, they have lost their loved one, they are grieving. We sympathise with them. But can yuh imagine how many other grandfathers and grandmothers are now going to be exposed because of a weak fence behaviour that let out the virus?” Holness said.
Jamaica has 16 coronavirus cases and one death and Holness said the country is going through the “most testing period since Independence”.
He urged Jamaicans to recognise that COVID-19 is a serious disease, and that although the vast majority of people recover after being infected, they must recognise that “Many of those persons (who die) could be people you know. You have to be careful”.
Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton said that there are sufficient food packages in stock that will be delivered to the quarantine community for people like Brown.