After a week of record COVID-19 infection, positivity rates and Jamaica’s hospitals being over capacity while facing staff shortages, Prime Minister Andrew Holness is maintaining that the “argument done” in relation to the island returning to lockdowns.
The Government had previously utilized lockdown days and strict curfew measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus last year.
However, the same measures are not being employed by the Holness-led Administration this time around, as last week, the nation’s leader indicated that the new strategy to combat the rising coronavirus infections is for people who have not yet done so, to take the COVID-19 vaccines that are being offered locally.
“There is an option of vaccines all over the place. We have [vaccination] sites all over the place. I don’t hear one person say they can’t get the vaccine anywhere. Go and get vaccinated! Argument done!” the prime minister declared last week.
But since then, the island’s public health situation has deteriorated, as the island is now consistently recording more than new 1,000 COVID-19 infections, with several hospitals, including the Bustamante Hospital for Children, being impacted by staff who are absent due to respiratory illness.
