COVID-19 Czar Richard Carter has given the thumbs up to the Government’s recent changes to the national curfew.
During an interview on the state-owned CBC TV8 tonight, Carter said the decision to limit shopping by way of an alphabet system had greatly reduced the amount of traffic at supermarkets and minimarts around the island.
He said while initially there had been long lines during its first week of implementation, shopping had gotten increasingly easier in recent days.
Carter said: “From our own investigations we have seen a definite levelling of the degree of shopping persons are doing, which is what we anticipated. We would not have anticipated the rush that we had at the beginning of that week to be sustained.
“I think that most of the retailers that we have spoken to and in fact some of the shoppers that we have spoken to are basically relating a much more satisfactory experience. Yes, there are still some queues at some places but just to remind persons that this exercise and the whole process of physical distancing, the system of reducing the numbers by way of an alphabet system, all of that is being done based on the public health advice to reduce the level of exposure that people have to being outside.
“But generally speaking we are satisfied that the system is working to achieve its basic objective, which is to reduce the numbers of persons who are processing through the supermarket.”
But similarly, as he has done in recent weeks, the Czar voiced his dissatisfaction with the level of traffic on the roads.
He said the number of vehicles was similar to that seen on “a normal day”.
Carter said: “We still have large numbers, too large numbers of vehicles being on the street outside of the time that they are allocated to shopping and outside of the times that they are supposed to be on the streets.
“You should only be going out to purchase groceries or if you are going to top up your tank with gas or your cellphone if you are going to seek medical treatment or dental treatment. Those are the reasons people should be on the streets and the level of vehicular traffic you are seeing on the street is really close to what you would expect on a normal day and of course, we are not dealing in normal times.
“So no, we cannot be satisfied that we are seeing the level of reduction that we would expect based on us being in a curfew situation and based on the restrictions that we’ve put in place.”
The Czar revealed a number of initiatives the Government is rolling out. He said these were intended to support the public health initiatives being implemented.
Carter said these included an outreach programme for psychosocial wellbeing and mental health, a virtual arts competition for school-aged children to be managed by the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) and a community health outreach programme for the elderly.
