Shopping could be cut off completely if residents don’t consistently practice social distancing protocols.
Crowds gathered at banks across the country on Thursday when the financial institutions opened their doors for the first time after a week of lockdown.
Prime Minister Browne said the large gatherings possibly eroded gains made in the prior week to curb the spread of the new coronavirus in the country.
“If we see increase discipline, then we can even relax some of the restrictions but if on the other hand, we’re seeing an increase in irresponsible behaviour then we will have to look toward introducing additional restrictions, for example shopping, we may have to think about zoning the country, if people are gonna be irresponsible”, he warned.
“If they’re not going to supermarkets to shop efficiently to shop quickly and to get out and maintain the social distancing and to wear the mask and so on then we will have to reconsider our position,” he added.
The Prime Minister said the county is “not at that point but again people have to be responsible. What will really help up to fight and ultimately defeat COVID is personal responsibility.”
“As I said before there is no substitute for it and let us understand, too, that all of us a susceptible to COVID, young, old, healthy and unhealthy, all and it could be a potential death sentence for anyone who contract the disease so I don’t want anyone in this country to believe that he or she is invincible and those who know they have certain comorbidities must understand and let me break down that. Those who know that they have underlying conditions, asthma, heart disease, high blood pressure or hypertension, diabetes, you are extremely susceptible and therefore you have to take even greater caution or precaution. In fact, those individuals need to protect their personal space more so than anybody else and I’m calling upon all Antiguans and Barbudans to be personally responsible and to protect themselves”, he advised.
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How about doing what Tortola did. Let persons go and do their shopping on certain days based on their surnames. Eg. A-F surnames go on Mondays etc
So people are crowding banks and cutting access to supermarkets is the solution?
Nothing Dem do a make sense right now. Guess they never heard about how a hungry man gets…..
What I think they going to the bank to get money for? To buy clothes?
In addition to my earlier suggestion, let them walk with an I.D. to give proof of their surnames. This arrangement can be done for other establishments as well. Just my two pence
Excellent idea
Yep, create more fear and panic by threatening to shut down food shopping! People with 4-5 kids to feed and don’t have enough money to stock their pantries (many don’t have that!) have to shop as they need or can afford. I don’t believe standing for hours in the sun to buy a few basic items with the “likkle change” you have to feed your kids is “irresonsible behaviour”
Still don’t understand why it would take a rocket scientist IQ to know that extending shopping hours and institute an alphabetical system for the major 3-4 supermarkets would reduce crowding and avoid this so-called “irresponsible behaviour”
Those without kids or are comfortable with money can make all the rules they want. COVID is deadly and has killed 100K or 0.0014% of the world’s population whereas in the same period, another 12M people have died in the last 3 months, mainly in the developing world.
As Orwell said, all animals are created equal but some are more equal than others. Of the 100K who died, 90K are from Europe and North America while 704 total from the African Continent. Hence the global panic!
Police should patrol and start to enforce social distancing. There should be a fine and a mandatory jail sentence of three days for first time offenders. If you punish all for the irresponsible actions of a few it will not work and you will create lots of hardship for those who can only shop as money comes available.
farmers need protection for their crops as food in these days is more valuable than money. Prices will soon rise as commodity is getting scares. CARICOM needs to protect our food security. Trinidad, Guyana, Surinam and Dominica are the bread baskets of the Caribbean. We need to stop depending on food from Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam will slowly but surely squeeze us to death. I was told by importers that their suppliers have been told they cannot export that many containers with food any longer. Therefore orders have been cut back. So you can imagine your container is now half full when it reaches Antigua. Means things will get expensive as we need to charge the freight over less goods. Our farmers and fishermen should start taking their profession seriously. They need to feed the nation.
Real talk
That’s where the police should be at the supermarkets and banks etc. and yes a longer shopping time should be implemented.
Mr. Prime Minister, maybe you should spend some time and make sure the different business places are following the REGULATIONS/LAW that was passed FOR THE VERY REASON OF CREATING ORDER.
It is true that ‘persons’ should know and do better, but why put measures in the REGULATIONS/LAW for business places and they just IGNORE IT?
Can that make sense?
Who in your government is suppose to see that business places FOLLOW THE LAW?
The reason for the over crowding is the very short time allotted from 7 to 11 basically to accommodate everyone
Curfew from 6 am to 6 pm with supermarkets etc open daily will ease the pressure and you would not have these gatherings
The short hours defeat the purpose
The system is riduculous. You spend two and a half hours in the supermarket line and once inside some foreign security guard goes around constantly shout, “you only have 15 minutes, else your goods will be taken away and you will be escorted outside”. How can anyone shop like that? The other I went to a small supermarket on Frairs Hill road in order to avoid the big ones. After waiting for 2 hours, the line came to a standstill as other people simply came entered and left. Upon inquiring what the devil is this, again a foreign security guard told me they are obligated to serve these specific people. I simply left and was to do without the items through Good Friday.
Cmon! Now that face masks are mandatory, a few more shoppers can be let in thus making it easier for the shoppers and avoid some of the confusion.
What’s the relevance of the “foreign security guard” in your message?
So Antiguans must starved for hunger while the bigger countries survived? Prime minister, stopped mek America, China and the rest of the world fool the Caribbean people. If you did not install the 5G in Antigua, you and the people need not to worry. Just screen everyone that enter into the country before they go there various destination/location. Antigua do not have any testing equipment already and the bigger countries are limited on their resources….please help your people and stop mek the Chinese give you all testing kits to infect our people.
How about extending the curfew time back to its original time 8pm or even 6Am to 6Pm….. the country is small yet filled with so much people and vehicle…. you cant possibly expect anybody all those people to get anything done in such a sort space of time… it gonna lead to one simple thing… A big rush on a daily basis am sure.
The cure should be to lengthen the shopping hours and let more people into the supermarket. You spend an hour or two in the line outside the supermarket and inside the supermarket is empty. Households have 4 to 10 persons, the supermarkets are so much bigger, they can handle 30 people easily, and maintain a social distance of 3 to 6 feet. People are literally shopping for just what they need. Don’t close the supermarkets.
Guys that would defeat the whole purpose. If time is extended every body go claim to be doing shopping to authorities when not so. It also defeats the purpose of protecting people from the virus. We are learning there is a possibility of the virus being air born so that number of hours closed would give the supermarkets time to clear the air. The alphabetical order I think was a great and sensible idea
According to the man himself, Bill Gates, the reason they want you social distancing is to primarily prevent you from catching COVID19 and developing a lifelong immunity to it. That will defeat the billions they are spending on their New World Order Digital Vaccine Certificate or if you like, COVID (Certificate of Vaccination ID) aka the mark of the beast. I say, it’s all BULLSHIT, and more to the point, of the Devil.
Extend the shopping hours until 3pm and there would be no crowd.
By the way the reduced gas price you promised for fishermen are not available at the pumps around the island,
The fisherman’s cooperative is closed during this lockdown. So no reduced prices for gas available anywhere on island.
Some of the sentiments expressed here are pure and simple commonsense. lf we are given at least 12 hours to shop and do other functions outside of our homes, it would lessen the crowd at business places. We just need to orderly about it and comply with the mandatory distancing as well the mask. l see folks still walking around in a nonchalant way, no mask and some are in groups. Take heed folks we are not invincible. You just never know if you are taking it back to your homes.
Mmmmmh, I can see this curfew extending. People are just not taking this seriously. Before Covid-19, most families shopped once per week. Go to your smaller shops and supermarket, barter with friends and neighbors, use what you have in the garden or freezer, empty the pantries. Hunker down! This is not about politics, this is about the health of the nation. Sometimes, the action that needs to be taken to problem solve a situation may not be easy. This is one of those situations. The curfew is tough, it stops our movement, but it has to be done to stop this highly contagious virus from spreading. It seems like most of you plan to go back to business as usual once the curfew is lifted. Surprise! The behavior and mindset exhibited over the curfew period shows that most of you are not ready for this battle or maybe you feel that it’s a foreign issue and the people who contracted the virus don’t run in your circle, so you’re good. Wake up and be responsible. Stay Home- it’s that simple!
Question?
IF I GO TO THE BEACH AND I AM THE ONLY ONE THER POLICE IS GOING TO LOCK ME UP& PUT ME BEFORE A MAGISTRATE?
Thats right GB Starve your people out.That will show them what a great leader you are
Joanna my workplace sends out payroll on Wednesday so Friday I had to stand in a line at the bank for 3 hrs and the money still wasn’t processed in the bank as yet by the time I came out the bank was 11 had to go straight home so home I’m
patiently waiting on Wednesday to join the line to wait for my pay then wait till the following day to buy groceries
Anybody have any info fot labour deoartments base on cheques?
Its been weeks im working n i doe get my cheque as yet
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