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Well…a lot of compromising and a lot of improvising. Cherisse Halsall reports:

STANDUP - Cherisse Halsall
"We're here at the border between August Pine Ridge and San Felipe village, the end of the line for COVID-free Belizean territory. On Friday 3 minors whose families had jumped the Blue Creek/La Union border tested positive for the Coronavirus. Since then police have blocked off all access to this road and if you were to drive in there today you'd have to be prepared to stay for a month."

But that wasn't the case on Friday when ten-year-old Adamir Ayala went to San Felipe to visit his aunts and uncle. Now, he's stuck, and this morning we met his father Arcenio who was desperate to bring the boy home.

He'd traveled to one side of the border to retrieve Adamir who had been brought to the other side by his uncle. It was a sad and desperate standoff with Ayala stuck wondering whether or not he'd be able to get to his son.

Arcenio Ayala, Concerned Father
"I'm trying to get my son. He is staying here and I live in August Pine Ridge. So I want to pass it again back, no, he's a small boy ten years old."

Cherisse Halsall:
"So what have the police told you?"

Arcenio Ayala, Concerned Father
"Well, I talked to the boss and he told me that he's coming right now I will try to arrange something no if we could pass him or not."

This man came to the village border to bring his sister-in-law the money that her husband sends monthly via western union. He wanted to deliver it to her personally but they were unable to coordinate arrival times. He ended up leaving the funds with the police and took off telling us that he won't be back until the lockdown is over.

Commercial entities don't have that luxury. And there are certain necessities that have to move despite the lockdown. The solution for that?: border handoffs-ensuring that while cargo continues to move the lockdown is maintained, meaning that no one goes in and no one comes out.

Edmure Escalante, Truck Driver
"The mission today is to receive a truck that's loaded with feed from Blue Creek and take it back into the town to deliver but in the process, we have to swap trucks. This truck is going back to Blue Creek and then we'll get the loaded one to take out."

Cherisse Halsall:
"What kind of feed?"

Edmure Escalante, Truck Driver
"Animal feed and other stuff that they need to deliver."

Cherisse Halsall:
"And how necessary is this animal feed for the people in Orange Walk?"

Edmure Escalante, Truck Driver
"I would believe it is very necessary because other people have farms and stuff that they need to get their feed to and if the feed stays back there I think it just, you know, goes to waste as well. I mean the process doesn't stop, the job doesn't stop so we have to continue this."

Cherisse Halsall:
"Are you nervous at all about making this transfer?"

Edmure Escalante, Truck Driver
"Slight, you know but everything is precautions everything is about keeping safe, I mean I even drove from the states in March so you just have to keep safe that's all."

And what about Adamir Ayala? Well his weekend with his 'tios' has been extended.

Arcenio Ayala, Concerned Father
"Well we'll have to wait until a month and that's too much for a small boy, no, he can't stay without his father and mother."

The boy may have gotten within a few feet of his father but he wasn't even allowed to exit the car and wave. Instead, both cars had to turn around and go back the way they came - just one snapshot of the shrinking world of life under lockdown.

Those areas will remain under a state of emergency for 30 days. The deals of the protocols are still being fine tuned, we are told.