7 News Belize

Life Under Lockdown In The Northwest
posted (July 15, 2020)
And while we can only hope that we're not entering an era of COVID-19 witch-hunts with neighbors calling out neighbors for the slightest sniffle, truth is, It was only through community reporting that the Ministry of Health was able to zone in on those Blue Creek cases.

This Morning Commissioner Williams told us a bit about what life is like for those villagers under lockdown.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Yes the state of emergency in the Blue Creek/San Felipe area is still ongoing. You would know that it came about as a result of a cluster of confirmed cases of Covid-19 that the ministry of health detected in that area and so there have been severe restriction to the movements of persons as well as goods and services to and from the affected area, but we must understand that human beings still live in the area and the necessities for living must be allowed to get in and come out of the affected area, and so what we did we met and we put together a protocol that is going to facilitate the movement of goods and service to the area. And so what we do if it is that the vehicle carrying the goods is a tow head, you have to have two heads. One head will drive the trailer to the check point. At the check point, the head coming out of the declared area is going to be unhitched from the trailer. The head coming out of the undeclared area is going to hitch the trailer and take it out of Blue Creek and vice-versa. If it is a vehicle that is not a trailer, like the chicken truck which doesn't have a trailer just a refrigerated truck - in those circumstances what we order is that when the truck gets to the check point if it is coming out of the declared area it will be sanitized properly with approved disinfectant. Once sanitized properly, the driver coming from undeclared area will take control of the truck and drive it out and vice-versa. It is also mandatory that the driver and sideman with the driver must wear a mask and a gloves so that in the event if the vehicle wasn't properly disinfected the mask and the gloves will be able to assist to prevent the new driver who may not be infected from contracting whatever may have been left in the vehicle. As it relates to persons who may require urgent medical attention a protocol has also been put in place by the ministry of health where they need to inform the ministry of health and then arrangement will be made to get the person out of the declared area to seek medical attention that they need. So we try as best as we can to be able to work with the villagers with a view to ensure that whatever services they require is still met, despite the fact that they are under a state of emergency."

Reporter
"What about persons that are stuck inside the villages or outside trying to get in?"

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"If they are stuck inside the villages then that's just it, they just have to wait until when the ministry of health would declare that it is now safe to remove the state of emergency. We have to understand that yes while it may pose some strain to some people, some inconvenience that it is better to have the inconvenience than to have a country that is infested with Covid-19 patients, so they are not going to die. They are still living, they are alive and well - they just need to wait out and see what happens in the next few weeks."

The Blue Creek and the San Felipe State of Emergency is expected to last for a month.

Home | Archives | Downloads/Podcasts | Advertise | Contact Us

7 News Belize