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OW Market Sprayed For COVID Concerns
posted (August 3, 2020)
And while that San Pedro patient, might not know where her infection came from, the cases in the north, could always point to contraband smuggling - since that practice is widespread in that area.

That's the case for one Orange Walk patient whose family members run a stall in the market. It's a red flag that was raised over the weekend leading to the closure and sanitization of the entire market area.

Today Orange Walk's Mayor Kevin Bernard told CTV3 that the contrabanding has been so blatant that goods still trickling in from Mexico have been for sale at Orange Walk's market.

Kevin Bernard, Mayor, Orange Walk
"With the spike of cases that have happened in the district and more so with the recent case of a gentleman who has contracted the Coronavirus and the fact that the ministry of health has advised us that this person got it through contraband items, we felt the decision was important to make in order to close down the market temporarily for us to be able to go in and sanitize the entire area and that decision is because this individual does have family that has a stall at the market so it's a precautionary step. We don't want to be seen as if we are trying to kill people out of their business or out of there, that's their livelihood but at the end of the day we also need to ensure that we are protecting our wider citizenry. A lot of people do business at the market and we want to make sure that they are also protected and so that was the rationale behind that decision yesterday. It's temporary like I said it's not something that is permanent we just need a few days to ensure that the entire market area is sanitized."

The Mayor and his council are asking that vendors be patient and to bear with them as they try to avoid community spread within Orange Walk Town.

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