Dear Editor,

My position on the lockdown is known. I was for it in the beginning of the pandemic, but I am no longer supportive.

If the Government is to going lock down the country they should, at least, ensure that the measure is effective and will actually stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Most folks will say it’s too early to judge the current lockdown measures. The main purpose of a lockdown is to stop the spread of the virus; however, we can all see that the numbers are still increasing and it doesn’t appear that they will be trending down for a while.

We are now seeing record increases during a lockdown — which says a lot.

Closing down the country for three days will only cause crowding and mayhem on the streets on the four free-movement days, resulting in more people becoming infected with the virus.

Additionally, staging national vaccination blitzes which create overcrowding at vaccination sites means further spreading of the virus.

We can’t have a society with different rules for the poor, rich, foreigners, and locals. You can’t blame the entertainment sector, only, when there are hotels packed with guests and supermarkets jam-packed with shoppers.

Here are few tips to an effective lockdown for Jamaica:

1) Close borders for the month of September

2) End no-movement days

3) Institute daily curfews from 5:00 pm – 5:00 am.

The tips above are more effective than the current ones for balancing lives and livelihoods.

Teddylee Gray

Ocho Rios, StAnn

teddylee.gray@gmail.com