The Government initiated preparations for the national response to combat the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) weeks ahead of the first confirmed case on March 10.
Early Response Mechanisms
• Travel restrictions were imposed on certain countries, beginning with the People’s Republic of China.
• Early-childhood institutions, primary, preparatory and secondary schools, and community and teachers’ colleges were closed for an initial 14 days, with subsequent extensions of this intervention.
• Teaching and learning continued remotely, while face-to-face instructions were reintroduced later in the year as a pilot.
• Special powers under the Disaster Risk Management Act, the Emergency
Powers Act and the Public Health Act were activated.
• Airports and seaports were closed to incoming passengers on March 21 for an initial 14 days.
Measures for Workers
• In mid-March, the Government stipulated that all non-essential employees and persons over age 65 in the public and private sector work from home for an initial seven days as part of containment measures.
• Stipulations relating to non-essential workers expired on May 31, and were replaced by a new Order on June 1, which allowed those employees to return to the workplace.
• Employers were encouraged to make allowances for certain categories of employees to continue working from home.
• These included persons with underlying health conditions, those with children, and those who had sick and/or elderly persons in their care.
• All business process outsourcing (BPO) centres were ordered closed for 14 days, in response to a workplace outbreak that caused a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases.
Equipment Procured for COVID-19 Fight
• A US$2.2 million contract was approved to procure personal protective equipment, inclusive of 400,000 N95 masks, for front-line health workers.
• The United States donated US$700,000 (J$95 million) towards
the national COVID-19 response.
• Canada provided PPEs for healthcare workers and medical equipment and supplies for five isolation areas in hospitals, including 457,372 surgical masks, 27,445 KN95 respirator masks, and five resuscitation trolleys.
• The Medical Association of Jamaica donated 100,000 N95 masks.
• Ventilators, N95 masks, and other medical equipment and non-medical support were obtained through donations from international partners – including the European Union, South Korea, People’s Republic of China, International Atomic Energy Agency and Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).