PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Member of Parliament Omar E. C. Ottley submitted a proposal asking the Honorable Minister of Justice Anna E. Richardson and her staff to allow people to shop within their districts. Ottley stated that the proposal is aimed at alleviating the tension surrounding the population’s outcry and unrest as it pertains to access to food, while protecting our citizens and encouraging social distancing.
Ottley explained that the intention is to block key entry points for each district, no one in or out for a specific time frame, this will allow persons living in these districts to purchase groceries and return home within the assigned time frame. Ottley made it clear that the purpose of this is to stock up on essential needs and then continue to implement a complete lock down until lifted.
Ottley stated that he is in total agreement with the Honorable Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs in extending the lock down time in order to do mass testing, as he is personally a major advocate of the mass community testing.
The numbers of confirmed cases are indeed alarming for such a small country and as more testing is done we should expect an increase. Ottley states, while this maybe the case, the major concern should be early detection, rapid treatment and keeping the death toll as low as possible and the only way to do this is to get in-front of the virus and extend testing not only for the severe symptomatic cases but also for the moderate, mild and asymptomatic persons.
