The residents of New Amsterdam, in Region Six, strongly believe that it is because of the firm enforcement of the COVID-19 measures by regional authorities that has prevented the virus from spreading throughout the township and by extension the county.
So far, Region Six has recorded only one case of COVID – 19. The patient, a woman who is from New Amsterdam, succumbed shortly after being placed into quarantine by the health officials.
Her relatives, doctor, and nurses, who were in contact with her were quarantined and monitored after which they tested negative.
However, almost all of the residents interviewed by this newspaper recently, noted that after the first reported case, police and authorities of the town increased monitoring and enforcement. One person pointed out that initially, people were still gathering for parties but it was after police started to make arrests and file charges, that those gatherings began reducing.
Compton Saunders, 70, a pensioner of New Amsterdam stated: “Based on the statistics of the cases in Region Six, it shows that we are more disciplined than the people anywhere else.”
He opined that in terms of business, prices of commodities have not increased a lot in the town. He added that to the best of his knowledge businesses in the town have kept on their staff throughout the pandemic.
Further he stated, “Most of the cars still working even though the amount of passenger reduced. I think they increased the price in order to cushion that. So people have been finding a way to cushion the effects.”
As far as Saunders is concerned, given the circumstances, Region Six has been “coping well.”
Lennox Williams, 65, of Angoy’s Avenue, New Amsterdam, explained, “For the whole of Region Six we pay heed to the rules of the COVID-19 direction. You can look around and you will see people wearing their mask and keeping their distance.”
Williams, who is an electrician, stated that the pandemic has put a lot of pressure on the “smaller persons.” “By the pan-demic they ain’t taking trust for you to go into their homes to work.”
However, he noted “I tend to relax in every situation and people have been trying to get by. Some in the town started to look other jobs and we are trying.”
Williams advised those persons who have not been paying attention to the guidelines that “Covid 19 is real. “It’s not a political or election gimmick as some people tell them-selves. It ain’t have nothing to do with no government in any country.”
He declared, “Now our generation faced with a pandemic and we need to do our part.”
David (only name given), 25, of Stanleytown, New Amsterdam, a con-struction worker, explain-ed, that he has noticed that persons tend to wear their mask in the town more than any other part of the region, “People wearing their masks and distancing because some stores you can’t go in without mask. So they wearing it more in the town.”
Furthermore, he said that in his area, persons have been able to maintain their jobs, “Most people coping with it. Everybody going with the rules and the law so we seeing justice right now in the place. Things did slow down but it starting to pick up back now.”
“In central New Amsterdam the prices gone up but in Stanleytown where I living, them shops is same price, everything is the same thing,” he explained.
Follette Taylor, 75, of 60 Republic Road, New Amsterdam, who resides alone, noted that she has been wearing her mask to run errands. “The super-markets and stores, every-body wear their mask.”
She pointed out that jobs have slowed down in her community but persons have been “getting by.”
The woman chided, “Some of them who don’t wear their masks – they need to.”
The elderly woman pointed out that in terms of shopping and paying her bills she has had to budget differently since the pandemic, “Me does buy at the supermarket and I noticed that some prices have gone up, so what I short for I does buy only.”
Her daughter, Jornetta Peters, 54, who resides on the East Bank of Berbice, stated that people have been going about their business as normal in her community.
