(Jamaica Star) Even with the news that the novel coronavirus claimed the lives of two senior citizens on the weekend, senior citizen Eletia ‘Miss Dottie’ Kelly is prepared to ignore stay-at-home orders, which require people aged 75 and over to leave their house only for the essentials of life.
‘Miss Dottie’, a party animal, considers entertainment essential to her survival. The 79-year-old says she is unbothered by the stay-at-home orders, and is prepared to go out to parties despite the threat of COVID-19.
“If the party is around, I am going there,” she said. “Sunday gone was the last time I partied. I can’t stay in and seize up my body. Mi have to keep me body fit and prime, and music do that. Mi nah make COVID mek me inside, so if a party keeping down the road, and mi say mi going, then mi gone,” she said.
The COVID-19 stay-at-home orders were designed to protect the elderly, who are considered to be at greater risk of developing serious complications should they contract the virus.
‘Miss Dottie’, who is a great-great grandmother, said she does not suffer from any illness, and neither does she fear COVID-19.
She told THE STAR that when Jamaica went into partial lockdown when the virus first arrived in March, she obeyed orders to stay home to avoid contracting the virus.
JUST TAKE IT OFF MI MIND
“When the PM did say no party must no keep, mi did stay in and just take it off mi mind, but now that it free up, mi gone,” she said. The Government recently lifted restrictions that prohibited the staging of parties.
Yesterday, Miss Dottie, who was dressed in a tight fitting pair of shorts that showed off a tattoo marked ‘Platinum’ on her right thigh, said she has no intentions of stepping back from the spotlight, now that COVID is in the scene.
“Sometimes people see mi put on mi clothes and a go road and dem say ‘no sah, COVID caah hold yuh dung’, and mi say no, because dah virus deh nuh like mi and mi nuh like it, so we stay far from each other,” she said.
“Mi no wear any mask either because mi can’t breathe through it. Mi carry a mask if mi have to conduct certain business where dem say it needed. Mi nuh worry about COVID, mi nah tell nuh lie because mi don’t know anyone who have the virus or dead from it. When mi go out and enjoy myself it keep mi away from all disease and oldness,” Miss Dottie said.
She told THE STAR that she had long made a habit of using hand sanitiser before COVID came on the scene, and that has not changed. She said too, that when she is at parties, she normally stays by herself, so physical distancing is not an issue for her. However, when it comes to the stay-at-home orders, Miss Dottie has decided to put her faith in prayer and music to keep the doctor away.
Miss Dottie is also mindful that under the Disaster Risk Management Act she could be arrested for failing to wear mask and violating curfew orders. Even so, she is not shaking in her boots.
“Mi no want any arrest and mi pray dem don’t arrest mi, but if dat should a happen, mi hope dem put mi inna cell whe have music. Anyhow mi just stay inside and look over mi gate mi a guh get sick or probably dead,” the hottie, hottie grandmother said.
