Cabbies happy as school bells ring

President of the Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services, Egerton Newman, says with 45 per cent of public transport operators fully vaccinated against COVID-19, they are prepared for the resumption of face-to-face classes.

"We have, over the past few days, been encouraging our operators to ensure that their vehicles are sanitized at least three times for the day and that they wear their mask. We are asking and urging all commuters to ensure that they wear their mask and we are even asking the police to ensure that commuters wear a mask when coming into a vehicle because we cannot force a passenger to wear a mask," he said.

Since Jamaica recorded its first case of the novel coronavirus in March 2020, schools have, for the most part, closed their doors and have adapted an online modality. Schools re-opened briefly on a few occasions, but the vast majority of students have been forced to attend online classes.

The island recorded 528 new cases yesterday and on December 31, 2021 there were 729 confirmed new cases of the coronavirus.

Newman said that he is very concerned about the rising cases, and urged the stakeholders to act quickly to prevent another closure of schools.

"We should have heard what Dr [Brian] James of the Medical Association said and not have New Year's festivities or Grand Market. But it happened already and we have to put things in place now to reduce the increase ... We are very concerned as a sector and something needs to be done or else, we going to be in some serious trouble in the next couple of months," Newman said.