Guyanese put their lives at risk to provide for family

COVID-19

As the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to claim the lives of thousands around the world, Guyanese are still not comprehending the seriousness of the pandemic and as such, they are risking their lives trying to provide for their families.

Guyana has so far recorded four deaths and has experienced a reduction in the build-up of persons in the capital city. However, vendors continue to ply their trade despite the massive drop in sales, all with the aim of making ends meet.
Guyana Times took to the streets of Georgetown to get first-hand information about how Guyanese are treating the threats of the deadly virus.
One vendor, Micheal Willis, explained that it is very hard for him and his colleagues who have to be on the road on a daily basis to provide for their families.
“After people started dying in Guyana from this virus, that is when I realised how serious this thing is. We have to take a stand… we have to take this thing in our own hands and forget about the political situation. We need to cooperate,” Willis noted.
Simone Hollis, another vendor at the Stabroek Market, related, “this is very hard for us, how will we survive? Every day I risk my life, and my family’s life to come out here. If I don’t do that how will we eat? I don’t have a Government job that will pay me if I don’t work. I have nobody to go to for food. And the thing is, these politicians are fighting for power when people are dying. Squash the political drama and let us Guyanese live, we want to live and we need the help of a Government.”
Another business owner in Georgetown said that the seriousness of the virus is now beginning to hit him since the cases and deaths in Guyana are rising on a daily basis.
“I have been taking the necessary precautions but that people are dying. It is now getting to me. The only reason I am out here is that I need to provide for my family. I am scared that when this place shuts down what will happen to people like us? Guyana’s political issue is stressing us out, swear in a President and let us fight this thing. People hardly have much money, much less food in their houses. This thing is serious and we must be ready to face what it will do to Guyana. We are playing with something we don’t have a cure for,” he noted.
At this time, the PAHO/WHO has recommended social distancing as a mean of curbing the virus and this was evident in several sections of the city on Thursday.
Customers at Bounty Supermarket, Water Street, Georgetown, were seen in orderly lines making their way into the facility. As they entered, they are provided with hand sanitiser to cleanse their hands.
Most of them were also seen wearing face masks.
Meanwhile, on the East Coast of Demerara, Minis Bus Park operators were seen constantly sanitising their hands and minimising the number of commuters entering the buses.
On Thursday former Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence expressed concern that many Guyanese have been breaching the advisories promulgated to keep the population safe.
During her daily update, Lawrence explained that persons do not realise the seriousness of the virus because they are continuing their daily activities without adhering to the precautionary measures promulgated.
PAHO initially has stated that it estimated a total of 1400 people to contract the virus but a recent update revealed that up to 20,000 persons can be infected by the first week in May.