Papine vendors call for wash stations

Vendors in the Papine Market are appealing for the reinstallation of sanitisation stations amid a sharp rise in coronavirus cases.

With the advent of the pandemic in Jamaica last March, wash stations were rented and installed but were reportedly removed after five to six months.

Jamaica tallied its highest one-day COVID-19 total of 403 on Monday, a third record in seven days.

Margaret Thompson, who has adhered to her regular selling schedule seven days per week, said it has been business as usual.

“I just ensure say when them come, I spray them hand and ensure I keep my distance,” she said, pointing to a bottle of sanitiser hanging at the front of her tarpaulin.

She is concerned, though, about the absence of social distancing at Coronation Market in downtown Kingston where she buys produce.

Carl Williams, who has been selling in the Papine Market for more than two decades, admitted that he rarely wears a mask and has not been offering sanitisation to customers.

Williams said that he had initially thought that the virus could only be transmitted through sneezes or coughs.

Williams said more of his customers have been requesting deliveries to avoid visiting the market.

“One thing for sure, business is not the same. Customer wise, they are not coming out,” Williams said.

The closure of the University of Technology and the University of West Indies, Mona, to face-to-face classes, as well as the shuttering of other businesses, has caused a glut on the market with fewer customers turning up, vendors said.

Councillor for the Papine division, Venesha Phillips, said the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation was currently reviewing sanitisation protocols as the wash stations were being misused.

“The way persons were dealing with it made it unsanitary. Tthe soap was a mess and all over the place, it was wetting up the front of the market,” Phillips said.

“Maybe because we didn’t train people to use it, that was a problem.”

Since the removal of the stations, Phillips said that two vendors were employed to sanitise all persons entering the market.