The following are reminders for weekend shopping Saturday, 11 and Sunday, 12 April 2020.
- Parish boundaries restrictions will be in effect except for St David residents who are allowed to cross into St George to shop and essential workers travelling to and from work.
- Persons should not leave their homes more than 1 hour before their shopping sequence starts.
- Only 1 person per household is permitted to shop.
- Physical distancing must be maintained at all times.
- Persons must wear a mask or other suitable face covering over their mouths and noses.
- The line for essential workers at major supermarkets will only serve persons in uniform and senior citizens 65 years and over.
- Movements must be purposeful.
- Police will be out checking and assisting.
The Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) looks forward to the cooperation of the general public.
Office of Commissioner of Police
Would it make sense to have stores make up a basic package of essential goods that could be ordered and delivered by approved taxi drivers or buses so that people do not have to leave their homes to get the basic items they need? The taxis could operate at a small fee, so that they have at least some income, but there would be very little risk of virus spread. Perhaps the RGPF and the Ministry could develop a policy for this.
Excellent idea Carl
I genuinely hope the new strategy with splitting the alphabet into 2 groups will work Ron, but I really don’t believe it will. The problem is that the morning group of shoppers who will be standing in line since 07:00am would not be finished shopping by the time the afternoon shoppers arrive causing the same problems as last weekend. Therefore the afternoon group will be hit the hardest on both days. Many Countries are trying to bring down the curve as their death toll is rising daily. Fortunately Grenada does not have that problem with only 13 positive test results and no deaths. This does not mean complacency but as Antoine Edwards says, don’t use a rocket launcher to kill a mosquito. You may regret the collateral damage.
We have heard a lot about maintaining mental health in these difficult times but surely the anxiety of wondering where your next meal is coming from comes pretty high on the list! These measures are counter productive and create the very situation they are meant to avoid I.e. huge queues of people in close proximity. Perhaps the policy makers should grab a shopping trolley and experience it for themselves!
The queues at Real value, Foodfare, CK etc in Grand Anse are complete madness. This shopping day rule is fundamentally flawed, forcing people to queue for long periods. Even allowing for social distancing it is counter productive & soul destroying. Stop this madness and have stores open every day!
Great comments this morning.
Even with 13 letters of the alphabet allowed in the morning and the other 13 allowed in the afternoon, this will make the wait only half as long as they were earlier in the week, when folks had to wait 4-10 hours to get their shopping done.
Grocers/ supermarkets need to be open every day and social distancing rules applied. Some people cannot afford to store a couple weeks of food and also unable to stand in line for hours in the heat.
In larger countries that have been hit harder per capita, have not resorted to these draconian measures.
Please review this policy .
Thank you.
A big part of the problem is that nobody knows when the next shopping day is going to be. So of course everybody turns up to buy as much as they can.
I suspect our government doesn’t even know when the next grocery day is gonna be. They’re totally just winging it. I heard there are only 13 confirmed cases, all in quarantine. The regulations imposed upon us are like shooting a mosquito with a bazooka.
Well said Carl and in doing so people will not have a long wait in the sun especially if one is suffering from high blood pressure. Also about the busses that’s a good idea cause these buses are private some will work and some will not want to . The gas stations should be open too to allow people to buy gas for they weed eater, and for people who wants kerosene . Cause I think they don’t want vehicles who are not essential to be going and full up with gas cause that will encourage them to have free movement. Hope everything works out good for everyone in the country tomorrow and Sunday please the lord . Stay safe and follow instructions
Here is my 2 cents worth. There are 26 letters in the alphabet so why not have the supermarkets operate Monday to Friday with 5 letters per day, like Monday: A -E Tuesday:F – J Wednesday: K -O. Thursday: P-T and Friday: U-Z. Total lockdown on weekends. Don’t worry about Friday having 6 letters as I am sure there are not too many surnames starting with X and Z. There would still be a hard lockdown but I really do believe there would probably be less queues than normal allowing for adequate social distancing. In these unprecedented times, this may be a more realistic option allowing banks and hardware stores to open and for people to shop in town which would be fair to all Grenadians no matter where you live. As for transport, why not allow the coasters and the large wooden tourist busses to operate even if it does cost a little more. Maybe the government could contribute financially for these busses to operate. Unlike Europe, the States, Canada and China, Grenada is not an industrial powerhouse that can handle a long term lockdown so it is important to keep the economy limping along as the major revenues which are tourism and St George’s University are currently dead. Last but not least, have the gas stations open on these days to avoid long lines. If we can have access to all that I mentioned then it would be a perfect opportunity to fill up the weed eater and maybe do some long overdue house maintenance and painting instead of sitting at home doing nothing day in day out.
I’m sure the weekend shopping will go off without a hitch if our government announces plenty of grocery days next week. Otherwise, we’re bound to have the same fiasco as last Monday, with people having to wait in the sun for up to 10 hours!