‘We rather dead fi hungry than coronavirus’ - Tour bus operators support travel restrictions

Tour bus drivers in Montego Bay, St James, say although they are feeling the pinch of the coronavirus, they are in total agreement with the Government's decision to place a travel ban on several countries.

The operators say the virus has posed a serious threat to their daily livelihood, but they are adamant they will not die from the dreaded disease.

"Wi know seh it rough, but we rather dead fi hungry than fi go play greedy an mek coronavirus kill we," said Steve Maxwell. "We do our little thing like sanitising ourselves and our environment to keep ourself safe, but we are in total agreement with the Health Minister to ban cruise ships, and (persons from) countries that are contaminated with the disease."

Sluggish days

Other tour operators at the Sangster International Airport say they have been having sluggish days since the first case of the virus was announced. But they are aware that the measures are for their own safety.

"I am following the protocol given to us by the airport, and that is to sanitise the bags, the seats and doors to our vehicles, and even ourselves, on every single occasion we transport a guest," sad Clinton Jackson, another tour operator. "We have now reached a point where we are barely getting any tourists, sometimes none at all. But our safety comes first and we have to choose life over being infected."

The operators say they are even more careful now that the Health Ministry has announced that some of the confirmed cases were detected in western Jamaica.