PM’s virus comments rattle some J’cans

On Monday, Prime Minister Andrew Holness made a blunt statement that has left viewers at home quivering.

"The possibility is that all of us, at some point in time, will get it," he said about the coronavirus. Many accept the fate while some ponder how they will survive if that is the case.

"I rebuke it! Mr Holness might know what him a seh, but me a rebuke it in Jesus name," 28-year-old Shannon told THE STAR.

The Portmore, St Catherine, resident says she still hasn't adjusted to the new normal COVID-19 has brought on.

"If I have to stay inside fi 10 years, so be it! I have to be cooking and cleaning fi kill the time. Me have my son fi live fah .... Am I supposed to accept that I might get COVID? Me caa do that. It's a rough time, and only the strongest of us will make it out sane. It nuh easy! Me lose off a Mr Holness cause him shoulda never seh that," she said.

Shannon says she was laid off from her job because of the pandemic, and now, she has to be relying on savings.

"Me nuh half as prepared as me woulda wah fi be. I was only able to do one big buying the last week in March, and half of those goods finished already .... It's me, my son, and my partner. Right now, we have to be pinching the food and money just to avoid going outside because we nuh know who have it," she said.

Daniel Whitely, a Kingston resident, admitted that he was not prepared at all.

Biggest fear

"Thinking about my parents and grandparents, if all of us are to get it, what will happen to them? They are more at risk, and that is my biggest fear. From Andrew seh that, is like me not even wah sit down beside my granny," the 33-year-old said.

Brandon Maxwell of Clarendon says that while he has the funds to survive during the crisis, his concern is his family.

"Me nuh know how my family a go survive. We barely have any food leave, and it's six of us in one house. My 72-year-old mother live wid me, and we keep going in and out because we have to go on the road. Sometimes I feel like I am going to break down because we caa operate like this much longer," he lamented.

"We love each other, but we never spend so much time together yet! It is a big adjustment me a tell yuh. Is like we a suffocate in a di house. If all a we might ketch corona, me nuh prepared fi what is to come," he added.