Almost three months after the New Amsterdam Municipal Market was closed due to the presence of an escapee from a Demerara quarantine centre, the market resumed operations yesterday.
This is following a special meeting with the town’s Administrators. At the meeting, a decision was made for the market to resume full operation. The entity had been closed since March 23.
However, vendors must wear masks, and social distancing and handwashing practices remain in effect.
While the order is effective from today, June 19, 2020, vendors, however, will be required to pay their respective rentals, from the following week. On March 23, last Town Clerk, Sharon Alexander had ordered the immediate closure of the New Amsterdam Municipal Market.
According to Alexander, staffers of the Regional Health Services swooped down at the market, where they apprehended the woman who was allegedly a COVID-19 quarantine escapee.
Thereafter, vendors were ordered to suspend sales for the day and “pack up”, while Municipal workers, with the exception of those who work with the Town’s Constabulary, were asked to go home.
Vendors observed the woman acting in a suspicious manner whilst enquiring about certain ‘bush medicines’.
But, according to the vendors, regional health officials had been on to her the moment she entered the market, as they had a photograph of her, and were quick to identify and apprehend her.
Following the Town Clerk’s ‘shut-down’ order, officers of the Regional Environmental Health Department had been mobilized to sanitize the municipality.
Since Guyana recorded its first COVID-19 fatality in mid-March with the death of a 52-year-old migrant East Coast Demerara woman, New Amsterdam followed closely with the passing of a 78-year-old retired nurse, who had just before her demise returned from the United States.
In the wake of her passing, the streets and Municipal complex have been sanitized, hand sinks have been installed around the township, and business hours have been shortened.
