In the almost 9 months since March, we've all been living with rules like social distancing and face masks while in public. But, despite all the deaths, the will grows weak and many just start slacking off.
And that's why Police say this weekend, they had to charge 105 Belizeans countrywide for breaking these and other quarantine regulations.
41 people were charged for failing to wear a face mask or some other face and mouth covering while in public.
28 people were charged with breaking the daily curfew, which runs from 10 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.
7 people were charged with hosting a restricted social event. 23 were charged with attending a restricted social event.
And finally, one person working in public transportation was charged with transporting a passenger who was not wearing a cloth, a face mask, or some other face and mouth covering.
Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, has announced that a task force will be created to enforce these quarantine regulations and really crack down on the violators.
Chester Williams- Commissioner of Police
"Over the weekend I think we had, I think, 107 arrests for different offenses including 7 for hosting a restricted event. And when we say restricted events we simply mean that they were having parties. We have a number arrested for breach of curfew, a number of persons for failure to wear facemasks. The police is going to continue to do what we can with a view to ensure that we assist the Ministry of Health to reduce the number of daily infections. Today I have tasked each of the formation commanders to put together a covid task force. The COVID Task Force is going to be a team of police officers who are going to focus within each of the different formations on enforcement of the COVID regulations. So they will be moving around, including in the villages, looking for violations with a view to see how we can deal with those persons who continue to defy and put us all at risk. I have also suggested the Minister of Home Affairs, as well as the Minister of Health. We have discussed the issue of making the offenses under the Quarantine regulations a ticketable offense. So, what we are finding out is that some of the police officers are fearful of dealing with the people because of the fact that they don't know what the person's status may be. So, if we go with a ticketing system where the police just issue a ticket it is going to allow the police to have less interactions with violators while still achieving the goal of penalizing those who continue to violate. But what I would want to see is people begin to adhere to the regulations not simply because they fear the police arresting them or fear of being ticketed but rather because they know it is the right thing to do."
