But, regardless of how Minister Castro feels about wearing a mask, it's still the law. And it will remain that way when the current State of Emergency requirements expire at midnight tonight.
But - one thing that won't be the law anymore is the national curfew. That is the effect of the latest statutory instrument, number 126 of 2020, which the Minister of Health signed into law yesterday.
So, although Belize's official count of the total number positive coronavirus cases is currently 1,101, the Barrow Administration is no longer attempting to limit citizen movement with a curfew. But, that's the only thing that changes with the passage of the latest SI. All the other rules are still in place.
This evening, we spoke with Attorney General Michael Peyrefitte about the Government's decision to make that one change today:
Hon. Michael Peyrefitte - Attorney General
"There is only one fundamental change Daniel and that change is that as of midnight tonight so when you wake up tomorrow there will be no curfew, tonight is the last night for the curfew so Friday night there will be no curfew and that basically is the only fundamental change. We had before state of emergency regulations but we now have quarantine regulations and the state of emergency we had in place before was necessary because we wanted the curfew and you must have a state of emergency declared before you can have a curfew that not being the case and we believe that we don't need the curfew anymore it was no longer necessary for the country to be in a state of emergency, however, recently we passed legislation in the national assembly that allowed for the ministers to pass different regulations to govern during COVID time for example and so what we have now are quarantine regulations and we have made the rules and regulations very very similar to what we have currently, in other words, when we wake up tomorrow the rules that govern now will be the same rules that will govern tomorrow the only significant difference is the lack of curfew so you still have to do your 6 feet social distancing, the mask, no rum shops, bars discotheques, restaurants are take out only, delivery, drive through and the same restrictions so it is not a free up of anything we have not freed up the country of anything all we are saying is that we are no longer going to have a curfew but remember even though you no longer have the curfew we still have to deal with the clamping down of quality of life crimes so in the absence of a curfew we will make sure that we become more vigilant as it relates to loitering and wandering without a purpose and the like."
We asked the Attorney General to discuss this change in the context that even under the strictest rules, with harsh penalties for irresponsible behaviour like border jumping, there are Belizeans who still continue to make reckless decisions for self-gain.
He told us that we all have to live the painful reality that the virus is here to stay and that citizens have to take ownership of their own actions to protect themselves and their families. Here are those comments:
Hon. Michael Peyrefitte
"Just recently, as you know, we have lifted the special lockdown restrictions on Santa Martha, Shipyard and Guinea Grass subsequent to that, just a couple days ago, we lifted the special lockdown measures on San Pedro but effective tomorrow, the entire country will be under the same rules and regulations. It is about enforcement, education and down right pleading with the Belizean public to abide by the regulations and to follow the protocols that we have to prevent the spread of COVID19. We have to educate the public as to what is going on, where we are and what we need to do, we need to then enforce the law against those who insist on breaking it and then we also have to make a plea to the people, please there is only so much that the national security apparatus and the ministry of health can do. We beg the public to kindly follow the rules, follow the regulations, follow the protocols so we can minimize the spread of COVID19 and hopefully get to the point where we eliminate it in the country, that is what we strive to accomplish but we need the help of the public. We can pass all the laws that we want, we can pass all the regulations that we want, we can even do a 24 hour curfew if we want but if people don't understand that if you don't protect yourself and you are reckless in your behaviour and associations you will get the disease. I think we all have to accept that COVID unfortunately is here with us and the law abiding citizens and the delinquents have to understand and appreciate that now we have come to the point where we almost have to accept that we have to live with is so, to say that COVID19 will be at zero in 2 weeks or a month or even when the airport opens nobody can say that, it may even get worse than we are now but what we have to keep pushing is for people to do what they are suppose to do so they do not catch it or spread it. We are setting up a facility in the D'Silva camps in Mountain Pine Ridge for quarantine of people we are doing all we can but the idea is to have people not spread nor contract this disease so all we can say to everybody if you don't have it and you are abiding by the law continue to do that, if you are a delinquent and you continue to break the law, you will continue to go to prison and you will continue to spread it to people, however, a person who is being delinquent, a person who is breaking the law can't spread to you if you are doing what you are suppose to do."
So, to reiterate, the curfew is still in effect tonight, but when you wake up tomorrow morning, it will have been lifted. Again, that is the only change. All the other rules, such as social distancing, properly wearing a face mask in public, and sanitization will still be in effect.
