Serial walker tells Jamaicans to stay home

Derrick 'Black X' Robinson has walked Jamaica countless times and was planning a honeymoon walk from St Mary to Kingston yesterday. But that was before COVID-19 forced him to postpone his wedding that was supposed to have taken place on Tuesday.

Black X has also been following the developments with the novel conoravirus and he and his fiance have decided to give walking a break for a while, opting instead to stay home.

"The social distancing is very important because the virus doesn't have wings or hands or foot. We are the carriers. If you don't catch it, it cannot carry on. It dies right there. We are the vehicles that transport it to the people," Black X said.

As of yesterday, Jamaica had recorded 44 cases of the virus. Three persons have died from it and the Health Ministry projects that Jamaica, in a worst case scenario, could have as many as 590,000 cases by month's end, if persons are careless in their actions, thus causing the virus to spread.

Black X, who has spent his life walking and advocating for Chief Tacky to me made a national hero, needs no convincing.

"If we keep our distance and use sanitisers, we will kill it," he said confidently.

Curtailing the spread

He urges Jamaicans to play their part in curtailing the spread the deadly virus.

"Stay at home where possible. ... We must be careful to not become the vehicle. We need to minimise as much as we can. Even countries with overwhelming resources are stretched right now. With our little economy and space, we can employ the discipline to stop the vehicle. We can do better than we are doing now," he said.

Black X and his wife-to-be, Nickevia Hines, has had to reschedule the wedding because of the coronovirus outbreak.

"We were expecting about 200 people. Relatives were flying in from abroad also, so it had to be postponed. It was a bad timing for everyone. We are not disappointed because within all things, we have to look at the opportunities that present themselves," he said.

Gatherings of more than 10 persons are prohibited under orders put in place to contain the spread of the coronovirus.

"We postponed it because of the gathering. What we are doing now, is rescheduling it," Black X told THE STAR.