Adams thinks J’cans too lax about COVID-19

While commending the Government's efforts to control the spread of COVID-19, retired Senior Superintendent of Police Reneto Adams believes that the country's continued culture of indiscipline is contradicting those efforts.

"I am not a religious man, but you have a book called the Bible that I have always read. The reading is good ... I am not saying what is there is factual or not actual or divine, but we have reached the time in Jamaica where it would seem that people rather die from a disease or something natural rather than dying deliberately from hunger," Adams told THE STAR.

Large crowds

For months, the Government has been imploring Jamaicans to avoid being on the road where possible. Large gatherings have also been banned. But large crowds swarm the roads daily - with many people not wearing masks, and others not adhering to stipulated curfew times. Adams holds that some Jamaicans don't care if they die from the coronavirus.

"Unfortunately, some people are on that road. They rather die making sure that they die doing something to make a living. And that is one of the problems. Two, Jamaicans are also very indisciplined, and it's only until their backs are against the wall that you will find that they obey the law," he said. Adams said that this attitude cannot be corrected overnight.

"It's the next 20 years before Jamaica reach the stage where we are highly disciplined and do not need someone to be behind us, enforcing the whip," he said.