PM: Banks not to be closed by CoP

The Prime Minister said banks ought not be closed at the Commissioner of Police and said there were clear guidelines on how the banks should operate during the coronavirus outbreak.

Dr Rowley responded to questions from reporters during a media briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's, on Wednesday. He was asked about a media release from Police Commissioner Gary Griffith who warned banks and groceries to observe social distancing policies or risk being closed down.

"The government operates in a variety of sections and the Commissioner's section is led by the Minister of National Security who has been a frequent participant in these bits of public information. And under these circumstances, a little difficulty we have been having is the synchronising of the text and I trust this difficulty can be smoothed out.

"Banks are not to be closed by the Commissioner of Police. We went into detail on how the banking sector is to function and the importance of the banking sector as an essential service and, therefore, I don't know that arrangement of having them closed at the behest of the Commissioner is what we can expect."

On the topic of outdoor exercise, Rowley said there was no law in place to arrest anyone who ventured outside but questioned why anyone would want to expose themselves to potential infection. He said unlike other countries where people were beaten by police if caught outside, Rowley said local authorities preferred to appeal to the public rather than resort to brute force.

"You have another voice coming from the Prime Minister, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO), the Minister of Health telling you to stay inside. Do you need to be beaten with a bamboo rod to understand that? So we've said, we've been talking to you giving you every good reason why you should separate from people.

"The CMO went as far to say let us behave as if everyone has this disease. That is not law, that is just common sense, so when the Commissioner (of Police) talks about exercising what we should see is why would you want to come out and risk being infected or infecting others? It is not logisitcally feasible for the police to go around the country to ensure nobody comes outside, we don't have enough police to do that?"