KEVON FELMINE

Al­though the city is not as pop­u­lat­ed as in nor­mal times, those tasked with keep­ing the coun­try safe took time off to salute and en­cour­age those fight­ing to save our lives.Out­side the San Fer­nan­do Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal (SFGH), po­lice of­fi­cers, mu­nic­i­pal po­lice, fire­fight­ers and a few peo­ple seek­ing ser­vices at the near­by teach­ing hos­pi­tal ap­plaud­ed and salut­ed the med­ical staff who were busy at work. Ad­min­is­tra­tive staff from the hos­pi­tals joined at the en­trance, cheer­ing on their col­leagues.

SFGH has been one of the bat­tle­grounds in the fight against COVID-19. Med­ical staff screen pa­tients fre­quent­ly and care for them as they await re­sults to con­firm whether they con­tract­ed the virus. 
As the sirens sound­ed and the ap­plause echoed, even those ve­hi­cles blocked off for the oc­ca­sion chipped in with their horns.
The salutes and ap­plause last­ed for about sev­en min­utes, then ser­vice­men and women re­turned to man­ning the streets. The banks, su­per­mar­kets and fish mar­kets con­tin­ued to be pop­u­lat­ed. 
Head of South­ern Di­vi­sion po­lice Snr Supt Wanye Mo­hammed said it felt du­ti­ful to ho­n­our those who were risk­ing their lives to save oth­ers. 
“We are show­ing our ap­pre­ci­a­tion to them be­cause they are the front lin­ers, who are giv­ing their all to en­sure the coun­try be­comes safe from this coro­n­avirus. This is our coun­try and the peo­ple of South Trinidad are not fol­low­ers. I am im­plor­ing all per­sons from South Trinidad to en­sure that we fol­low all the guide­lines giv­en by our Prime Min­is­ter, Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter, Health Min­is­ter and all health­care ex­perts so we can flat­ten the curve,” Mo­hammed said.
San Fer­nan­do May­or Ju­nia Re­grel­lo said it was about show­ing their warmth and love for the front­line work­ers who are sac­ri­fic­ing for the good of the coun­try. Re­grel­lo said that as they car­ry out their du­ties, some fam­i­lies are be­ing left un­done. He con­grat­u­lat­ed the or­gan­is­ers of the event for its suc­cess.