Societies Exempted From Prohibition On Public Gatherings Above 20 Persons

As the Government continues to relax some of the restrictions in place as part of measures to control the local spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), Societies are to be added to the list of entities and individuals exempted from the prohibition on public gatherings exceeding 20 persons.

This was announced by Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, who noted that the Fourth Schedule of the Disaster Risk Management (Enforcement Measures) (No.10) Order is being amended to allow Societies registered under the Friendly Societies Act, the Industrial and Provident Societies Act and the Cooperative Societies Act to be exempt from the restriction on gatherings when holding their annual or special annual meetings.

“When having these meetings, Societies will still be required to comply with physical distancing rules and other relevant protocols, such as ensuring that persons who are entering the premises [they] take their temperatures, that they have hand-washing stations in place and the wearing of masks,” Mr. Holness said.

The Prime Minister was making a statement in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (July 28), where he gave an update on the new Disaster Risk Management Order and related matters.

This addition to the exempted list is one of the proposed changes to be included in the renewed Order, which falls under the Disaster Risk Management Act. The revision of the Order became necessary, as most of the measures under the Act will expire on July 31.

In the meantime, the Prime Minister informed that the new Order now allows summer camps to continue to operate until August 31.

He noted that as the Government seeks to extend the measures, it will continue to “take a risk-based management approach which is evidence-based, proportionate and situationally appropriate”.

“The objective continues to be the need to reduce the exposure risk of the population to COVID-19 while increasing the capacity of the public health system to respond to cases within the population, so as to reduce disease spread,” Mr. Holness said.