Griffith gets good news at the beach

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On the shoreline of Maracas Bay on a hot Sunday morning, a group of friends, one man and two women engaged in a game of frisbee but they did so safely by wearing masks to observe the COVID-19 health protocols.

Those beach-goers were part of a much larger crowd of people who ventured to the north coast beach yesterday.

For a short time Commissioner of Police (CoP) Gary Griffith was among them.

But he wasn’t there to enjoy the sea, sun and sand but to take a much closer look, as promised, to see if people were adhering to the health guidelines.

It was only on Friday that the Commissioner issued a media release expressing his disappointment in people not wearing masks while at the nation’s beaches.

Moments after his visit to Maracas though he reported to the media that he was happy with what he saw.

“I have just come from Maracas and other places and I can state and I am very pleased to state it has shown a great degree of responsibility and maturity from the citizens of this great country.

Probably 99 per cent plus were wearing their masks.”

One of the people the Commissioner was no doubt referring to was Joshua Rezende, who was spending quality time at the beach with family and friends.

He told Guardian Media they love coming to the beach and have done so twice since those restrictions were lifted.

He doesn’t want to even think about another closure.

“No no no I don’t want them to close the beach at all at all,” he exclaimed.

He explained that this is why he and his loved ones do what is required.

“Because COVID (19) could be anywhere, somebody could be in front of you, they could cough and with the breeze it could blow back and hit you. So that is why I choose to wear the mask, it is just the right thing to do.”

Also, the right thing to do at the bars as it stands right now is to buy your drinks and leave, but recently there has been an apparent upsurge in people purchasing alcohol and congregating in groups outside.

This was a concern for the Commissioner, but yesterday he was comforted.

“We looked through all of the different places, the vast majority of bars there’s been an absence of that taking place. You buy your alcohol and you leave.”

The Commissioner said since coming out of quarantine he has hit the ground running and will continue to do so to ensure the positive strides being made can continue.