Seniors urged to be careful

THIS island’s senior citizens are being urged to continue to exercise caution as they go from location to location now that more businesses have been permitted to reopen.

President of the Barbados Association of Retired Persons (BARP), Marilyn Rice-Bowen, gave this advice when she spoke to The Barbados Advocate earlier this week. Monday saw a further easing of restrictions in the country following the National Pause, and hairdressers, barbers and aestheticians were among businesses which resumed operations for the first time since closing on February 2.

“I would advise our seniors to continue to be careful, follow the protocols, and as far as possible stay inside because COVID has not disappeared. So we need to stay in a state of alertness. We need to be alert and recognise that COVID is very much with us, ” Rice-Bowen warned.

“Let their children and their grandchildren, let the younger ones assist them, but try to stay as safe as possible,” she added.

On Monday, BARP’s office also reopened its doors. Rice-Bowen said everything went “very smooth” and all COVID-19 protocols were observed.

“The opening went as smooth as we had anticipated, simply because BARP members can pay their membership via their banks online. They can also pay via the post office or Sure Pay because as of last year, we made all our accounts accessible via online because we recognised that we needed to more or less protect the seniors. And if you are serious about protecting them, then we had to open more opportunities for payment options for them and the major one being an online presence.”