The Tribune

By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

WHILE many Bahamians are finding stay-at-home orders and a national curfew challenging, others are exploring ways to cope with this new reality.

Shawn Roberts, a Spanish teacher in Sandy Point, Abaco, said his family is making good use of their time at home.

“Well personally, I (have been) inside (my home) since last Friday afternoon,” Mr Roberts said.

“Today will make six days since I have not been out. So we are spending lots of family time together. We are having extra devotion time with prayers and Bible readings. The kids are doing online assignments from school. . . I am also making myself available to assist the school and others who may be interested in lessons.”

Mr Roberts said residents of his community are obeying the national curfew as far as he is aware.

“Well, it’s very quiet here. Once in a while I would hear a car pass on the road, but that is seldom. It’s just quiet. So I know we are in fact keeping inside as we were asked to.”

But for Mercelene Taylor, the extended time at home is making her stir-crazy.

“I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” Ms Taylor said. “I wake up, I eat, I go back to sleep, I eat. I am in the house with my husband and son and they are not taking anything about this virus seriously. I have to remind them constantly about what we are supposed to do to prevent it.

“I am not at home this much at all and the fact that I cannot get to do my regular activities is making me crazy. I can’t go to church. I can’t go to the gym. I feel like a crab in a pen. I understand the reasoning behind it, but I feel a 24-hour curfew is a bit excessive. I guess I am just that ‘outdoorsy’ type person so this is not working for me. I trust everyone is complying like me and we can be done without an extension past March 31.”

Melvern Smith, a resident of Nassau East, said she tried to prepare as much as possible before government officials urged people to stay at home.

“I am always an organised person,” she said. “When I heard mere rumours of what was to come, I went quietly to the store and stocked up on groceries, bought several bottles of wine and proceeded to pay up all my bills online. I pulled out the board games, dusted them off and sat and waited on the chaos to start.

“First came the panic shopping and after that the conspiracy theorists and it went on and on. I am home watching all of this happening around me while my family and me are content. I fall in the age category that will be very ill if we get COVID-19 so I am not going to put myself in harm’s way by being up and down on the street when I was told not to. We have everything we can think of in this house, even a room to exercise in. So, as the young people would say, ‘we are straight’.”