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"Please, sanitise your hands," three-year-old Georgiana Walker told me as I was about to enter her yard in Corn Piece Settlement, Clarendon.

Young Georgiana, who was standing beside her grandmother, Daphne Thomas, pointed me towards a sanitisation station at their gate. She then flashed the cutest smile as if to say, thank you for understanding.

Thomas said she and her family take the threat of COVID-19 seriously. There is even a sign at her gate that reads: 'No mask, no entry'.

"There are advertisements every day that reminds us that COVID still a gwane, so myself, my daughter and my son-in-law, we decided to put up a sign, especially because we have this little girl. Even she have a way where as yuh come a the gate and call, she tell yuh to wash yuh hand an come," she said.

Thomas understands how dangerous COVID-19 can be. Her community was the first in Jamaica to record a death from the disease, and the residents there were forced to endure a month-long lockdown to allow health authorities to conduct contact-tracing and testing of residents. Thomas said that she and her family are determined not to let their guards down, and encourages others to do the same.

One of the most feared

"It's very important that we follow these protocols because it's not like you can look at someone and tell what they are travelling with. Our community went under quarantine last year and was one of the most feared, but now, most persons are not following protocols unless they are going out and wearing a mask is required. That needs to stop! We all have to play our part in fighting the virus," she said.

Clinicians have been promoting the use of masks in helping to fight the spread of COVID-19. Studies have found that masks are effective tools in the fight, but researchers have concluded that masks alone is not sufficient to provide an adequate level of protection against COVID-19.

The World Health Organisation, for instance, said that in addition to wearing masks, it is important for people to practise physical distancing and observe proper hygiene practices.

Junior Ferron, another Corn Piece Settlement resident, said that he and others continue to take the virus seriously. He said the wearing of masks remain mandatory in his household.

"If yuh should a go a my yard now everyone have on dem masks. I just went back home and as mi reach the door dem sanitise mi, and give me a new mask. We nah take nuh threat wid COVID. Even the bars dem lock early, and that nuh have anything to do with the curfew," Ferron said.