Gleaner Na 202111

THE WEEKLY GLEANER | NOVEMBER 4 - NOVEMBER 10, 2021 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | NEWS 7 Dave Rodney/Gleaner Writer S CORES OF travel professionals poured into the ritzy Manor in West Orange last Thursday for a celebration of Jamaica’s tourism product. The high-energy event, called the 2021 Destination Product Launch, was hosted by the Jamaica Tourist Board’s (JTB) Northeastern USA team. This gathering was the first face-to-face engagement that Jamaica has had with large numbers of industry part- ners in the New Jersey region since 2019, and dozens of travel agents had the opportunity to hear some exciting news on developments in the travel trade regarding Jamaica’s tourism product. JTB team members Phillip Rose, Victoria Harper and Kirk Whyte thanked the agents for their continued support, and told the gathering that travel from the northeast has bounced back faster than was initially projected, with increased airlifts from Newark, New Jersey. Additionally, American Airlines will launch an inaugural non-stop flight from Philadelphia to Kingston on November 4. And start- ing December 17, Frontier will further boost airlift from Newark to Montego Bay with additional flights. A number of leading resort brands doing business in Jamaica were in West Orange too, enticing the agents with alluring video presentations and updates on their individual properties. Among the presenters were Palladium Resorts, Blue Diamond Resorts (Royalton), Sandals, Bahia Principe, Deja Resorts and The Cliff. The travel agents, in turn, expressed great confi- dence in Destination Jamaica, pointing out that they were happy for Jamaica on her recent wins as Caribbean’s Leading Destination and Caribbean’s Leading Cruise Destination at the re- cent 2021 World Travel Awards. They also expressed confidence in the is- land’s safety protocols for COVID-19. The New Jersey travel extravaganza forms part of a broader market pene- tration that is hitting 21 cities along the Northeastern Seaboard, from Virginia to Maine. The blitz of promotional ac- tivity is expected to significantly boost travel to Jamaica for the 2021-2022 winter tourist season. Others attending the event were Alsion Roach Wilson, Jamaica’s con- sul general in New York, and Jacinth Clayton-Hunt, president of the Jamaica Organization of New Jersey. diademata@aol.com New Jersey travel agents fired up on Jamaica for winter NEW YORK, NY: GOVERNOR KATHY Hochul has an- nounced that the state Department of Health will designate COVID-19 as a public health threat and that her administrationwill implement the NY HEROAct. The bill ensures the protec- tionofmillions ofworkers, regardless of immigration status, byprovidingproto- cols on testing, facemasks, PPE, social distancing, handhygiene, disinfection, and engineering controls during this pandemic and into the future. The law allows workers to protect themselves, their workspaces, and their custom- ers via cooperative committees with employers. For months, labour and immigrant rights advocates called for thegovernor’s signatureon this critical, life-saving bill. According toMuradAwawdeh, execu- tivedirector of theNewYork Immigration Coalition, “COVID-19 continues to have an enormous impact on our immigrant essential workers across the state, many of them farmworkers keeping our food supply lines open, at great risk to them- selves and their families. With multiple variants and spikes in COVID-19 cases, NewYork cannot afford towaste any time in keeping everyone safe and healthy. That is why the NY HERO Act will play such a vital role in the recovery of our state fromthe pandemic andprotection fromfuture airborne, infectious diseases. We applaudGovernor Hochul for recog- nising the evolving challenges posedby this pandemic, and for prioritising the health and well-being of our frontline workers and every NewYorker.” NY health department names COVID-19 public health threat Lester Hinds/Gleaner Writer FIFTY-SEVEN-YEAR-OLD JAMAICA- BORNWinsome Sears is the new lieu- tenant governor of Virginia. Her history-making election win came in the race for governor, lieu- tenant governor, attorney general and other state-wide races in that state. Sears won with 51 per cent of the votes and becomes the first woman and the first person of colour to be elected as lieutenant governor of Virginia. She ran on the Republican Party ticket, defeating another woman of colour, Democrat Hala Ayala. Sears was born in Kingston but grew up in the Bronx and served in the US Marine Corps. She became the rep- resentative for the Republican party by beating several other candidates after she posted photos of herself pos- ing with a rifle. Twenty years ago, she served one term as a delegate in the Virginia House. FIRST BLACK REPUBLICAN WOMAN ELECT Sears is the first Black Republican woman to be elected to the Virginia General Assembly, representing the 90th district in 2002. She served for one term. In 2004, she launched an unsuccessful bid for Congress against Democrat Bobby Scott. She is also a former vice-president of the Virginia Board of Education and owner of an appliance business. She is a wife and mother of three daughters. In 2012, her 27-year-old daughter, DeJon L’Air Williams, and two grandchildren died in a car accident. Several people who have served as lieutenant governor in Virginia have gone on to become governor of the state. Sears, during the primary, voiced op- position to mask mandates as a means of bringing the COVID-19 virus under control. Before entering politics, Sears served as director of the Salvation Army home- less shelter. In 2002, she became the first natu- ralised person to serve in the Virginia House of delegates. She later chal- lenged for a congressional seat in Virginia, but lost. She campaigned on the platforms of creating more jobs, lowering taxes and strengthening the state’s schools. Sears credited her grandmother for sparking her interest in politics. “She demanded of her political leaders that they represent her and represent her well,” Sears told the Hill newspaper in an interview. She often invokes her father whom she said was lifted out of poverty through education. “My father came to America from Jamaica with $1.75. What did he do? He took any job he could find. He put himself through school and began his American dream. He is now comfort- ably retired,” she told the Hill in the same interview. Jamaica-born woman makes history in US election Winsome Sears “COVID-19 continues to have an enormous impact on our immigrant essential workers across the state, many of them farmworkers keeping our food supply lines open, at great risk to themselves and their families.” THE WE KLY GLEANER | NOVEMBER 4 - 3