Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley and Minister of Health Jeffrey Bostic both apologised to Barbadians yesterday for a breakdown in the timely return of COVID-19 test results due to the increase in swabbing done all this week.
Both said they understood why Barbadians, in their anxiety, had flocked to know their status as it related to the disease, especially after Government indicated last week its intention to get to the bottom of contact tracing revolving around three clusters currently under investigation by public health authorities.
All week on call-in programmes and on social media platforms, Barbadians aired their grievances regarding the time test results were being returned and a lack of information from Government.
Bostic said the volume of testing had taken its toll.
“I want to really apologise to all persons who have experienced delays in getting back test results. This is because of the high volume of tests being done at the Best-dos Santos Lab. We’ve actually exceeded the 2 000-test barrier in one day,” he said during an address from Ilaro Court, which also included chairman of Cabinet’s COVID-19 Sub-committee, Senator Dr Jerome Walcott.
“It has created some challenges for us in compiling, processing and disseminating results,” Bostic said. “It is regrettable but it is something that is happening in all countries that are facing surges in COVID-19.”
Mottley said Government had been burdened by the increase and stressed a lack of results did not mean the country was hiding something from citizens.
“One of the things that happened was that a number of persons were nervous, not just who were primary or tertiary contacts, but who just wanted to have a test, and we felt and understand that anxiety but it has put a lot of pressure on the labs.
“There is a backlog and we apologise for it,” the Prime Minister said, while noting that she met with public health officials trying to break down everything and “to come up with a clear categorisation of priorities for testing”. (BA)
