Friday, March 29, 2024

Bostic: Working to reverse community spread

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Health officials have taken control of a senior citizens’ home which has been designated as an isolation facility after 31 patients tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19).

This was among the issues addressed by Minister of Health and Wellness Jeffrey Bostic today while speaking during a live press conference on the management of COVID-19. Bostic said while there is community spread of COVID-19, it is not too late to reverse this trend.

Prime Minister Mia Amor Motley, chairman of the Cabinet Sub-committee on COVID-19 Senator Dr Jerome Walcott, Infectious Disease Specialist and head of the Isolation Facilities, Dr Corey Forde and Senior Medical Officer of Health Dr Anton Best also participated in the press conference.

During his address, Bostic gave updated figures for COVID-19. He said although the public is more familiar with a daily dashboard, the figures he gave today covered February 3 to 14.

During this period, the Best dos Santos Public Health Laboratory received 8 395 samples and of this number 6 560 tests have been completed.

Of these tests, 628 cases of COVID-19 were recorded. Using the Shape App, which gives real time information, of 567 positive cases of the virus, 401 have been attributed to contact tracing and these are primary contacts. This means that 70 per cent of cases resulted from contact tracing.

He said while the figures might be startling, they were an accumulation of samples over a period and results were given when the samples were tested.

With yesterday’s figures, for example, 1 222 tests were completed, with 207 positive virus cases, however of those samples, 111 were collected from the first week of February.

Additionally, Bostic said the ministry had been working on some hotspots and figures for these follow.

At the Geriatric Hospital, which started with a single case, there are now five more positive cases – two kitchen staff members and three nurses. They were all asymptomatic. All patients were tested, more than once, and were negative for coronavirus. The ministry is still awaiting results for 20 staff members but all the other staff have tested negative.

Bostic said the kitchen had been thoroughly sanitised and would be back in operation from today. He expressed gratitude to staff for “staying the course”.

A homeless shelter which was “cause for concern”, recorded one positive case of the viral illness.

“We moved into that situation quickly, we appointed one of our public health doctors to be responsible for that response . . ., ” Bostic said.

All staff and all shelter occupants tested negative on the first and second PCR tests and the rapid antigen tests.

The minister also gave information on two senior citizens’ homes that were affected by COVID-19.

At Home One, which is located in St Michael, there were five positive coronavirus cases. These results were gained through rapid antigen tests and two additional positive cases were recorded after PCR tests were administered. They are all asymptomatic.

Five of the positive cases were sent to the Blackman and Gollop quarantine centre, then to Harrison Point isolation facility. The other two also in isolation. Bostic said there were no further issues in relation to this home and the ministry is providing assistance to management.

At Home 2, located in the East of the island, 31 patients tested positive for COVID-19. Three staff members tested positive with the PCR tests, three tested positive with the rapid antigen tests and are awaiting results for the PCR tests.

Bostic said dealing with this home was more challenging because of its layout and size and Dr Forde’s assistance was sought. This home has therefore been designated as an isolation facility because the majority of people there are COVID positive.

The Ministry has therefore taken control of the home for this period “to help them get out of the situation” by utilising resources of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) and the Ministry of Health in terms of public health officers and medical officers of health.

The QEH infection control nurse has done a “serious job of santising the place and rearranging things to operate under the “safest of conditions”, Bostic said. This process is being managed by Forde.

More resources are also being allocated to contact tracing.

In explaining why testing had been delayed, the minister reminded Barbadians that this is “not the only country experiencing difficulty in getting equipment and supplies.

He repeated the explanation that the lab had run out of the reagent for the automatic testing. Bostic also gave a number of scenarios where Government had tried unsuccessfully to access the reagent. He also repeated the point that supplies had been ordered since last year.

Both Bostic and Mottley gave the assurance, however, that testing will resume as Government was able to source some reagent. (KG)

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