STEPS BEING TAKEN TO KEEP PUBLIC SAFE

Barbadians are being assured that steps are being taken to ensure that
the country can continue to properly manage covid-19 throughout the
hurricane season and even if it is impacted by a system.

It is coming from Acting Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Ministry of
Health and Wellness, Dr. Anton Best. He spoke to this yesterday during
the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season press conference in the conference
room of the General Post Office, as he explained the measures that
would be implemented.

“In terms of persons in isolation, those are patients – persons who
are sick – those persons will remain in isolation facilities. In terms
of persons in quarantine, we have two categories of persons in
quarantine – those who are in their homes and those who are in
quarantine facilities, at this point that’s namely Paragon and the St.
Lucy District Hospital; so those persons in the system will stay,
those in the quarantine facilities. Persons in their homes, under home
quarantine, will only stay if they are not deemed vulnerable, because
those persons have to ride out a complete 14-day process from the
point of exposure,” he said.

Turning his attention to the hurricane shelters, he said should these
need to be pressed into action, he gave the assurance that the
authorities have factored in covid-19 into their management. According
to Dr. Best, anyone going to a shelter must be registered, which he
said will include health screening.

“You will be asked if you have any symptoms in keeping with covid,
whether it is shortness of breath, cough, upper respiratory tract
symptoms, fever and then some of the other unusual symptoms that are
associated with covid-19, and you will also have your temperature
taken to determine if you are possibly suffering from covid-19. So you
have the history and then that assessment as part of the registration
process,” he explained.

The CMO went further, indicating that physical distancing has been
factored into the capacity at the shelters, to keep persons or
families apart within the facilities. His comments came as he said
that hand and respiratory hygiene will also be very important in that
setting, and he revealed that people going to the shelters will be
required to have fabric face coverings that they can utilise during
their stay, as well as hand sanitiser.

Asked about the protocol should a person suspected to have covid
present at a shelter, Best said that if it is not feasible to get them
to a healthcare facility to be assessed and managed, they will be
admitted, isolated and managed. He indicated that the same goes for a
person who develops symptoms while at the shelter.
(JRT)