Minister of Health and Wellness, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Bostic.
Minister of Health and Wellness, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Bostic, yesterday evening confirmed that there is community spread of COVID-19 in this country.
Speaking during a virtual press conference from Ilaro Court to update the country on the coronavirus fight, he said that even though community spread has been confirmed, there is no need to panic as the situation is not out of control. He went on to say that in making this declaration, the country is now in a position to get greater assistance from international bodies like the Pan American Health Organisation.
He explained that while the public health officials did not previously consider that there was community transmission, after greater analysis over the last few days and in consultation with the medical professionals who are doing the contact tracing, that thinking has changed. The decision, he said, has been predicated on the fact that they still have not been able to link some of the cases to any of the existing clusters or to any previous positive case.
“We will continue the contact tracing with the others, but in terms of linkages for those cases where we have exhausted our efforts in terms of finding a link... based on the public health officials’ reporting, we have reached the stage where we believe and we are declaring that there is community transmission in Barbados. This is a situation which we have discussed with the Pan American Health Organisation and we have informed them of our decision to do so,” he stated.
Minister Bostic continued, “...The determining factor in the definition that is used by WHO [World Health Organisation] and all international agencies, is the inability to link a particular case to a contact, a previous contact – that is the determining thing in terms of community spread, and because that is where we are at, at this point in time, unable to link some of our cases, we have determined that Barbados has community transmission or community spread of COVID-19.”
The Minister of Health said that they have been preparing for all eventualities, indicating that in addition to the Blackman and Gollop School which has been pressed into action as an isolation centre, there are other facilities that can be used if required.
He made the point while indicating that steps are being taken to identify those who have been infected.
“So our strategy at the moment is trying to find persons that we consider to have been exposed to known positive cases, continue to assess them, place them in quarantine, and to test all primary contacts and this will continue, but with some intensification in places of greatest interest. Additional resources from within the Ministry of Health and Wellness will be allocated to the contact tracing effort,” he indicated.
He went on to say that health officials have started to use rapid antigen tests approved by the WHO to assist with screening at hospitals, and also as an initial test for primary contacts. Bostic further disclosed that health officials met with officials from the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners to discuss the integration of the private sector doctors and clinics in the testing of persons using the rapid antigen tests. Additionally, he told the media and those tuning in to the virtual press conference, that an all-out effort to identify and locate symptomatic persons within communities will be initiated as a matter of urgency.
“This is vitally important, because our greatest desire has always been and will continue to be to save lives. Assessing the level of transmission is key to assessing the overall COVID-19 situation in Barbados. And therefore, guiding essential decisions on response activities and tailoring epidemic control measures, those are of great importance to us,” he maintained.
Meanwhile, he revealed that since the outbreak, some 1035 positive cases have been recorded and the majority are Barbadians, living in this country. Referring to the clusters that have been identified, he said there has been some movement in terms of positive cases. In respect of the West Coast cluster, the minister said they have recorded two new cases, bringing that total to 133 cases; the West Coast bars, hotel and other businesses have four more cases, totalling 77 in all; and the bus crawl now has an additional 18 cases linked to it, bringing that total to 54. He said all other clusters remain unchanged. (JRT)