Stigma and discrimination can affect the Ministry of Health’s contact tracing efforts.
During an episode of COVID Queries, Senior Medical Officer, Dr. Anton Best, revealed that the Ministry of Health experienced difficulties when it came to contact tracing, because some people were not giving the correct information due to fear of being discriminated.
Dr. Best noted that they have also received reports of people not wanting to come forward to be tested because they did not want to be stigmatised. However, he pointed out that the giving of wrong personal information was dangerous.
He explained that persons who were not coming forward to be tested but have been possibly exposed to the virus, were vulnerable and needed to be identified.
“When you are not identified, and the Ministry of Health begins their contact tracing efforts, then they won’t be able to identify additional cases, assuming the person is symptomatic and exposed is in fact positive for COVID-19,” he said.
“So stigma and discrimination affects our contact tracing efforts and of course our contact tracing efforts are pivotal to preventing a further spread of COVID-19 throughout our society.”
He went on to note that from a public health perspective, one of the ways they would have educated the public on how to reduce the risk of acquiring COVID-19 was to wash their hands and sanitise them, wear a face mask, social and physical distance, and avoid persons who are ill.
He stated that if a person was in a situation where they suspected that a person was ill and they may have COVID-19, unless of course they were a first responder or healthcare worker, then avoiding close contact with that person was not discrimination.
“That’s not the stigma we are talking about, that’s common sense and good public health practice,” he said.