-victim becomes second resident of the Palms to die from the disease

ANTOHER male resident of the Palms Geriatric Home has lost his life to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), making him the 12th person to lose their life to the disease, in Guyana.

The latest COVID-19 victim was 78-year-old John Damon, who died early Saturday, after a short bout with the disease. This was confirmed by the Ministry of Public Health in a press statement, on Saturday.

Damon became the second resident from the Palms to die, after contracting COVID-19. The first resident of the Palms to succumb due to COVID-19, was a 64-year-old male.
From the inception, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had said that older persons, and those with underlying medical conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer, are more likely to develop the serious forms of COVID-19.

Testimony of this was the death of not just the ‘Palms’ residents, but also Ms. Osa Collins, a 78-year-old resident of New Amsterdam; 77-year-old Colonel John Percy Leon Lewis; and 67-year-old Samuel Morris, who was diabetic.

Persons over the age of 65 years account for just about 6.4 per cent of the local population. And, with ‘The Palms’ being a facility which houses about 190 persons who form part of this section of the population, there is cause for concern, especially since the number of cases have increased.

Guyana Chronicle had reported recently that six elderly, female residents of the Palms Geriatric Home have tested positive for COVID-19, taking the number of confirmed cases at the facility to 12.

With elderly persons already being listed among the vulnerable population for COVID-19, the alarming increase in cases at the facility remains a concern for local authorities.
Director of Social Services, Wentworth Tanner, had said the additional six persons are stable, and are being monitored in a special isolation facility there.

“We have one isolation facility, which is the infirmary, but we are in the process of creating additional spaces for isolation… We had two wards under renovation, and so far, one is back in operation, but we are in the process of setting up another one to house additional persons,” Tanner said.

He said the goal is to have one ward to house all persons who test positive for COVID-19. But, as things stand now, he confirmed that other persons who were tested during the first round of testing early this month are also in isolation and quarantine.

The containment measures are necessary, especially since it was established that there are asymptomatic persons who may not show symptoms of the disease, but could spread it to others, who, in some cases, might be more at risk for severe forms of the disease.

“As most people know,” Tanner said, “not everyone would show symptoms, so even screening can go so far and only so much they can achieve… That poses a challenge, but we are still screening persons who leave the facility and are returning.”
All visits to ‘The Palms’ have been suspended since March 30, and since then, persons, particularly staff of the facility, have been screened twice daily.

Tanner assured the Guyana Chronicle that the Ministry of Social Protection has been doing everything possible to reduce the spread of the disease at ‘The Palms’, and at other such facilities, to the extent that the ministry has also been partnering with local health authorities from the Ministry of Public Health.

When asked about plans that are being discussed, Tanner said the idea “on the table” is to conduct regular testing, and to test a wider section of the elderly population, especially those persons being housed at state-run homes.

“We will not just be testing the elderly persons, we will also be testing persons who are caring for those elderly persons, because we are faced with the situation where persons who work at those facilities do not live-in,” Tanner said.