Dear Editor
I REFER to a letter to the editor in the Guyana Chronicle, May 14, 2020, titled: “It’s absolutely important that all categories of the vulnerable be reached.”

In the letter it was stated that, “It stands to reason that testing for this very vulnerable grouping should be mandatory, as a means of ascertaining the possible presence of COVID-19-stricken victims and their immediate removal to quarantine or isolation segments.’’ This was in reference to the prior paragraph which had expressed concerns about, “Those within indigent homes, as well as the national geriatric home…”

Editor, at the time those views were expressed, given the high casualty rate in these care homes in Europe, and even within recent times in the United States, which has now become the global epicentre, with a fatality rate that continues to race towards the six- figure line, and an infected rate of over seven digits.

Though one must commend the pre-emptive measures taken by the authorities to halt visitors to the Palms, yet that seemed not to have been a guarantee of the killer virus not announcing its deadly arrival at such an institution, given the fact that virtually all the residents would be of senior age, and stricken with various ailments. It seems also that it was only a matter of time before its dreaded arrival, given that there were staff, and other persons having to enter its precincts, as reported.

For a care home, although not afflicted like those in other parts of the globe as mentioned, one death, and four other affected residents, signals four too many; and that it is time for the long-overdue testing for both residents and staff to be carried out without delay.
I will again stress the point – that testing ought to have been in place since the first casualty and quarantine cases were announced in March. Now that it is about to become a daily feature, it will offer authorities an advantage of better anticipation and preparation for any increase.

But this must also be done for the other homes, wherever they may be; any undetected presence of the virus in any of those, given the challenge of asymptomatic persons, can lead to very serious challenges for the national health system, and of course for the wider community.
Regards
Aditya Panday