— Dr. Mahadeo urges Region Five residents to take no chances with COVID-19

HEALTH Ministry representative, Dr. Vishwa Mahadeo, has made a passionate plea to Region Five residents to comply with COVID-19 guidelines with regards to contact tracing for victims who have been tested positive for the disease.

He was at the time speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday as the region recorded its first case of the disease.

“We need to avoid the stigma. We are here to help you, not lock you up as you committed a crime. It is important for people to understand that we are looking out for you and your family. With contact tracing, we will need to get everyone a person was in contact with and this is being done for your safety,” he said.

Dr. Mahadeo, a former regional medical officer for Region Six, noted that oftentimes people are asymptomatic and feel offended when being asked to be tested after being in contact with someone who was tested positive.

“We are here to help, not stigmatise you. We are not here to lock you up. We just need you to be safe and we also need to sell this message that you might not exhibit the signs nor symptoms but it does not mean that you do not have it and can take it home and inevitably the
elders, your grandparents, your parents, your children will be infected,” he said.

In addition, he is calling for cooperation among all involved, especially in providing assistance and checking up on the vulnerable groups, including the elderly and differently-abled.

“COVID-19 is here to stay for a while and we need to accept that in order to survive, we have to change our lifestyles. We need the community support if we are going to beat this,” Dr. Mahadeo said.

Regional Medical Officer of Region Five, Dr. Desmond Nicholson, said that the region is still continuing their efforts to contain the spread of the disease and persons from regions with known cases visiting Region Five will be subject to mandatory quarantine.

The Deputy Commander of Region Five, Yonette Stephens, reiterated that the police will be arresting and prosecuting anyone guilty of flouting the guidelines.

To this end, she noted that the Police Force in the region has been doing educational sessions and is advising residents and businesses to educate themselves for their own safety.

Stephens made special mention of those operating and travelling in public transportation to know that use of a mask is mandatory as well as passengers should be sanitised before entry since this is not only for the safety of the other passengers but that of the drivers and conductors as well.

DOING OUR BEST

Meanwhile, Hutton Griffith, the estate manager for Blairmont Estate, said the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) has been trying their best to limit their over 2,000 employees to situations that may put them at risk.

“We as a corporation have issued 18,000 face mask to workers; 400 N95 mask to medical staff; 70 face shields; and 70 gowns caps, gloves, long boots and other supplies to our staff. In addition, we have conducted over 150 training sessions to educate staff, 31 alone at Blairmont and will continue as well as distribution of flyers and other educational materials. We have been monitoring the temperature of staff entering estates via 32 thermal guns; six at Blairmont;
installed additional 42 hand sinks at the various points of entry; six at Blairmont. So far we have used over 5,000 liters of ethanol, 300 litres at Blairmont,” the estate manager said.

Griffith noted that the main concern as expressed by many is the overcrowding of the lorries transporting workers and assured that measures have been put in place to address this problem. He explained that since March to now, the estate has faced a massive constraint with transporting 2,000 workers, using only 18 lorries that usually carry 65 persons.

The estate had initially reduced the amount from 65 to 40 and now to 30 persons per lorry. They have also increased the fleet of 18 to 26 lorries presently, with another four more lorries expected to come on board shortly.

In addition, a ‘conductor’ was added to each lorry to ensure that every worker adheres to the mandatory guidelines of social distancing, wearing of a face mask and sanitisation prior to entry aboard the lorry.

Griffith noted that while there has been some resistance from the 2,000 plus workers, especially in the wearing of masks by labourers, the ‘conductors’ have made sure that they are complying. Further staff arrival hours have been staggered to limit exposure.

Region Five was the last region in the country to record a case since the pandemic started. This is mainly due to the stringent safety measures implemented by the regional task force, which include three separate screening sites at Mahaica, Rosignal Stelling and the D’Edward end of the Berbice Bridge.

The press briefing was chaired by Regional Chairman, Vickchand Ramphal, and included representatives from the region’s business community, the MMA/ADA, GuySuCo, the Regional Health Authority and the Guyana Police Force.