-says Regional Health Officer

EVEN with the daily increase in positive cases, Regional Health Officer (RHO) of Region Eight, Dr. Johnathon Dudnauth, has indicated that several business persons, especially the owners of night clubs, are facilitating the potential spread of COVID-19 as they are blatantly flouting the existing guidelines.

In an interview with this publication on Wednesday, Dudnauth highlighted that while the majority of the region’s population continues to follow the guidelines, it is those persons who party during the COVID-19 curfew that are putting the region at risk.

He noted that one night club in particular has been known to flout the guidelines. “There are persons who do not adhere to [the curfew], especially in Mahdia…one night club in particular would take the customers after the curfew hour to different locations far off from the town and continue business as normal after the curfew hour.”

According to Dudnauth, this was reported to the police and investigations are ongoing into the matter.

Further, he told this publication that many businesses in the region are not adhering to the sanitisation policy for persons entering their establishment. He noted that in many instances there are no sanitisers or hand washing sinks to ensure that persons adhere to this guideline.

Dudnauth stated that the regional health officials intend to consult with these businesses to ensure that these systems are implemented in the future.

TESTING
Meanwhile, the health official noted that the region has been recording a consistent testing rate. He noted that in the past few weeks, approximately 200 persons have been tested each week for the virus.

“We in the region are reaching out to the public. For the past three weeks we would have been increasing our testing capacity in both sub-regions, the North Pakaraimas, and the Potaro-Mahdia sub-region. So, our testing rates are in the two hundreds for every week for the past three weeks,” said Dudnauth.

He later disclosed that health officials in the region will begin the roll out of the Johnson and Johnson vaccines in the North Pakaraimas in the next two weeks.

On August 23, 2021, government received 34,000 doses of the U.S. manufactured single-dose vaccine. Unlike the other vaccines being produced by the U.S. and several other countries, only one shot of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is required to become fully vaccinated. All the other vaccines require two doses to reach such a status.

Government, through CARICOM, brokered an initiative with the African Union for purchase of the vaccine. In May, the government was said to have made a down payment of approximately $7.5 million to the African Union for 150,000 doses.

Dudnaught noted that this vaccine will significantly impact the vaccination efforts in the region. He explained that the geographic make-up of the region makes it difficult to get vaccines that require ultra-cold storage into remote communities.

“We were given this vaccine because of the logistics and the geography of our region. Our region is divided into two. The North Pakaraimas, Sub-region One and Sub-region Two, which is the Potaro-Mahdia District, and to get to the North Pakaraimas from Mahdia by trail, it takes at least three days and depending on which village you’re going to, it could take longer. By air it would take a shorter time, but of course that’s very costly,” Dudnaught explained to this publication.

The regional health official noted that he is hopeful that an additional 500 persons can be vaccinated within the next two weeks.

He said the region has received some 500 doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. This is in addition to the doses of AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, and Sinopharm being administered in the region since the government started its COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

Dudnaught noted that the regional health officials will journey to the North Pakaraimas with doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine to administer to residents. Other target communities for this vaccine include Mountain Foot and Monkey Mountain.