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Strategic collaboration helping Region 10 to contain COVID-19 spread – RHEC
From all indications Region 10 has been doing an outstanding job to contain the spread of COVID-19. This, the Regional Health and Emergency Committee (RHEC), had attributed to health workers and members of the public successfully working in tandem.
Regional Health Officer (RHO), Dr. Pansy Armstrong
This was amplified recently by Regional Health Officer (RHO), Dr. Pansy Armstrong.
According to Dr. Armstrong, the Region took responsibility to ensure that the region, as far as possible, remained safe. Dr. Armstrong noted that a number of initiatives were executed with the primary objective of safeguarding the health and safety of residents. “One of the first things that the region did was to institute a curfew, which was done a week or two before the national curfew and thus limited the movement of persons thus resulting in the spread of the disease also being limited,” Dr. Armstrong said.
The RHO stressed that a number of other things were taken into consideration as the region was cognizant that if the residents were going to be protected, then immediate and drastic measures would have had to be implemented. She boasted that Region 10 was the first to implement screening at its entry points. Such screening and others at all health facilities, she said, also aided in the region’s success.
“We were the first region that commenced screening at the points of entry into the region while we also commenced screening at all health facilities immediately, which helped us significantly,” the RHO explained.
Region 10’s COVID-19 Coordinator, Dr. Michael Marks
Dr. Armstrong revealed too that contact tracing was an initiative that was put into action after the region recorded its first case. In fact, according to her, while some regions implemented this sometime after, Region 10 continues to fight this disease through contact tracing.
“We also had our rapid response team, which helped us in garnering the samples, and with a constant education drive, it had helped to boost our overall efforts in this fight,” Dr. Armstrong said.
However, the Region’s COVID-19 Coordinator, Dr. Michael Marks, in highlighting what he called “a trend of concern” developing in the region, said that fewer persons are wearing facemasks. He believes that social media is playing a role in this development.
He said that through call-in programme’s aimed at educating the public, it was deduced that that several persons are convinced that the disease is influenced by international actions.
“Nationally, we have been preaching one thing about COVID-19 but we are seeing that from other countries they are adapting to other views of co-existing with the disease. What also contributes to the cavalier approach to COVID-19 is that there were phases being placed and as such, persons were anxious,” he said.
Dr. Marks, moreover, expressed deep concern that if people are eager to get passed these phases, they would become vulnerable if they embrace carefree behaviours.
“This is one of greatest concerns as it maximizes our task and it will make our work very harder,” he noted.
Dr. Marks disclosed that thus far, 106 tests were conducted in the region. The region is still awaiting the results of six. According to him, while the Region has recorded one death, there have been seven recoveries and only two cases remain active.
This, he stressed, is a testimony that more than half of the region’s cases have recovered, adding that it is evident that enormous and continued hard work have played a crucial role.
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