Four Kato students transferred to President’s College test positive for COVID-19

Nov 10, 2020 News

President’s College.

Kaieteur News – Four students who attended the Kato Secondary School in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus which resulted in them being sent into immediate isolation.
Circulating reports stated that the children were being treated at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC); however, a senior health official at the hospital told Kaieteur News that the GPHC only caters for persons that have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus and are in need of critical care.
Another health official, however, stated that the children are being treated at the Liliendaal Infectious Disease Hospital on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD). It was explained that the students were transferred to Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) to attend President’s College in light of schools reopening for grades 10, 11, 12 and Technical Vocational Education students. Since they needed immediate isolation and the school facility is also located on the ECD, they were isolated there.
Former Health Minister and APNU+AFC Member of Parliament, Dr. Karen Cummings, in a letter stated that she visited President’s College on Sunday where she observed students from some hinterland communities at “high risk” for COVID-19, “mixing and mingling” with other students without first having a COVID-19 test conducted. These students were those occupying the dorms at President’s College.
Cummings said that careful examination revealed that at least four students from Kato Village displayed symptoms of COVID-19 and were later found to be COVID-19 positive.
”As the incubation period, the time between exposure to the virus and onset of symptoms, for this dreaded pandemic is 4-14 days, it is hoped that many more students who are asymptomatic at present do not later test positive for COVID-19 as the Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 PCR tests offered to the students were not mandatory by the Education Ministry,” Cummings said in her letter.
The Minister of Education on Sunday told Kaieteur News that Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests are required from all students occupying the dorms at President’s College, which is an effort by the Ministry of Education to curb the spread of the virus.
Approximately 290 students will be occupying the dorm and will be tested with permission from their parents and quarantined until they get their results. Manickchand stated that it was imperative that each student’s COVID-19 status is known since they will be housed in a facility with many students that they will interact with.
“The reality is that if we test a large enough number, some people will have a positive result because you are coming from all over this country that has positive cases and so they will be tested and quarantined for a bit,” Minister Manickchand had also said recently.
According to Manickchand, six-foot markings have been set out in the school to ensure social distancing is adhered to, allowing 15 to 20 or 20 to 25 students in a class depending on its size.
Additionally, it was announced that personnel from the Region Four Regional Democratic Council will be doing daily check-ups at the school.

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