Latest update December 19th, 2024 3:22 AM
Positive COVID-19 patients found breaking home isolation will be taken to institution
Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony.
Kaieteur News – Positive COVID-19 patients who are in home isolation will be sent to an institution to isolate once found breaking the stay at home order. This was stated by the Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony in an exclusive interview with this publication recently, as he responded to concerns about persons confined to home isolation being seen interacting with the general public.
There have been a number of circulations in recent times, claiming that persons who were known home isolation patients are being seen outside of their homes, going out to shop, hang and other things. In light of this, the Minister explained that once it is brought to the attention of the Health Ministry, that a person confined to home isolation is found outside of their home or mingling with persons, they will be taken into institutional isolation. This will allow 24 hour monitoring of these persons, curbing further spread of the virus, according to the Minister.
Former Minister of Health, Volda Lawrence had stated that home isolation is contributing to the increase in COVID-19 cases, since many persons have homes that are not conducive to the standard home isolation requirements. In giving an example, she stated that most of them don’t have self-contained rooms so they are forced to interact with their household.
However, in response to that concern being raised by this publication, Dr. Anthony said that once a person tests positive for the virus, they are given the option of being placed into home isolation or institutional isolation. He lamented that those in home isolation were found to have substantial living environments, making them able to isolate there.
Meanwhile, persons who were found to have living environments that were not conducive were placed in institutional isolation.
He further added that in every region, there are institutional isolation facilities and medical personnel attached to the Health Ministry checking to ensure these persons are home. These check-ups he said would usually be conducted “ideally” once a day, however the frequency of check-ups differs by region and the number of COVID-19 cases.
It was noted that since Region Four has a larger number of COVID-19 cases and persons in home isolation, it is sometimes difficult for all persons to receive daily checkups, but in other regions where there are fewer cases, an adequate amount of monitoring is usually conducted.
He stressed that the medical personnel would explain to the patient and their families the seriousness of COVID-19 and walk them through the entire home isolation process. They have also included doctors in this initiative, who are usually placed at a health facility closest to where these persons are located and if it is necessary, they can go out and pay them a visit.
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