No evidence of Omicron among homeless

As authorities report a continuous increase of COVID-19 cases across the island, president of the Barbados Alliance to End Homelessness (BAEH) Kemar Saffrey says his organisation is leaving no stone unturned in ensuring that there is no outbreak among the homeless community.

Saffrey told Barbados TODAY that as the BAEH continues to monitor the daily positive cases being recorded, all efforts are being made to keep the virus at bay among its constituents. This includes scaling up COVID-19 protocols at the non-profit organisation’s Spry Street centre and insisting that clients get tested.

“They are getting the rapid test and the PCR test and we have had no reported positive test results. We have been constantly giving them sanitizers, masks, and other groups are also providing them with the same things. One of our concerns is that we were seeing people wearing masks that need changing and we are encouraging them to change those masks. Since the omicron variant coming to Barbados none of our clients has been tested positive for COVID-19 and we are trying our best to keep it that way,” he said.

In October 2021, Saffrey reported that the charity recorded 20 positive tests, three females and 17 males, ranging in ages 20s to 50s.

Saffrey said at this time, BAEH has launched an education campaign to share information with its clients about the highly-infectious Omicron variant and about the importance of them getting vaccinated.

“For the most part, clients are being compliant and they are being tested. And we haven’t had any case of Omicron among the homeless population that we know of. I am constantly asking especially the ones that are using the shelter to get tested as much as possible. And, some of them are actually taking it upon themselves to go and get random testing if they feel any symptoms,” Saffrey said.

The president said that not only are the members of the homeless community doing what is necessary to prevent any outbreaks, but feeding and other supportive groups are also complying with the guidelines. Saffrey said from the time the pandemic started in 2020, the BAEH recommended that the feeding of the homeless population be done in a controlled environment.

“We find that controlled environments such as our shelter and the Moravian Church, the Salvation Army are areas where we can control how the homeless behave, how they react, how they stand in line and we find that that method is working rather than them gathering in a particular area ‘jumbled up’,” he said. (AH)