Seek and Save back in the community

Operation Seek and Save resumed Tuesday and is to continue tomorrow in a bid by Government to reach households and communities that are at risk of COVID-19 and dengue fever.

The 48-hour extension of this initiative comes after the initiative wrapped on Saturday.

Lead Coordinator of Operation Seek and Save Dr Dion Greenidge, Head of the Department of Management Studies at UWI Cave Hill, where the data gathering system was designed, said the operation will serve to get a more complete picture of the extent of COVID-19 and dengue fever.

“It was always the original intention of the exercise to capture data from every household in Barbados, as we want to make sure we have not missed anyone who is at risk,” Dr Greenidge explained.

The initial execution of the operation was conducted from February 3 – 13 during which approximately 85,000 households were assessed.  Dr Greenidge said he pleased with this achievement as this represents a vast majority of the households in the country, but added there is more work to be done.

“While our achievement in the first instance is quite commendable, over the next two days, we expect to capture a few hundred more households which were missed the first time,” he said.

Dr Greenidge added that approximately fifty student-volunteers will be conducting this particular extension of the survey, given the reduced area to be covered.

The targeted communities in this instance of Operation Seek and Save include the following districts in nine parishes.

–       St. Andrew: Ernie Bourne Highway, Coggins Hill.

–       St. Peter: The Rock, Heywoods Estate.

–       St James: Bakers Tenantry, King Village, Mount Standfast.

–       Christ Church: Durants, Callendar, Newton Terrace, Kingsland.

–       St Joseph: Fisherpond Tenantry.

–       St George: Golden Ridge.

–       St Michael: Westbury, Lower Burney,

–       St Thomas: Arthur Seat

–       St Philip: Ocean City

Dr Greenidge expressed his expectation that the operation will continue to run smoothly as student-volunteers have resumed with a new fervour having seen how successful the initial exercise has been in reaching the set objectives.

The lead coordinator also took the time to thank all those involved in making the operation a success so far.

“I have to thank the student volunteers who are doing this particular work for the first time, as well as the public who have been supportive and cooperative so far,” he said. “It has been a good exercise and a successful one overall.”

The data gathered from this national survey will be shared with the government’s health officials to guide the national COVID-19 testing efforts and to inform the wider public health strategy. (PR)