Psychiatric Hospital centre of ‘little spike’ in COVID-19, says minister

Barbados is once again contending with an outbreak of COVID-19 as the Psychiatric Hospital comes under investigation by public health officials, Minister of Health and Wellness Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic revealed late Wednesday.

He said that 15 of the 17 newest cases on the island involve staff and patients at the Black Rock hospital.

The developments are threatening to raise the positivity rate from less than two per cent despite assurances from the health minister that there is no need for panic.

Speaking on the state-owned Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC),  Lt Col Bostic disclosed that a 42-year-old male who was recently discharged from the hospital after a three-month admission turned up at the Winston Scott Polyclinic with breathing trouble.

Testing for COVID-19 yielded a positive result, triggering widespread testing of 32 of the 63 patients and 25 staff on the ward where the man was housed while the remainder are currently awaiting results and others across the hospital prepare for “precautionary testing”, the minister said.

Lt Col Bostic told CBC News Night: “Of the 32 persons tested last night in the affected wards, 14 clients and one staff member had tested positive and are in isolation. The Ministry of Health will manage these 14 clients on-site whereas the staff member will be managed at the Harrison Point facility.

“The Ministry of Health has determined that based on the level of exposure, all staff on the affected ward will be placed in quarantine for five days, after which a repeat test will be required to exit quarantine.

“This approach endorsed by public health officials is similar to what obtained at the Geriatric Hospital in February of this year. Contact tracing is also being conducted in earnest.

“Broad-based precautionary testing is underway at the Psychiatric Hospital for all other clients and categories of staff.”

Despite the uncertainty and possible exposure of others in the hospital and contacts outside, the health minister stressed there is “absolutely no need to panic”.

Dr Corey Forde, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s isolation facilities chief, and his team were at the Psychiatric Hospital on Thursday making all arrangements to isolate and treat the infected patients there, Lt Bostic said.

Said the Minister of Health: “It is an ongoing situation, we are investigating and doing all of the contact tracing so that we can determine exactly what caused this spike and we are giving the best care that we can to those persons who are affected.

“We have been this route before. We’ve dealt with cases of a similar nature at other healthcare facilities and senior citizens homes and other government institutions and we have been able to overcome those situations, and we are absolutely certain and confident that we will do so in this case.

“We are very conscious of the fact that this is a sensitive situation and we are providing all of the support that we can for the management and staff of the Psychiatric Hospital and to the clients as well as to the families of those persons who have tested positive.

“So I want Barbadians not to feel any panic at all because although there was a little spike today, that spike was around five per cent positivity rate, we are trending down towards two per cent over the last several days and this will require all of the other experience which we have gathered from the other situations that we have had to deal with and we have the competent staff to wrestle this to the ground as quickly as we possibly can.”

The health minister could not say whether the 42-year-old’s case is linked to any pre-existing coronavirus clusters, but he has promised to provide a “full update” over the weekend. (kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb)