Authorities concerned about increase in COVID-19 cases

There has been an increase in COVID-19 cases due to two large family clusters and cases at a manufacturing business.

Today, during a COVID-19 update press conference, Chief Medical Officer Dr Kenneth George, said authorities are concerned that Barbados has had just over 20 positive cases since June 22, which he said is an example of continued local transmission.

Dr George also indicated that there were positive cases at the Princess Margaret and Ann Hill schools.

Giving further details on the clusters, Senior Medical Officer Dr Leslie Rollock said 12 persons connected to the manufacturing establishment tested positive, including nine from the workplace and three persons associated with the business.

Dr Rollock said the situation with the manufacturing company is an example of what happens when employees get comfortable and believe that they are in a bubble with their colleagues.

The Senior Medical Officer said the second cluster being monitored is a family cluster, including eight family members testing positive thus far. She said the positives in this particular family cluster impacted another manufacturing establishment where persons had to be tested and quarantined.

Meanwhile, Dr George said that while Barbadians were told in January that there was community spread, they were never told that community spread had stopped.

The CMO said there are in excess of 100 people related to the cluster cases in quarantine at this time and most of them have completed one test and are awaiting a second before they will be allowed to go home.

He said because Barbados has travelled this road before, authorities have been aggressively involved in contact tracing, which he said has reached an advanced stage, with several primary contacts being placed in hotel quarantine to contain the spread of the virus.

Dr George said with over 92 000 persons receiving the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and an estimated 64 doses counted as fully vaccinated, he is encouraging members of some special groups, including health-care workers, to come forward to get the jab.

He said: “At this point in time, we are looking to increase the lot of persons who are vaccinated in the younger age group, because we know that that population is still a vulnerable population”. (AH)