CMO says false info in contact tracing effort could prolong COVID spread

Some people are lying or withholding information from the Ministry of Health, undermining contract tracers’ efforts to discover where and with whom they may have been exposed to COVID-19, the Chief Medical Officer Dr Kenneth George revealed on Monday, as he warned that these information gaps will prolong the spread of the viral infection.

As the country recorded “two or three” new clusters of COVID-19 that forced the closure of at least three Government departments and involved some police officers, public health officials had reason to believe that some people are deliberately withholding information or misleading the Health Ministry, he told Barbados TODAY.

The troubling developments stemmed from a recent high of 23 cases that appeared on Sunday’s COVID-19 dashboard, he said.

“There are about two or three new clusters we are investigating based on that 23,” the Chief Medical Officer declared.

“The contact tracing goes on, but what I will say is that the contact tracing is only as good as the information being given by people, and currently we have issues at the Barbados Drug Service, issues in the Royal Barbados Police Force. Multiple places are being touched and that will happen when you have large numbers of positive cases. That is not surprising to me.”

News surfaced on Monday that the offices of the Rural Development Commission and the Urban Development Commission were closed for a week on the orders of the Ministry of Health because of COVID-19 cases, while some services would be provided remotely.

“If people are reluctant for whatever reason to share information with us, we are going to continue to have spread of disease, because it requires a person recalling where they were over the last few days and it also speaks to persons being truthful, because I can’t tell someone where they were yesterday unless they shared that information with me,” Dr George told Barbados TODAY.

He said he was not yet aware of the developments at the two Government departments but maintained that the country’s virus situation remains under control.

“I think we still have the measures under control….Particularly when you compare with what is happening in the Caribbean territories, I think Barbados has done fairly well, but there is a big task at hand,” he told Barbados TODAY.
(kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb)