Jump in infected among quarantine numbers

Health authorities are reporting a spike in positive COVID-19 people now turning up at hotel quarantine facilities.

The revelation was made Friday by head of Quarantine Alvin Harte, who expressed concern at the unusual development.

He said that up to this point, most people in quarantine had been tested and discharged after five days with a negative PCR result.

“What we are seeing an increase in is that we are seeing a lot more ill people coming to quarantine and then when we test them there are positive. This was not something we were seeing earlier up in the year around March/June. So we have to be a lot more vigilant in quarantine,” he told Barbados TODAY.

“There are people staying home, they are having symptoms, we put them in quarantine and then you forever hearing ‘oh I have a headache, this hurting, the next hurting.’ And then we realize that people are home with symptoms only to start seeing these things when they get into quarantine or isolation,” Harte stated.

He also drew attention to what he considered a significant number of people currently in quarantine which he expects would soon increase even further.

“As of this morning, we had about 330 people in hotel quarantine throughout a number of hotels. It is a significant number. Given the number of cases today, we can expect that to increase.

While Harte told Barbados TODAY that the availability of hotel accommodation was not a major concern at this stage, he suggested that it could become a challenge should the daily intake reach around 100.

“The thing is to manage the turnover. So far, the hotels have been working very well with us. They understand the situation and they are making rooms available. So at this point in time, it is not a major challenge. We don’t want the numbers to go up where we start seeing over 100 every day. We don’t want that,” he declared.

The COVID-19 facilities official also sought to address continuing complaints from some people in quarantine regarding meals and the state of accommodation.

“Nobody wants to quarantine. People would complain from now until the cows come home even if you sent them to Sandy Lane. You are restricted when you are in quarantine, but we try our best to work with them. We give them all the support they require; try to get them as good a meal as we can. Even for persons who need psychological support or mental support, we even provide that for them. We try our best, but you can’t please all,” Harte said.

With respect to additional manpower to assist with the operations of the quarantine centres, the man in charge made it clear that even though they are managing now, more hands are still required.

“We are working hard. We brought in additional nursing staff of all categories, we trained them; we are monitoring, we are testing; yes, we are working harder, we are doing a little more than normal, but people are committed to the task. The people on the frontline, the nursing staff, they are not looking at the numbers, they are just giving their all. But we are constantly looking for additional persons to come and join the team and that is working out pretty well,” Harte assured.

He said that between eight and nine hotels are currently being used as quarantine centres with each hotel providing from as low as 20 rooms and up to 100 rooms.

As of Thursday, 850 people were in isolation including the latest batch of 110 new COVID-19 cases. One other death was reported bringing the total number of deaths to 57. (emmanueljoseph@barbadotoday.bb)