Nearly 1,500 COVID-19 patients self-isolating – official

The rollout of home isolation for people infected with COVID-19 has provided a much truer understanding of the sheer magnitude of the surge with nearly 1,500 people being registered within the first four days of implementation.

Consultant manager of the home isolation programme, Dr Adanna Grandison, revealed that numerous mechanisms are in place to care for the physical and mental health of the growing numbers and to ensure they adhere to the terms and conditions of isolation.

Those in breach of those terms and conditions could attract hefty fines of $50,000 or face a year of incarceration. But patients’ willingness to be honest about their situations could mean the difference between life and death, she said.

Dr Grandison outlined to journalists a traffic light system that allows a team of doctors headed by emergency care expert Dr Brian Charles to assess each positive case based on symptoms, underlying conditions, vaccination status and a host of other factors to determine whether they qualify for home isolation.

At the time, 1,486 positive COVID-19 patients were isolated at home, 300 of whom had not yet been informed of their status and 22 cases considered “urgent”.

But entire households have been shut down by the measures. When one member tests positive or has been identified as a primary contact of a COVID case, everyone living with them is asked to stay put.

Dr Grandison said: “This is not business as usual here in Barbados. As everyone has been seeing, we have had many many positive cases within the last few days and we are really asking for your cooperation in communities to assist us with getting to our citizens as quickly as possible to ensure their safety. So essentially I am asking you to help us help you early.”

The home isolation manager urged people not to fear being moved to the main isolation facility at Harrison Point or to the  Blackman and Gollop School for further monitoring.

A team has also been on the road distributing ankle bracelets to track the hundreds of infected people in isolation, but at the time of the press conference, only 27 had been handed out.

According to Dr Grandison, asymptomatic cases in the community are considered more likely to breach the terms of their isolation and are therefore being prioritised.

Locked-down households will also have access to a dedicated home isolation hotline which they can contact to have their mental, physical and clinical needs addressed. Serious emergencies should be directed to the emergency ambulance 511 number.

“As part of our team of psychiatrists, we actually have a triager as part of our team and she is quite willing via telemed at the point of triaging if they are having any concerns, they can state that they would like to have a psychological follow up because mental health is really important,” Dr Grandison revealed.

After outlining the range of resources available to those trusted with home isolation, she gently warned that penalties for those who violate the signed agreement would face imprisonment of a year.

“Just so you are aware, we don’t want any person spending unnecessary money that they do not have, so we want to encourage you, please, do not violate the home isolation measures,” said Dr Grandison. “And certainly, we know that a lot of you enjoy the comfort of your home and we would not want you to be brought before the law courts to face imprisonment of up to one year.”

Isolated people have been reminded that there is “no magic number” that will determine how long they should be separated from the outside world and it would be based on reassessment from Dr Charles via telemedicine or in person.

“It’s not because we want to keep you with us, but we want to make sure that when we allow you to return home and you are free to move around in the community, that you are safely doing so, and this has public health implications,” Dr Grandison explained. “We want to ensure that you are safe for yourself, we want to ensure that you are safe for your family in the household, we will also want to ensure that you are safe for the wider community.”

(kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb)