#COVIDDispatch – Home Quarantine and Isolation Programme Process

The quarantine and home isolation programme that Government has implemented to ease the congestion at the country’s isolation centres is in full effect.

First Vice-President of the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP) and Consultant Manager of the programme, Dr Adanna Grandison recently explained the process of the programme.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, she noted that 1,491 persons were in home isolation. The medical doctor explained that the process begins with testing, and once a patient is positive they are notified by a healthcare professional. After that, the patient is then handed over to the triage group, which consists of doctors, nurses, EMTs, and paramedics.

Grandison stressed that persons must declare any comorbidities.

“Comorbidities that are associated with increased risk of getting severe COVID-19 and for causing death are very important for you to declare. These include hypertension, diabetes, obesity, chronic kidney disease. We also have persons in our community who might have cancer,” she said.

The next step entails persons declaring their list of symptoms, including headaches, sore throat, cough, and shortness of breath.

“All of these things are important to tell the doctor or medical personnel that you are experiencing. It is only at that point that we can safely and accurately triage you so that we can escalate or maintain your correct appropriate modality of care,” Dr Grandison stressed.

The consultant manager outlined the “stoplight system” when being assessed for the programme.

Green — At the time of triage, these persons are safe.

Yellow — These are persons that need to be monitored. They need to be properly assessed by the isolation team at the Harrison Point Isolation Facility and the isolation centre at the Blackman and Gollop Primary School. These persons have symptoms and a comorbidity profile.

Red —These are the urgent cases. Dr Grandison explained that it is important to keep these numbers low. Once persons have been assessed by the central isolation facility, the doctors will inform them of their clinical status and what they should expect.

Reassessment, once persons are at “green” status, is done by home isolation doctors via telemedicine or in-person, on a case-by-case basis. However, discharge is based solely on clinical assessment.

According to Dr Grandison, a call centre will be set up in the coming days, specifically for patients in the programme.

This article appears in the October 8 edition of COVID Dispatch. Read the full publication here.