Dodds’ COVID cases ‘manageable’

The latest COVID-19 outbreak at the island’s lone penal institution is under control.

Minister of Home Affairs, Information and Public Affairs, Wilfred Abrahams told Barbados TODAY that the outbreak at HMP Dodds which began three weeks ago had been contained.

While he did not reveal the number of persons in the prison who had tested positive for the viral illness, investigations revealed that around 30 inmates are currently COVID-19 positive.

“The COVID situation at the prison is largely under control. The thing about a prison is that it is a closed environment so it is a lot easier for us to manage incidences of COVID at the prison than it is to do out in a general population. There is a set of protocols at the prison that has worked very well for us to control the spread or even when we had an outbreak to manage that outbreak and bring it under control as quickly as possible.

“Yes there are still some incidences of COVID at the prison, I get those numbers every single morning, but those numbers are steadily coming down as persons last out their quarantine period. It is nowhere near that massive outbreak that we had last year and it is under control so I’m not worried about it…The numbers are very, very manageable and we are just waiting on some people to last out their quarantine to take them out of isolation,” Abrahams said.

The minister admitted that the outbreak had impacted the fluency of the judicial system as some inmates were not allowed to attend court.

Additionally, Abrahams said face-to-face visits were also not allowed because of the risks posed.

“It does have disruptions because quite frankly if you are a prisoner on a block whereas you may test positive for COVID, everybody in your immediate community has to be isolated and that then means that if you have a date for court you can’t go and you also can’t attend virtually because we can’t then have you with somebody who is not COVID positive doing a virtual session for you and then what has to be done and the manpower that is needed to do virtual sessions, it just can’t be accommodated,” Abrahams said.

“The visits have definitely been affected. We can’t resume visits until such time as the Ministry of Health gives us clearance, so that is not even necessarily a prison thing. We are going to have to get clearance from the Ministry of Health and follow their advice as to when the visits can be safely done.

“A prison being what it is you have to manage it very carefully because the persons don’t have the luxury of going to their own doctor and dealing with things in their own way. If something comes into the prison it’s that somebody brought it into the prison so it is not just a matter of us considering the inmate population, it is not just a matter of us considering the staff, it is also a matter of us considering persons who may want to visit…So as soon as we are in a position to I would like to see the visits start back,” the minister added.

Abrahams said for the time being virtual visits remain in place.
randybennett@barbadostoday.bb