CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
Antigua
Nine doctors at the Mount St. John’s
Medical Centre (MSJMC) in Antigua
and Barbuda have tested for the COVID-
19 virus, putting a strain on the hospital’s
already stretched resources.
A statement issued by the MSJMC last
week disclosed that seven of the physicians
are recuperating well at home
while the other two are receiving treatment
at the Infectious Disease Centre
(IDC) “out of an abundance
of caution.”
“The risk to our
healthcare workers is
one of the great vulnerabilities
of our
healthcare system in a pandemic like
this,” said Dr. Albert Duncan, MSJMC
medical director.
”The growth we are seeing in COVID-
19 cases in the country is placing an
ever-greater strain on our hospital,” he
noted.
The hospital said it was acutely aware
of the COVID-19 risk to healthcare
workers, especially if they are exposed
to a high volume of sick patients, such
as in the Emergency Department, or
respiratory secretions such as in the
Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
MSJMC said it has repeatedly warned
of the threat posed by COVID-19 to its
employees and had taken several measures
to limit the spread of the virus.
Barbados
Health authorities in Barbados have
identified 11 COVID-19 “hotspots” in
communities across the island and will
be heading into those areas to identify
and isolate primary contacts.
The disclosure was made during a
press briefing and update on the ministry’s
contact tracing
strategies to curb the
spread by Chief Medical
Officer (CMO), Dr.
Kenneth George.
He said intelligence gathered from
teams in the field revealed several highrisk
communities.
The chief medical officer further
noted that health officials had noticed
a “new pattern” where many primary
contacts were occurring in families.
He said that while the disease was
spreading at the community level, it
was being transmitted mostly from
household to household within neighborhoods.
Dr. George said one of the strategies
the ministry has implemented is taking
the individuals out of their homes
based on their level of risk, and placing
them in designated quarantine hotels
to reduce the spread of the virus within
families.
So far, 40 such individuals who live in
high-risk communities and in crowded
homes have been placed in quarantine.
Caribbean L 6 ife, MARCH 19-25, 2021
Updated daily at www.caribbeanlifenews.com
Grenadian Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell. Photo by George Alleyne
The CMO revealed that 16 of those
from a single household have since
tested positive for COVID-19.
He pointed out that the Best-dos
Santos Public Health Laboratory had
the capacity to facilitate the testing
of those picked up in contact tracing
efforts, since it was currently up-todate
and had the ability to process up to
2,000 samples per day.
Caribbean
CIBC First Caribbean International
Bank has donated US$500,000 to
10 Caribbean countries to help buy
COVID-19 vaccines.
In a release, CIBC said Antigua,
Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada,
Jamaica, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St.
Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad
and Tobago would benefit from the
donation.
It is also separately donating
US$250,000 to vaccinate 2,500 of its
staff members.
The bank’s CEO Colette Delaney
said vaccination is a “key weapon in
the arsenal against vovid-19. We are
delighted to assist governments and
public health officials in ensuring that
everyone who wants the vaccine can
have access to it.”
She said public
health officials
“advised that as many
people as possible
must be vaccinated to
achieve a level of immunity that makes
the spread of the virus from person to
person unlikely. As a result, the whole
community becomes protected — not
just those who are immune.”
Last March, the bank donated
US$250,000 to its 16 regional members
to help officials buy testing supplies,
personal protective equipment (PPE)
and other supplies.
Grenada
Grenada Prime Minister, Dr. Keith
Mitchell has announced steps to reopen
the island’s tourism sector in the coming
months.
He said commercial flights from the
United Kingdom and hotel properties,
including the Sandals Resort, will be
reopened by April.
He said the UK airlines
have now reported
that they will be
resuming flights from
April, which coincides
with the move by some hotels to reopen.
Sandals, Grenada’s largest all-inclusive
resorts, will also be reopening in
early April.
In December 2020, the hotel suspended
operations after the government
disclosed a cluster of Covid-19
cases had been identified among staff
and guests.
Dr. Mitchell said efforts are being
made to put all systems in place to protect
the country.
Jamaica
Continued on Page 18
THE NEWS FROM BACK HOME
Grenada takes steps to reopen
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