The Ministry of Public Health is exploring the possibility of mobile sample collection in an effort to ramp up testing for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) across the country.
Last Friday, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) representative to Guyana Dr. William Adu-Krow stated that as PAHO continues to support the public health ministry’s response to COVID-19, 7,000 testing kits would be delivered to Guyana. As a result, the ministry is looking at the use of mobile sample collection, which would target potential “hot spots.”
During a telephone interview, Deputy Chief Medical Officer (DCMO) Dr. Karen Gordon-Boyle explained that the ministry is mapping areas of interest. Gordon-Boyle said authorities will fan out to collect samples for the virus and send them to the National Public Health Reference Laboratory, as the tests need to be conducted in a controlled environment, like the laboratory.
She noted that so far through data compiled, a lot of contacts of positive and suspected cases are in areas like the markets and supermarkets as those are places that are frequented by people at this time. “So, you might want to go to the markets and maybe swab a few of the vendors, [and] the supermarkets [and] swab a few of the persons working there,” she said.
Gordon-Boyle went on to say that the ministry is also looking at ensuring that those persons who are working with the vulnerable are not infected and, therefore, it is looking at collecting samples for testing from those persons who work with the elderly in the geriatric homes.
“Some of our own frontline workers who have to do all this testing and going into homes, we probably would make sure that they’re also okay by checking on them and their exposure,” she added, while noting that those are just some of the initial plans that they are working towards.
The authorities are also looking at the possibility of collecting samples from those vulnerable persons who may be more susceptible to contracting the virus because they have underlying conditions like chronic heart problems, diabetes and upper respiratory tract infections. This initiative, however, may be later down the line.
Also on the list of possible places to explore the possibility of sample collection and testing would be the hospitality industry and specifically places like hotels, guest houses and other short stay living facilities in order to ensure that those workers are not a source of infection. One area of focus in this regard may be Kitty, Georgetown, where a number of hotels are located and as a result it may be a “hot spot”.
