The three active novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in Region Nine are asymptomatic, according to Regional Executive Officer Carl Parker.
Up to Monday, Region Nine recorded an additional case of COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the region to four. All of the confirmed cases have been imported from neighbouring Brazil, which as of Monday had recorded more than 1.37 million cases of the deadly disease.
Parker said there has been no community spread of the disease even though all four cases of COVID-19 are Brazil-based Guyanese. He noted that those persons unknowingly contracted the disease while in Brazil.
The first case was Hamlett DaSilva, who crossed the Guyana/Brazil border illegally and was later admitted at the Lethem Regional Hospital, where he was eventually diagnosed with COVID-19. He later escaped the isolation facilities but was recaptured in Brazil a few hours later.
The second and third cases are two 10-year-old Grade Six students, who were brought over to Guyana to prepare for the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), which commences today. According to Parker, the two children were among several students who came across to Guyana accompanied by their parents early last month. They were placed in institutional quarantine and were all tested upon completion of the two-week quarantine period. However, two of the students tested positive so as a consequence all the persons who were in contact with them at the quarantine facility in Lethem were placed in another 14-day quarantine.
In this regard, Parker responded to claims made by parents that the children were left unsupervised while in quarantine. He said that all the minor children were accompanied by their parents and it is the responsibility of the parents to supervise their children, and added that the medical personnel checked on the children on a daily basis to see if there were any telltale signs of COVID-19. “To say that they weren’t supervised would be totally untrue. They were there with their parents all the time, throughout the entire quarantine [period]. The parents came across with them and as the rule goes, there is no exception to quarantine,” he stated, before adding that the Brazilian vice-consul to Guyana wants to return to the country and even she was told that she would have to be placed in quarantine for the duration of two weeks upon entering the country.
Parker then revealed that the fourth person who tested positive for the disease is an adult male. According to the REO, the patient lives in Bon Fim, Brazil, but works in Lethem. He said that the patient indicated his interest to return to work and agreed to the 14-day quarantine requirement. The REO stated that all persons who have returned to Guyana from Brazil are tested after the quarantine period is over.
“Guyanese wishing to come home, we can’t refuse them entry into the country. Those persons are brought over every Thursday and persons who are coming over will be quarantined and towards the end of the quarantine we test everybody,” Parker said before revealing that nine persons have been placed in quarantine as a result of the additional case.
Further, he revealed, a total of 42 persons who have returned from Brazil have been tested. All the tests results have returned negative with the exception of the three active cases.
Additionally, Parker revealed that all three of the active cases are asymptomatic and the health team are doing their best to ensure that all three patients recover quickly. The REO disclosed that the two children are showing signs of improvement psychologically. He noted that given their age it was expected that the disease would have taken a toll on the children mentally, especially since their parents are not allowed to be in contact with them.
“At that age, you hear so much about that sickness and now you have it and your parents are not around you, that support system that they are accustomed to as children [is] not around so you can imagine the effect it has on them but they are coping,” he said while noting that the health care workers are with them 24/7 to ensure that the children feel safe and offer them psychological support and guidance. In addition, he said, the parents speak to the children daily via telephone to reassure and support them.
Meanwhile, Parker yesterday stated that he will not stop Toshaos from tightening the preventative measures they have put in place to protect their respective communities while acknowledging that the region’s health care system will be overwhelmed in the event that there is an outbreak. “It all depends on the level of increase certainly if it explodes. We won’t have the facilities and that is not limited to Lethem, it is across the world,” he said.
He added that if the virus is able to make its way to an indigenous community, “it will be a total disaster.” “We would not be able to cope. A lot of people will die for want of treatment and we simply don’t have enough and that is why we are so strict with our measures and the villages. I must thank the villages. They are taking their own actions to prevent persons from going into the villages and so on and I can’t stop that, I won’t stop it because that is the only mechanism that we have, preventative measures. If there is an outbreak, we won’t be able to cope,” he further stated.
