The South Rupununi District Council (SRDC) yesterday said that two elderly residents of the village of Potarinau who had been in contact with persons who tested positive for COVID-19 have died.
These two deaths have not been reported by the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF).
In a statement, the SRDC said it was “deeply saddened by the deaths of two of our senior citizens in Potarinau Village, ages 68 and 80, both of whom had been in contact with those who tested positive for coronavirus”.
The SRDC then went on to appeal for help from the central government.
“We again urge the health authorities to increase the amount of testing supplies available, to test those with positive symptoms immediately, and to conduct contact tracing immediately… We further urge the Regional Task Force to work with the SRDC to closely monitor the vast open border to prevent further spread of this disease into our communities from Brazil. Anything less threatens serious and irreparable harm to our communities”, the statement said.
Both the government and the NCTF have been criticised for their handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in hinterland areas.
The SRDC said that Toshaos have been “overwhelmed” in trying to keep their communities safe.
“The SRDC and our villages, in particular, Potarinau and Sawariwau, have made regular monitoring trips to the 180km border, with little support coming from the Task Force or government, to try and prevent illegal border crossings”, the statement lamented.
The SRDC also rapped Region Nine Regional Executive Officer, Carl Parker for information he provided to Stabroek News on Wednesday about a patient who escaped before being quarantined.
“The SRDC has been closely monitoring the situation in Potarinau, Shulinab and Sand Creek and their satellites, including Katuur, and the information provided to the news by the Regional Executive Officer (REO) does not reflect the true situation on the ground in Potarinau and in Katuur”, the statement said.
The SRDC said that it was only yesterday that the medical team was visiting Katuur.
“For the REO to state that there was a positive case coming from Katuur, South Rupununi and travelling to Tiger Pond, South Pakaraimas is premature and causing confusion among villagers and the overworked village council of Potarinau. Unlike the REO, the SRDC has been in daily contact with the Toshao and others from Potarinau and satellite villages, and can confirm that no patients in Katuur had even been tested for COVID-19 until (yesterday)”.
The SRDC noted that it has made several recommendations to the Region 9 COVID-19 Task Force for a more effective COVID-19 response, and to date nothing much has been done.
“Instead, at the latest Task Force meeting, the REO recommended that Toshaos now be charged for hiding their villagers who cross into Guyana. Toshaos were told that if case numbers rise in their villages, they can expect little help from the regional authorities. The REO’s baseless statements not only mischaracterize the source of the virus’s spread into our communities but are a direct threat to violate our human rights and to deliberately abandon the government’s responsibility to protect the health and welfare of its citizens. Rather than trying to find scapegoats on whom to pin blame for the rising case numbers in the region, we need to be taking collective action to tackle the spread of this dreaded disease”, the SRDC declared.
