A 73-year-old East Bank Demerara man has been confirmed as Guyana’s 23rd COVID-19 fatality. The man passed away while in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) yesterday where he had been a patient for a week.
The deceased has been identified as Wilfred James, originally from Moruca in Region One.
“I knew he was in the [COVID] ICU and so I keep checking the dashboard”, said the cousin of the man, Valerie Ann Wong who currently resides in Antigua. Stabroek News was unable to contact the family but Wong said she was able to confirm his death with another relative.
The Santa Rosa Village Council last evening sent out condolences to his family. “Guyana has recorded its 23rd COVID-19 death. Condolences to the family, friends and relatives of the late Wilfred James of Moruca….”, the council said in a Facebook post.
“He’s in there like a week now. He was getting symptoms and when they took him in, they tested him and he tested positive”, Wong said. She noted that he was a diabetic who had other underlying health issues.
Sources said that James arrived at the hospital in a critical condition and was admitted to the ICU. He was immediately put on a ventilator.
“He used to be a soldier. He had a big position in the army. I remember seeing him [outfitted] in this white uniform. He used to be with Burnham (former president Forbes Burnham) them”, Wong recalled.
The woman also said that she was disheartened that the country is being reopened while cases are climbing adding that the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, took the initiative to have a total shutdown which saw the country’s cases settling at ninety-three confirmed with only a handful of active cases currently. In addition she noted that any person caught without a facemask is expected to pay a fine of EC$3,000, the equivalent of $210,000. The country she further said has recently begun having normal international flights, explaining that anyone coming into the country must have tested negative before boarding the flight and tested negative again via a rapid test upon arrival. Wong said as well that the police in Antigua are constantly checking in with persons who are in quarantine to see that they remain home for the required period before they are allowed to leave their place of abode.
Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony in a recent interview said, “We are increasing the testing capacity, and we are thus able to see now more persons who are active. One of the challenges was that you had persons who were asymptomatic and thus there was no way to find out that there were additional cases.”
Dr. Anthony explained that some of the people who decided to get tested were persons who were required to do so for international travel and this was how it was learnt that they had contracted the virus. Testing was also done when persons visited the hospital for other symptoms. In addition, Dr. Anthony said that increased testing has also helped with knowing who those infected persons are.
“This is what I want to say, the only way we can combat [this virus] is for people to abide by the rules. Masks will protect people. You have to understand that this is a virus that is spread by aerosol droplets. Masks are going to protect you”, Dr. Anthony said. (Joanna Dhanraj)
