Two days after a doctor attached to the Bartica Regional Hospital told relatives of 78-year-old Samuel Wilson, a former Toshao of the Indigenous community of Batavia in Region Seven that the elderly man was suffering from a “minor problem,” the former Toshao died from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
This was disclosed by relatives of Wilson, who told Stabroek News yesterday that they were informed on Monday last by a doctor that Wilson was COVID-19 positive. Wilson had no underlying health conditions prior to his death according to relatives.
Stabroek News was unable to elicit a comment yesterday from Region Seven on this case.
According to Ralph Jeffery, who is Wilson’s son-in-law, the 78-year-old suddenly fell ill about two weeks ago. However, he had no symptoms of COVID-19 with the exception of a fever, which continued for a few days.
Last week Monday, they decided to take him to the Bartica Regional Hospital to find out what was wrong with him but when they arrived at the hospital, Jeffery said, after running some tests the doctor who attended to them discharged Wilson saying that the now deceased was suffering from a “minor problem.”
When asked by Stabroek News what the minor problem was, Jeffery disclosed that the doctor said that it seemed like Wilson had developed a cold and that it was probably pneumonia. Regardless, Wilson was given saline and was discharged two hours later without being given medication for a cold or flu. Jeffery noted that the doctor ruled out the fact that his father-in-law could’ve been infected with COVID-19 saying that Wilson wasn’t showing any symptoms of the disease.
As a result, Wilson was taken back to Batavia. The following day, Jeffery added, Wilson complained about nausea and stomach pains along with fever, and on the morning of September 2, they noticed that he started coughing and had difficulty breathing. “On Wednesday, only then we noticed that he started coughing and having difficulty breathing and that was just a few hours before we reach the hospital,” Jeffery recalled.
He was rushed to the Bartica hospital, where they met a different doctor who recognised the symptoms of COVID-19 immediately and asked them why they didn’t take Wilson to the hospital earlier. Jeffery said, he explained to the doctor that they did so but he was sent away after two hours. The doctor subsequently proceeded to swab Wilson and around one o’clock that afternoon, Jeffery related, Wilson died, only half hour after being tested for the disease.
Six days after his death, Wilson’s family were informed that he died from COVID-19. Wilson was the first of his immediate family to test positive for the disease.
Jeffery noted that after receiving the results on Monday, they were told that they should contact the hospital immediately if any family members developed symptoms of the disease. He said that thus far none of the family members has shown any symptoms of the disease.
Relatives stated that they are not sure where or how Wilson got infected with the disease but mentioned that despite his age he was very healthy and did everything for himself. His death was therefore very surprising to them and they’re still trying to fathom how the disease could’ve taken him down.
“The results say that he had COVID-19 so we cannot doubt it but it was very surprising,” Jeffery said before adding that they didn’t like how the doctor treated them when they first took him to the hospital. He added, “I don’t know how they didn’t treat him if they say that it look like he get pneumonia.”
Meanwhile, Toshao Orren Gordon also confirmed the death saying that he was also informed of the results last Monday. He noted that although the community currently has no active cases, they have recorded a death attributed to the disease and for the village council this is very alarming.
Prior to the death, he said, he received information that
persons in the area where Wilson lived were suffering from flu-like symptoms. However, when questioned, he added, those persons would deny and say that it is just a normal cold.
He further disclosed that many persons do not believe that the disease is real and there are a lot of people in the community who do not know how to read so it is very difficult to get them to understand the seriousness of the disease while social distancing.
“As I said that some of the persons don’t really know to read so we try to explain to them by words but some of them don’t really have time to listen to that so they are not taking the virus serious. So to date we still keep advising persons, right now we set up a screen station at the entrance of the village but some of them don’t want to go there even to get screened so it’s very hard to deal with that situation,” he lamented.
Gordon added that what is also worrying was that a funeral was held for Wilson and despite precautions and advisories by the village council not to attend the funeral, residents still showed up.
Being the first leader of the community, he said, made Wilson a very popular person and so many residents wanted to pay their respects to the family and him. He said that as a result of the funeral they are expecting the cases of COVID-19 to rise.
Batavia was one of the first indigenous communities in Region Seven to record cases of COVID-19. To date, according to the Toshao, they have only recorded 33 cases but this is probably due to lack of swabbing in the community.
