Paul Pierre, the Deputy Chairman of the National Toshaos Council (NTC), is among dozens of persons who tested positive for COVID-19 in the indigenous community of Kwebanna, which has since become a COVID-19 hotspot in Region One.
According to Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony, Region One is currently one of the most affected hinterland areas in Guyana.
In less than a month after recording its first COVID-19 case, Kwebanna has already recorded its first death and at least 40 confirmed cases. Pierre, who is also the Toshao of the community, told Stabroek News yesterday that the first COVID-19 case from the community was recorded on September 19th. He said a few days after the first case was identified many persons in the region complained of having COVID-19 symptoms and this was brought to the attention of health authorities attached to the Kumaka District Hospital (KDH) in Santa Rosa and a team was dispatched to conduct swabbing in the community.
Pierre revealed that there are 42 confirmed COVID-19 cases but the number is probably higher because many persons are refusing to get swabbed despite displaying symptoms of the disease.
“It’s affecting the entire community. There may be more cases but many persons for whatever reason are refusing to come out to get tested,” he said before adding that this may be due to little public awareness conducted in the community.
He noted that he is among the persons who have tested positive for the disease. While he doesn’t know where he might have contracted it, he said he has been trying to educate persons on the disease, which may have inadvertently resulted in his exposure.
Pierre said that he was tested on October 13th and a few days later he was told that his results were positive.
Prior to him being tested, he said, he had symptoms, including fever and headache, which was what prompted him to get tested. During that time, he drank a lot of local medicines along with Panadol to treat his symptoms.
When he spoke to Stabroek News yesterday, Pierre said that he was feeling much better and hadn’t had any new symptoms in the preceding few days. He revealed that given his improved condition, it is likely that he will be discharged on Saturday.
Although he has been in isolation, Pierre said he has been kept informed about the COVID-19 situation in the region and as a result of the surge in cases healthcare workers from Santa Rosa are travelling more frequently to Kwebanna. “They’re doing more testing there now,” he said.
Pierre further revealed that he along with many others from Kwebanna are being isolated at the Santa Rosa Amerindian Hostel because his community doesn’t have the capacity to deal with the large number of COVID-19 cases that have been detected. He noted, however that they are being treated well by the health care workers.
“I must mention that the doctors here are really working hard to curb the spread of the disease. They are working hard and they are treating us okay, especially in times like these when we need caring and support. The accommodations are comfortable, everybody is comfortable, so the treatment is okay. I didn’t expect it to be like this but it is okay,” he said.
Strict enforcement
According to Pierre, when he is discharged he hopes to put a number of systems in place to curb the spread of the disease, including strict enforcement of the government imposed restrictions. He said that he believes strict enforcement of these measures and more public awareness of the disease will play a vital role in slowing the spread of COVID-19 in the community.
“I must mention we have asked for assistance from law enforcement and they from the Aquero Police Station have committed to come in the community to assist us in enforcing some of the rules in the community, so that people can get to understand that it is serious and it is breaking the law if not adhered to,” he noted, before adding that he wants his people to take this pandemic seriously and abide by all measures, especially mask wearing and hand sanitising or washing.
In this regard, he said, from his observations many persons still need to be educated about the disease and given the location of the community many are in need of sanitisers and masks.
Other than Pierre, another person from the Kwebanna Village Council, a teacher and several health care workers have tested positive for the disease.
Meanwhile, providing a regional update on the COVID-19 situation, Regional Chairman Brentnol Ashley revealed that there are 84 active cases of the disease in the region, which are distributed between the Moruca, Mabaruma and Matarakai sub-districts. Thirty-six of those persons are in institutional isolation, while 40 are being home isolated.
Ashley revealed that Kwebanna and Manawarin are now COVID-19 hotspots in the region. He added that recent lockdowns imposed on four communities in Matarakai and Mabaruma have proven to be a success and they are hoping to implement such measures on the two new hotspots.
“The lockdown that we did at Arakaka, Arukamai and the others have been very successful because we have seen less cases being recorded and where possible no new infections. Those lockdowns were successful because what we did was we coordinated with each agency by one providing food and hampers relief to the families along with vitamins and so forth and then we had the health system ensuring that they did screening and where possible they would’ve had swabbing done and they would’ve had regular engagements with the village leaders and this has proven to be a success,” he said.
He added that regional officials are currently engaging the Office of the Prime Minister to find out whether it would be possible for the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) to assist with the implementation of lockdown measures in the two new hotspots.
Speaking on the success of the recent community lockdowns in Region One, Minister Anthony said this is possible because it takes two weeks for the disease to manifest and if someone was infected by the time the lockdown restrictions were lifted they would’ve been COVID-19 free or would no longer be able to spread the disease.
He noted that that particular measure is something the ministry would look at but if those measures were to be implemented in other communities affected by COVID-19 they would have to take into consideration a number of factors.
Additionally, he said that when the Health Ministry notices that there is a spike in COVID-19 cases with a particular community, they would send a health team from Georgetown to the community to assist regional and local healthcare workers.
