Beverly Clenkian, Toshao of St. Cuthbert’s Mission told Stabroek News yesterday that the Village Council is anticipating a second COVID-19 wave and plans are currently underway for a second lockdown.
She disclosed that last week, a number of residents including teachers and school children tested positive for COVID-19, and consequently, a medical team is conducting testing on school children and teachers . Clenkian admitted that it was results from tests done on pupils and teachers that confirmed the existence of positive cases in the community. Clenkian added that there are now protocols in place, or being considered, to help reduce the contagion in the small community. She encouraged person who are not feeling well to get tested.
Since the first wave, the Toshao said they have not allowed visitors to enter the village, but residents were allowed to travel in and out of the community; she guessed that this might have been one way the virus re-entered the community. In terms of adherence to protocols by citizens, particularly preventative, the Toshao admitted that this has been challenging, and it was expected that it wouldn’t have been long before the community faced a second wave. Now that they are aware of a second wave, the council and the community will look at how they can keep the cases at a minimum, and at the same time, ensure that everyone is adhering to all measures.
Among the measures they hope to implement, she disclosed, is to revert back to the 6 pm to 6 am curfew which was instituted during the first wave; however the Toshao said that this will be done only if the cases increase.
Meanwhile, Toshao Carl Peneux said that Orealla and Siparuta are also fearful of a second wave; both of his communities have reported a combined total of 22 persons testing positive.
Peneux confessed that his community had barely recovered from the first wave, which occurred during the latter half of 2020. The Toshao also raised fears that with the communities’ lack of isolation facilities, there may be more casualties. He noted that the virus had only claimed one life from Siparuta during the first wave, but with majority of persons who are currently in isolation displaying COVID-19 symptoms, the communities may not be that lucky during the second wave.
Just last Monday, a total of 22 new cases were detected in both of the communities, and because of this, the village council wants the Ministry of Health to scale up testing in both communities in an effort to interrupt transmission. Peneux disclosed that the majority of the new cases are residents with a few being students. He noted that continuous travel in and out of the communities may have contributed to the second wave, as a number of persons who were living in Suriname had only recently returned.
He said, too, that there is increased coastal travel to and from the community. In reference to travel, already alluded to from Guyana’s coast and from Suriname, the Toshao said that “they came over without the knowledge of the village council. I don’t know if they brought over the virus but I believe that it increases transmission of the virus,” he said. The Toshao added that during the first wave, the Village Council had tried, successfully, to restrict unnecessary travel between the communities and other areas; however, he said that now persons are bluntly refusing to adhere to the rules of the village council.
He said that within the communities themselves, it is increasingly difficult for the Village Council to enforce National COVID-19 measures but they are doing their best. He said there is a police station in the community, with police officers stationed there and who should be assisting them, but this is not being done.
“The police are the enforcers of the COVID laws, and if the police are not doing what they ought to do, then the Toshao and the council are helpless. And because that is not happening, nobody is adhering – so that is the situation,” he said.
Peneux said that he is fears that a COVID-19 second wave in the community will be more devastating this time around if the necessary protocols are not implemented immediately. He noted that the communities have no isolation facilities, and this must be addressed as an area of priority. With the second wave looming just above their heads, a quick solution may just be too late, Peneux says.
