The Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony yesterday said that some persons have been exploiting the pandemic and claiming to have been exposed to COVID-19.
This remark was made during the minister’s daily COVID-19 update where he stated that there are reports of persons who have developed that pattern so as to be able to get time off from work. This, he suggested, should be monitored by employers.
Dr Anthony noted that if persons are genuinely exposed to someone who has been positive, they should be in quarantine and following five days in quarantine they should get a PCR test done to determine their COVID-19 status.
“There’s another aspect of this where there are reports of persons who maybe every two weeks they have become exposed to somebody and that is if there is a pattern like that it is obvious that that employee or that person might just want days off rather than being genuinely sick with COVID,” the health minister opined.
He noted that this can become very problematic while indicating that different work places should implement policies to verify the reports from their employees. To this end he noted that the country’s Health Emergency Operation Centre (HEOC) continues to monitor persons who are in quarantine.
Anthony reminded that quarantine usually occurs before your status is known. “Quarantine happens before your status is known, before that PCR test is done and we also monitor isolation, so once you’re positive then you have to be isolated, the term changes, so now we know your status and if you’re positive, you’re isolated, if your status is undetermined then you are in quarantine until we can verify your status,” the health minister explained.
