Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Kenneth George said people who need to be tested for COVID-19 are being transferred in “safe cordons” to the testing centres.
He was responding to a question from the media on Sunday afternoon during a briefing to announce that six people from one family had tested positive for the viral illness. The question specifically referred to anyone requiring a second test who might have to take public transportation.
George said there is a swabbing team that does mobile work, the Barbados Defence Force has been “a great partner” in assisting the Ministry of Health and Wellness to transport individuals or groups, quarantine hotels provide transportation and taxi drivers were also trained in safe transport measures.
“We found that to be a critical issue that we needed to deal with and we dealt with that up front early in the epidemic,” George said. “People have been transferred in safe cordons to where they need to be tested.”
The CMO also pointed out in order to reduce the risk, a decision was taken not to have testing done at the polyclinics.
Earlier, Minister of Health Jeffrey Bostic announced six people from one family tested positive for COVID-19, but stressed there was no evidence of community spread. A Barbadian who returned home from a medium-risk country on September 19 tested positive five days later.
Her housekeeper contracted the virus and tests done on Friday and Saturday confirmed her nephew, two nieces, a four-month-old baby and the baby’s father were also positive. Among that group is a 15-year-old student of The Ellerslie School.
Later that day, Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw announced the closure of the school in Black Rock, St Michael for 14 days to facilitate contact tracing. The plant will undergo an industrial cleaning before it is reopened on October 19.
Barbados has now recorded 199 positive COVID cases. (SAT)
