Eyes on St Catherine nursing homes - Parish’s COVID cases double in a month
Published:Monday | October 19, 2020 | 7:28 AMRuddy Mathison/Gleaner Writer
With rising COVID-19 cases in the municipality, the St Catherine Health Department is moving to carry out intensive COVID-19 testing of residents in the 14 nursing homes in Portmore to see whether they have been affected by the virus.
Prior to this move, the department was largely concentrating on checking whether schools in the parish were ready for face-to-face classes, with 37 of 76 institutions inspected meeting the requirements under the stringent COVID-19 checklist.
However, with the increases in cases in Portmore, particularly in the Waterford area, over the past month, the health department is shifting focus, with the elderly at high risk for adverse outcomes should they contract the virus.
COVID-19 cases have doubled in St Catherine over the past month, with 909 cases being recorded between March and September 11. As of Saturday, the parish had recorded an additional 937 cases, bringing the total to 1,846. The parish has also recorded 37 of the at least 171 deaths recorded across the island up to Saturday.
Overall, Jamaica recorded 8,274 COVID-19 cases up to Saturday.
“We continue to monitor the ... schools that were deemed unsatisfactory, but since most of the schools have announced that they are curtailing in-person learning, we are able to concentrate on the nursing homes,” St Catherine’s chief public health inspector, Grayson Hutchinson, disclosed recently. “There are some 33 nursing homes in the parish, 14 of which are in Portmore. So far, we have tested residents for COVID-19 in eight of them.”
Hutchinson declined to say what is the positivity or fatality rate in these nursing homes where testing have been carried out, instead calling for the homes to limit or discontinue visits.
“It is our view that outside visits to these susceptible institutions should be immediately put on hold for the time being. These visits should be significantly limited or forbidden,” he said, expressing a sense of urgency.
According to Hutchinson, family members and friends of residents in these nursing homes should relay whatever items they have to deliver by way of members of staff.
He called on managers and staff of the homes to ensure all COVID-19 protocols are observed to reduce the likelihood of infecting vulnerable residents.