The big test
ISSA pleased by low positivity rate amid COVID-19 testing ahead of Champs
Published:Monday | May 10, 2021 | 12:12 AMDaniel Wheeler/Staff Reporter
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With 24 hours to go before the start of the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletic Championships (Champs), ISSA President Keith Wellington said that they are pleased with how COVID-19 testing has gone so far. Wellington reported a positivity...
With 24 hours to go before the start of the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletic Championships (Champs), ISSA President Keith Wellington said that they are pleased with how COVID-19 testing has gone so far.
Wellington reported a positivity rate of less than one per cent from tests done so far despite what he describes as minor issues. He says over 1,500 persons have been tested ahead of Champs, with over 700 results returned to date.
In keeping with the restrictions that allowed the Government to give approval for ISSA to stage Champs at the National Stadium this year, COVID-19 testing was started on Friday at various locations.
Those who would be participating had to register online, using a form provided by ISSA, and only those registered would be tested and subsequently allowed to enter the stadium provided that they returned a negative test.
TESTING SITES
The Gleaner understands that the National Stadium grandstand served as a testing site and Annotto Bay High School served as another for schools in St Ann, St Mary, and Portland. Cornwall College facilitated those in the western parishes of Trelawny, St James, and Westmoreland.
“The biggest issue we had was that we did some testing in Annotto Bay, and the [personnel] were a little bit late in carrying the tests,” Wellington told The Gleaner. “But outside of that, I think things would have gone very smoothly. We were able to test, in my opinion, everybody that needed to be tested.”
With last year’s event cancelled because of the pandemic, Champs will take place this year without spectators.
Wellington said that he would not disclose the number of those who have tested positive until he had a full report of the process, which is expected today, with the rest of the results. However, he says there was full compliance with procedures and for the moment, does not anticipate any last-minute difficulties stemming from the results.
COVID-19 RESULTS
“We are satisfied in where we were, and we just [now] await the other 50 per cent of the number, the results which we are hoping to get by early tomorrow (Monday) morning if not tonight (Sunday),” Wellington said. “So far, it doesn’t seem as if we would be affected adversely by the COVID-19 results.”
Edwin Allen School head coach Michael Dyke, whose team was tested on Friday, says that despite his athletes experiencing some discomfort with the polymerase chain reaction test that was administered, he was pleased, overall, with the testing process. Additionally, he is satisfied with having his full complement of athletes available after all returned negative results yesterday.
“Our results came back negative, so we are happy and now getting set and ready for the championships,” Dyke said. “We had no doubt that they would have been safe because we have kept them in a very tight bubble, and they have not been exposed. So we had no fear.”