12 staff test positive for COVID at Maxfield home

Twelve caregivers at the Maxfield Park Children’s Home in St Andrew have tested positive for COVID-19, the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) confirmed yesterday.

Public health officials had visited the home between December 13 and 30, 2020, to conduct testing for the coronavirus.

Seventy-two of the 80 caregivers were tested with 12 positive results. None of the 90 children at the home were confirmed with the virus.

Arrangements have been made for the remaining caregivers to be tested, the CPFSA said and those who tested positive have been sent home to self-isolate.

The CPFSA said that the home has been adhering to COVID protocols to include: temperature checks conducted three times daily, identification of isolation space, sanitisation stations placed at strategic points and the mandatory wearing of masks.

Health ministry officials will now carry out contact tracing for the positive cases as a sanitisation exercise gets under way at the facility.

Up to Monday, Jamaica had recorded 13,246 with 306 deaths.