Swine flu outbreak in lockup

Tuesday’s unavailability of a prisoner housed at the Kingston Central police lockup to attend the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court for a criminal matter has led to the revelation of an outbreak of Swine Flu at the Corporate Area jail.

The Gleaner understands that the liaison officer for the court informed the parish judge of the health development currently plaguing inmates at the lockup.

Swine Flu is the name commonly given to the influenza A H1N1 virus.

When The Gleaner contacted Superintendent Beresford Williams, divisional commander for the Kingston Central Police Division, he confirmed that the prisoners were unable to attend judicial proceedings because six inmates at the lockup were confirmed with Swine Flu.

“We have an outbreak of Swine Flu … . from last week, but the Ministry of Health gave us instructions as of yesterday (Monday). The Ministry of Health will be coming back to review the situation this week, and they will guide us,” Williams told The Gleaner.

“We have six confirmed cases, and then up to last week, we had 20-odd more of the prisoners with symptoms.”

This is not the first time health inspectors have swooped down on the Kingston Central police lockup.

Dr Patricia Chambers, regional technical director at the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA), told The Gleaner that overcrowding at the police lockup was among reasons for regular surveillance by the health department.

Chambers said there was a cluster of cases after 21 prisoners came down with the flu.

She said A H1N1 was identified in six inmates (patients).

“The others didn’t have it. We took the necessary public-health measures. It was contained. Persons were managed and are recovering. No one was needed to be sent to any health centre or to the hospital for anything. They were mild enough to manage right through,” Chambers said.

She told The Gleaner that the health officials, once alerted to respiratory symptoms at the lockup, jumped into action.

“Hygiene practices are maintained. Whatever unhygienic situation was there, we asked them to address them. We asked them to clean down and of course you’re going to sanitise and limit contact … ,” Chambers said.

She also told The Gleaner that the entire public-health team had visited the location.

“It’s not just a doctor who goes. It’s a team that would go - public-health nurse, public-health inspectors - and do an inspection of the facility to ensure the facility is conducive to not spreading … . It’s under control, no need for panic … . The team from the health department went in and did an examination, which we do all the time when anybody is sick in the prison,” she said. Chambers told The Gleaner that they conducted swabs, which confirmed the influenza A H1N1.

She said that some of the inmates had recovered and were quarantined for a while.

“The symptomatic persons ... we would have separated them and prevented them from spreading anything to the others … . The team went on Thursday (April 11), and we did a report. The persons that tested positive were reviewed and provided prescriptions and the referrals necessary,” she said.

The lockup is currently unable to house new prisoners on the advice of the health officials.

“That’s why we tell them don’t put any additional persons. We don’t want it to be overcrowded … . You want to reduce the interaction with people … . Lockups are overcrowded, and you do not want them in an overcrowded setting. Those persons with respiratory symptoms would have been housed together. And persons who do not have symptoms would be separated,” Chambers said, adding that due to COVID, persons tend to become panicked by such outbreaks.

The prisoners housed at the facility have been further advised to sanitise, wash hands properly, and cover their mouths when they cough.

“There is always overcrowding, and remember, the more persons you putting in, they are breathing, there is close contact and the common cold, you spread the common cold the same way. It’s not something to spread any panic. Persons are improving, and some of them [are] better already,” Chambers said.

She said the more persons coming down with the illness, the more difficult it is to handle.

In December 2014, the health department ordered the closure of the Kingston Central lockup.

The order followed inspections of the facility and previous notifications from the department for public-health breaches to be addressed.

Justices of the peace (JPs) again, in April 2018, ordered prisoners relocated from said lockup because of deplorable conditions there.

The JPs said the facility posed dire health risks for the inmates and police who guarded them.

“Our biggest nemesis is Kingston Central. That is a lockup that has been there for quite a while and it really is not suited for the purpose for which it is being used now,” said Steadman Fuller, custos of Kingston, at the time.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com