Get tested for COVID-19 – Hanover medical officer
Published:Tuesday | January 19, 2021 | 12:08 AMBryan Miller/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Dr Kausal Singh, the medical officer of Health (MOH) for Hanover, is appealing to residents of the western parish to come forward and voluntarily offer themselves for their COVID-19 test, saying that the results will help the authorities to determine the extent to which the virus has affected the parish.
“We need to have two things in place. One is people’s participation, and the second is testing, sampling, and containment. If sampling is positive, then quarantine and isolate. What exactly is happening right now is that people are not coming forward voluntarily to get testing don although we (The Health Department Officials) are operating in five different locations,” said Singh.
According to Singh, based on the method used for calculations to determine the risk level per population, the parish of Hanover, which has an estimated population of 72,000, has several areas that are now considered medium risk areas for transmission.
“So, we (the Hanover Health Department (HHD) are repositioning ourselves, and now we are looking to use the mobile testing facility to go to the rural areas like Cave Valley, Grange, Chester Castle, and we can do some testing in the communities,” said Singh.
With more than 328 positive cases, along with six COVID-19-related deaths to date, the MOH says that the statistics are showing that one person out of every 200 persons in the parish has the respiratory disease.
“So this is alarming. We need to work harder on it, and we at the HHD are trying our best,” said Singh, noting that there is hope for better days ahead. “Testing is important. It can help both the individuals and the authorities to plan. It also helps the individuals in protecting themselves and family. Please encourage people you know to come and get their test done.”
According to Singh, as long as 10 or more persons are identified in any area within the parish, the health team will make every effort to use the mobile team to carry out testing. He said that checks have shown that most people coming forward voluntarily now are persons who want the results for travelling purposes.
“For the general surveillance, they want the testing to go abroad,” said Singh. “We want to appeal for community groups to always remember that no one is immune to the disease, and as such, it is everyone’s responsibility to get tested or encourage others to get tested. We have to be vigilant all the time. We do not know what is going to happen,” he stated.