January 4, 2020
Updates provided by:
- – Cabinet Sub-Committee Chairman, Senator the Honourable Dr. Jerome Walcott
- – Health and Wellness Minister, Lt. Col. the Honourable Jeffrey Bostic
- – Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Kenneth George
- – Home Affairs, Information, Broadcast and Public Affairs Minister, the Honourable Wilfred Abrahams
- – Prime Minister, the Honourable Mia Amor Mottley
Transcripts of the updates:
Health and Wellness Minister, Lt. Col. the Honourable Jeffrey Bostic
[00:00:00] Good evening, Barbadians, ladies and gentlemen.
[00:00:04] I can report that today we are in a better place than we were yesterday or the day before, and we are in a better place as a result of the excellent work that has been done and continues to be done by the hardworking staff at the Best Dos Santos laboratory and those who are working in the field doing the contact tracing, as well as those who have been spending significant amount of time swabbing persons so that the samples can reach the lab.
[00:00:43] As a result of this collective effort, and also the response by Barbadians through the PSA that was on the radio a couple days ago, we have been able to make significant strides in terms of the contacting of persons who we have been able to link to some of the cases that we’ve had. We’ve also been able to do most of the testing for those contacts with some mopping up work that is still to be done. I am happy that as a result of that, we are beginning to see some patterns in what we are doing. We are beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel. We are beginning to see where we have to be more aggressive. And given the figures that we have and the Chief Medical Officer will go into those details. We believe that there’s some hope and that we are wrestling with this in a way that would allow us to be able to deal with it in a couple weeks.
[00:01:49] It is not over. There’s still a lot of work to be done, and I give the assurance that the staff of the Ministry of Health and Wellness will continue to work day in, day out, throughout the night even, to be able to do what has to be done. We are confident that we are making the right choices at this point in terms of how we are tackling the problem. And we will continue to ask the people of Barbados to give us your support, recognize the difficulty that we face, assist us in trying to deal with some of the issues, and collectively we will get through this problem together. [00:02:32] And so I will now call on the Chief Medical Officer who will give you some details as to what we’ve been doing.
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Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Kenneth Officer
[00:00:00] Good afternoon, good evening, all.
[00:00:05] On the 31st of December, 2020, we reported a total of 395 positive cases on our dashboard. For the 1st and the 2nd there have been an additional 211 cases, bringing the total effective the 2nd of January, 2021 to 606 cases, of which 246 were female, 360 were male. Age ranges: 1 to 95, and there were over 72,500 tests done by the Best Dos Santos Laboratory.
[00:01:02] In isolation, there are 243 persons broken down as follows: 122 as inmates from the prison, 121 from Harrison’s Point, 10 in some Villas and another 32, which are currently being assessed, clinically assessed, by the team. That gives a total of 275. In all, there have been 324 recoveries and unfortunately we have had 7 deaths.
[00:01:51] As many of you know, we have had good cooperation from the public – as many of you might have seen some of the lines in front of the polyclinics, and this is testimony to the effect that Barbadians are really willing and able to identify themselves as either primary and sometimes secondary contacts. And we have tried to accommodate all of you.
[00:02:18] This will continue.
[00:02:21] The first set of testing at the Her Majesty’s Prison has been complete. And we indicated that after five days, all persons who tested negative, will be tested again. Those persons who tested positive will be placed in clinical care. Most of the officers, to date, have been transferred to Harrison’s Point, and the prisoners will remain at Dodds. And we have put systems in place, which we could discuss later, to make sure that the clinical situation within the confines of the prison are maintained.
[00:03:09] As you know, it has been a difficult time for us, but the team is willing and able and this will pass also.
[00:03:19] There are a few clusters that we are currently investigating. I will be able to give some additional information. Those clusters are being contact-traced and that is an ongoing process. We are actually working towards identifying the index case and we will have some more information to this effect as we go further into our investigations.
[00:03:49] We will continue to work with the protocols, ensuring that everyone is tested on their second test, at least five complete days apart, to ensure that it is clear that everyone in Barbados to be released from quarantine will have two tests. [00:04:13] Today, we got the cooperation of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association and all guests arriving from high-risk properties (countries) in Barbados will be required to stay in their rooms until they complete their quarantine before they are allowed. And I will be willing during the question time to answer any questions that I can. Thank you so much.
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Home Affairs, Information, Broadcast and Public Affairs Minister, the Honourable Wilfred Abrahams
[00:00:00] Good night Barbados.
[00:00:01] The situation at the prison remains basically fluid, but under complete control. The officers, staff and inmates at HMP Dodds over the last couple of days, have continued to work together to manage the outbreak of COVID-19 at the prison.
[00:00:21] All members of staff, as well as the entire inmate population were tested and the results continue to be processed. The process of separating positive and negative persons continues, as well as the continued care and treatment of all individuals.
[00:00:35] There are currently 49 members of staff and 121 members of the inmate population who tested positive for COVID-19 and the lockdown is a mitigation against the COVID-19 spread. With respect to the current operations, we’ve had the unenviable position where the top five in the prison, the top five officers in prison are not at the site of the prison because they’re either in quarantine or isolation. And the operational control of the prison has been passed to Major Cedric Proverbs from the Barbados Defense Force, who has been seconded from the BDF to the prison in the position of Assistant Superintendent of Prisons.
[00:01:17] So security operations continue at prisons with a combined effort of prison staff, members of the Defense Force and members of the Royal Barbados Police Force. And I want to thank the BDF and the police force for stepping up to assist us in managing the staff complement at the prison.
[00:01:40] I keep getting calls and questions as to if there’s unrest at the prison. There is no unrest at the prison. This situation at the prison is under control. There have been no reported incidents at the prison that should cause concern to anyone. I just want to make that very, very clear, because just before I came, I got a message from a reporter asking me about that. The situation at the prison and the integrity of the security of Her Majesty’s Prison Dodds is entirely under control – granted, it is not an ideal situation.
[00:02:19] Only essential services are now being provided the prison. So provision has been made to ensure adequate supply of food to all prisoners and staff, with meals for inmates being prepared for school meals department while the meals for staff are being prepared at Defense Force. The laundry that has been maintained, with more frequent washing. While the medical staff has been reduced, we are still able at this point to treat and medicate all the inmates and staff populations that require it.
[00:02:50] The reality is prison was not built to house over 100 staff normally. So what normally happens is shifts come in, when your shift is over, you go home. But because we have an emergency situation, there is no one in, no one out. What we have to do is house all the staff that are there and manage the shift rotations. So the BDF comes in to compliment this police force, comes in to complement this. But obviously, we do not have – I would say comfortable accommodation arrangements, because it was never built to accommodate that. We have constructed tents and other emergency procedures to make it as livable as possible. And we are doing the best we can in these situations. It’s not comfortable living, but this is not a comfortable situation and we are doing the best that we can to maintain some degree of normalcy at the prison.
[00:03:44] Now, further testing for those at the prison is going to commence tomorrow, and that’s when we start the round of second tests at the prison. The stats for the prison were given so far by Dr. George, but I will say in response to a question I got as well, there’ve been no positives so far with the female population of Her Majesty’s Prison Dodds. So all of those who have been asking questions about your female family, we have no positive tests so far in relation to any in the female population.
[00:04:19] At the end of the day, the safety and security of Her Majesty’s Prison Dodds is our ultimate concern. We are concerned about the inmates who do not choose to be there. They’re in our custody and our care, and we are managing with them as best we can. We are concerned about our staff. We are concerned about the people who have tested positive. We are concerned about the people who are waiting for their results. And we are doing the best we can to manage the situation. And I must say knock wood. It has been managed adequately up to this point in time.
[00:04:51] So I just want those who are concerned about their loved ones, who they have not been hearing from, the situation, there is also a concern that there’s a lack of WiFi at the prison. But you must understand that prison is a secure facility. So we have to be careful about communications in, and communications out. We are trying our best to allow people to contact, through the phone, their loved ones and their relatives. But it is essential contact at this point only. [00:05:18] So that is the update with respect to the prison. And I just – feel free to contact us, those who have been contacting us and asking about specific people. And we’re going to do our best, as we have been doing, to answer and address your concerns so that you can feel comfortable that your family, that your friends, that your loved ones are in as good a situation as they can be. And at least you can get a realistic and real-time update on their condition. So I thank you. I’ll be available to answer any specific questions later.