Seven new positive cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) were yesterday recorded by the Ministry of Public Health in Guyana, as the country’s major public hospital “prepares for the worst”.
The disclosure about the number of cases was made by Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr Shamdeo Persaud in a live update by the Ministry yesterday afternoon. He stated that the number of positive cases as of April 15th stands at 55, inclusive of six deaths, while some 250 persons have been tested so far for the virus. The CMO said that 195 persons tested negative for the virus while 8 persons have so far recovered from it.
It was noted that some 25 persons are currently in the ministry’s quarantine facility while 41 persons have been placed in the isolation facilities. With that he informed that out of the positive cases recorded, four of those persons had travelled to Guyana while the other 51 contracted the virus through local transmission. He added that over 80 per cent of the COVID-19 cases in the country stem from Region Four.
Persaud went on to iterate that persons with underlying conditions are more at risk for contracting the virus. Such persons, he said, would be those with chronic lung diseases such as asthma, bronchitis along with other conditions associated with smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and diseases associated with immunity-compromised conditions.
Currently 5 persons are patients at the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
And as the number of patients at the Ministry’s COVID-19 ICU, which is currently housed at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC), changes almost daily, the hospital is preparing for the possibility of an influx of COVID-19 patients.
This is according to the hospital’s Communications Manager, Chelauna Providence, who, in an interview yesterday with Stabroek News informed that the hospital presently has the capacity to accommodate 16 patients within the COVID-19 ICU with the possibility to expand for two additional patients.
While she could not give a direct number, Providence said that the hospital has begun preparations to house additional patients who may be recovering and in need of continuous care, along with other patients who may only need “moderate care”. “GPHC is preparing to house additional patients, if the need arises”, Providence said.
So far, there is adequate staffing of nurses, doctors and other critical workers for the areas in the hospital that were designated to house COVID patients, she assured, adding that while the nursing staff along with doctors are working a three-shift system, they have been conducting ongoing training with all staff members inclusive of those dealing with sanitation and dietary care. “We do ongoing training so that we have more staff who are prepared to work with COVID patients.” Providence also disclosed that they have also been setting up specialised areas for things like surgery and have also been working to ensure that other patients who are not COVID-19-related, get access to the relevant care they require.
“Of course we cannot predict what our numbers would look like in another couple of days, weeks or months, the hospital has been doing continuous readiness to keep training persons to ensure that we capture the cases as quickly as possible,” Providence related to Stabroek News. She further stated that they have also been doing some “shifting around” internally so as to be prepared for any possible situation and should the need arise to take in a large number of patients at any given time, they would be ready for that.
The communications manager confirmed that the section of the hospital which currently houses COVID patients is sealed off from the other parts of the hospital. She clarified that it has its own entrance and exit points which means that persons would not be able to pass through that area to get to another area of the hospital. She emphasised that only authorised persons are allowed to enter that area as it is off-limits to visitors.
For those workers who would be accessing those areas, there is a decontamination space where all nurses and doctors must sanitize themselves before putting on their required Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and upon exiting would have to through that decontamination area again. “When they go to that unit, they’re completely covered, they’re not exposed, they’re not allowed to go in with their phones, badges or anything that can pick up anything and come out with them,” Providence was quoted as saying.
It was also noted that concerning the question of there being adequate PPE for staff members, she said it would depend on how many staff members have to access the unit and that number depends on the amount of patients that are in the units at any given time. “Whether or not we have adequate PPE, depends on what our situation looks like in another couple of weeks. As of right now we do have adequate protective equipment for our staff, we are trying to get additional equipment to be prepared for any possible situation,”
While stating that although they have adequate supplies, they have been quite careful with how the equipment is being used. She noted that the hospital has been observing what has occurred in other countries and has seen how hospitals can run out of PPE after receiving a large influx of patients and would have to reuse or even substitute. The GPHC Communications Manager declared that they are hoping for the best while still preparing for the worst.
