RHEC credits reduction in COVID-19 cases to teamwork among stakeholders

The Regional Health and Emergency Committee (RHEC) of Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) is of the firm belief that the perceived success it has gained thus far in containing the spread of COVID-19 is as a result of the enormous work done.

This was disclosed by the Regional Health Officer (RHO), Dr Pansy Armstrong, who declared that the region took responsibility in ensuring that it remains safe despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr Armstrong noted that a number of initiatives were executed with the primary objective of safeguarding the health and safety of residents.
“One of the first things that the region did was to institute a curfew, which was done a week or two before the national curfew and thus limited the movements of persons, thus resulting in the spread also being limited,” Dr Armstrong said.
The RHO stressed that several other things were taken into immediate consideration as they were cognisant that if the residents were going to be protected, then quick and drastic measures would have had to be implemented.
She boasted that they were the first region that commenced screening at its entry points with the help of health facilities throughout the region.

“We were the first region that commenced screening at the point of entry into the region while we also commenced screening at all health facilities immediately, which helped us significantly,” the RHO added.
She further stated that contact tracing was an initiative that was put into action after they discovered their first case, stressing that health officials continue to fight this deadly disease through contact tracing.
“We also had our rapid response team, which helped us in garnering the samples, and with a constant education drive, it had helped to boost our overall efforts in this fight,” Dr Armstrong asserted.
However, the region’s COVID-19 Coordinator, Dr Michael Marks, stated that the region had developed an education programme and found out that there is a lot of knowledge perception of COVID-19, declaring that it is influenced by the actions internationally.
“Nationally we have been preaching one thing about COVID 19, but we are seeing that from other countries they are adapting to other views of coexisting with the disease, what also contributes to the cavalier approach to COVID-19 is that there were phases being placed and as such, persons were anxious.”
Dr Marks, however, expressed sincere and deep concerns about people becoming vulnerable and carefree in their behaviour because they are eager to get past these phases.
“This is one of greatest concerns as it maximises our task, and it will make our work very harder,” he noted.
Dr Marks disclosed that 106 tests were conducted in the region and they are awaiting the results of six. He also said that there was only one death with seven recoveries and only two active cases now.
This, he stressed, is a testimony that more than half of the region’s cases have recovered. He added that efforts in ensuring that residents remain safe are evident in the enormous and continued hard work by all.