Some COVID-19 patients not cooperating with health authorities – Deputy CMO

Contact-tracing is an important tool in the fight against the coronavirus. However, the Public Health Ministry have on their hands a situation wherein some patients are deliberately not cooperating with authorities when providing information on whom they’ve had contact with.

This is according to Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Karen Gordon-Boyle in an interview with this publication on Wednesday. She noted that while some patients cooperate fully, others give the Ministry a hard time by withholding information.
“There’s room for improvement with contact-tracing. Some persons are not willing to share their information in terms of where they’ve been and whom they’ve been with. I don’t think they recognise the importance of them cooperating, so that we can do our jobs,” Dr Gordon-Boyle said.
“You have to get that kind of information from them, but it’s been a struggle, very hard for some people. Other people understand and are very responsible, forthcoming, and they tell us their various contacts and we’re able to go after them,” she explained.
According to Dr. Gordon-Boyle, there isn’t much Public Health authorities can do about the situation, besides doing their own investigations and also sensitising the public on the issue. She noted that, in some cases, persons would willingly walk in and admit that they’ve had contact with someone diagnosed with the coronavirus.
“There isn’t much we can do. If someone tells you they haven’t been in contact with anyone for the past two weeks, they’ve been in the house all the time; or they tell you they’ve only been in contact with one person, it’s hard to know,” she explained.
“Sometimes what happens is you might have people turn up and say, ‘Oh, I understand you have this case,’ and sometimes that’s how we get information, but it’s not necessarily the way you want it. You want to be (pre-emptive),” Dr. Boyle explained.
Coronavirus is a multi-faceted pandemic. One of those facets is the risk it presents to persons who are Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) positive. In a video- broadcasted plea to such persons on Wednesday, Dr. Rhonda Moore, Director of the National Aids Programme Secretariat, urged that special precautions be taken.
“If you are living with HIV and you are not on treatment or are not virally suppressed, you are at increased risk of developing the most severe form of (coronavirus), which will require hospital stay and, in most cases, ICU care. It is also very possible that you may die,” Dr Moore explained.
She reminded that HIV attacks a person’s immune system, one of the body’s frontline defenders against coronavirus. A compromised immune system makes it extremely difficult for the body to fight off infections, including coronavirus.
As at April 22, 2020, Guyana had 67 cases of coronavirus infections and seven deaths. So far, 348 persons have been tested, with 281 turning up negative. There are 50 persons in institutional isolation, 17 in institutional quarantine, and three in the Intensive Care (ICU). However, there have been 10 cases of recovery. (Jarryl Bryan)