Unanswered questions about COVID-19
THE EDITOR, Madam:
WITH THE looming threat of the coronavirus reaching our shores, I am worried for us all. There are still so many unanswered questions. My staff, who hail from the inner city and environs, seem uninterested and unfazed as to what may lay in store for us.
During a lunch time tête-à-tête with them, one member jokingly suggested that they (the community) would “dust him out” if someone in his community got the dreaded illness.
Impetuous as this sound, the reality is that information is hugely lacking. Our discussion led to questions I could not answer but simply made an educated guess. We should be plugging the airwaves and television stations with detailed information, more than wash your hands often. Clarity is needed on the following:
If you start feeling flu or cold symptoms, what do you do? Jump in a taxi/ bus and go to hospital or a doctor’s office? Or stay home and treat the symptoms with over-thecounter multi-symptom pain/fever medication?
When do you go to hospital? Which hospital? Do you call the Ministry of Health? If you don’t have a private healthcare physician what do you do? If you use public transportation, how are you expected to get to hospital without contaminating dozens of people in the interim?
Is the lab test done on all persons showing symptoms? How long does it take to get the results of the COVID-19 test? How much does it cost? Who is quarantined and at what point? Are schools currently educating students about the virus, hygiene, contamination from surfaces?
PET DETECTION
Are veterinarians able to treat and test pets which may be contaminated? Do all parishes have triage centres ready to deal solely with this virus?
Have quarantine areas been set up in state-run facilities such as prisons, children’s homes, nursing homes, boarding schools?
Are public transport drivers being trained to protect themselves and their passengers and sterilising vehicles?
If one person in an office gets the virus, what is the procedure for other employees? Do they go to their doctor and get tested? Should employees be quarantined?
These and many other questions need to be addressed and aggressively publicised so as to not overwhelm hospitals and to avoid pandemonium. Distribute flyers, send texts and get advertisements out there and educate the public, sooner rather than later, when we may be in crisis mode.