by Linda Straker
- First new individual is a 73-year-old male who arrived in Grenada from United Kingdom
- Second individual, a 70-year-old male taxi driver, interacted with a previously diagnosed case
- To date, 45 people have been tested, 12 tested positive, 4 results pending
As he updated the nation on the number of persons tested positive, Health Minister, Nickolas Steele, disclosed that several of Grenada’s Covid-19 positive cases had significant movement in the community. Health officials are engaging in aggressive contact tracing to identify persons who were exposed to or contracted the virus from those persons.
“I have constantly stated that our healthcare team is sparing no effort in ascertaining the possibility of community spread here in the State of Grenada, because while all cases so far have been imported or import-related, several of those have had significant movement in the community, and we are following up with every possible contact,” Steele said.
On Friday, 3 April, he announced in a 4 pm update that Grenada has 2 more laboratory-confirmed cases of Covid-19, bringing the total confirmed cases to 12. However, there are only 11 cases in Grenada, since one person fled the country with his wife and child. He had arrived in Grenada on a flight from the United Kingdom on 16 March.
Steele said that the first new individual is a 73-year-old male, who arrived in Grenada from the United Kingdom with his wife, who is one of those previously tested positive for the virus. “The couple had sat within the 6-foot radius of our first case on that 16 March UK flight. The husband became symptomatic on 31 March and was tested on 1 April. He has been quarantined since his wife was tested and is being monitored closely.”
The second individual, a 70-year-old male taxi driver, had interacted with a previously diagnosed case before that case was tested. Through contact tracing by health officials, he was found on 27 March and placed under quarantine. He started exhibiting symptoms consistent with those of Covid-19 and was subsequently tested on 1 April.
Grenada has not issued a call for all persons who entered the country during the week of 16-22 March, but the minister said these persons are a priority for contact tracing. “I want to reassure that healthcare officials have been aggressively engaged in contact tracing, especially of individuals who arrived in Grenada during the 16–22 March period.” Steele explained that most of Grenada’s positive Covid-19 cases arrived or are linked to someone who arrived during that period. Hundreds of passengers arrived in Grenada during that period.
The 2 new cases are stable and exhibiting mild to moderate symptoms. However, 2 of the previously announced cases are now in the ICU, having developed complications from pneumonia. The minister said that those in ICU are in stable condition.
To date, 45 people have been tested. Twelve people have tested positive and there are 4 results pending. All cases have been reported to the World Health Organisation and the Pan American Health Organisation.
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Dear God, Please watch over the tiny island of Grenada. You know that they really can’t handle the carona virus because of insufficient medical staff, equipments and the list goes on
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. Help them to follow protoco! l
When they contact people through contact tracing they asking were you close to the person some are saying no. And they forget about them. This is not right. All persons should be quarantined and tested if possible. Because some people do not show symptoms of the virus. Also some of us are irresponsible and are afraid to visit doctors and take tests.
Why oh why is China not speaking up apologizing to all the countries of the world this epidemic started in China they showed no sympathy or empathy for the rest of the word the rest of the nation’s is Coronavirus covid-19 originated from there they should be apologetic and the world’s Nation leaders should make them take blame, there should be consequences and repercussions to their action, if it would have been America that caused this pandemic the rest of the world be all over us blaming us pointing fingers
self – quarantine is not working
from the beginning the authorities were advised to use Maribeau Hospital as a Quarantine Station.
Are they trying not to spend money so if people get infected and die, it the family responsibility
That person could not have got on that plane to Canada and potentially infect so much people.
Please do not politicize this. Take some effective advice
If the Ports were closed as first advised, that first case would have never been IMPORTED
Why not publish the names of these folks so that we can know whether we had contact with any of them? I was in a taxi on March 23, perhaps I was driven by this same driver? Would this not make tracing far more complete and more efficient?
Because that violates health privacy laws
I simply cannot comprehend how so little has been done to have ALL those individuals deemed worthy of contact tracing who arrived within the noted time window of infection not traced. Words such as “aggressive” is being used to describe the Ministry of Health’s efforts but as far as I am concerned not enough is being done if cases continue to increase as well as positive cases fleeing the country only to jeopardize those citizens to whom they will get into contact with. The effects of our negligence in not containing all positive cases will be disastrous as well as identifying worthy cases to be tested will prove detrimental and disastrous for Grenadians.
Am sure numerous people travelled with the Taxi driver after the particular case..
Will we issue a call for persons who entered Grenada during 16-22 March? It seems that this will place us in a better position to proactively eliminate potential spread.
Given the known asymptomatic carrier state, exposed individuals identified through contact tracing must be quarantined and observed immediately, not waiting until they develop symptoms if we are to successfully stop the spread of the virus. We cannot delay!