Manager of Isolation Facilities, Dr. Corey Forde, has urged young people in Barbados to get tested and vaccinated.
He was speaking last evening during a COVID-19 update and press conference at Ilaro Court.
Noting that with the first outbreak, the persons who presented at the Harrison Point Isolation Facility were in their 60s, 70s and 80s, Dr. Forde said: “We’re having many young people between the ages of …25 and 27, and that is worrisome. And they all had symptoms…. I think if these persons presented to the healthcare system or went to the doctors, things probably would have been different. So, I think that’s important, getting tested is important.”
He disclosed the medical conditions of the young persons who are at the isolation facility. “We have three persons in the general Intensive Care Unit (ICU) primary area, that would be … two males and one female…. Two of them are extremely ill, what we will classify as severely ill and are intermittently on ventilator support. The other individual, another young female is stable at this particular point, but we continue to watch; continue to provide the care that she requires.”
Dr. Forde continued: “In our secondary isolation area … we have one non-national there. She’s quite well, and we have a recovering male who is in that area who is Barbadian, who was extremely ill at presentation, but who is doing quite well, at this point. We have one pregnant female, … six children, two males and four females, between the ages of two and 15.”
He called on each person in Barbados to focus on the Latin phrase “Allis Non Sibi” – for others not self – and to work towards reducing the spread of COVID-19.
“If you have a cough, a cold, a fever; if you have shortness of breath; if you think your sinuses have gone off, if you have a headache; if you have diarrhea, some of the patients presented with this. [I am] asking you, pleading with you, as we try to figure out and get things back together in this country where we were a few weeks ago. I’m pleading and begging you to go and get tested,” the Infectious Disease Specialist urged.
Dr. Forde sought to reassure persons that they should get vaccinated, noting that what was important was that the evidence shows that “there is a serious benefit to be vaccinated”.
He stressed: “There’s nobody in this country who doesn’t want another lockdown more than me. I want to get back to normalcy…. I’m asking you genuinely this evening to please follow the protocols; go and get vaccinated…. You want to fete; you want to party; you want to do all of these things, right? You want to keep going to church as normal, right? These are the things we have to do.”