Deyalsingh: Suspected case at step-down facility

Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh has announced that there may be a suspected case of coronavirus at a step-down facility.

Speaking at a virtual media conference on Wednesday, Deyalsingh said it was at the Princess Elizabeth Centre, Ariapita Avenue.

Deyalsingh said staff at the centre was monitoring the patient, who was in stable condition.

In addition,Deyalsingh said there were 22 people at the Macoya step-down facility who did not have any symptoms.

Of the 12 step-down facilities, Deyalsingh said only six were being used, with the Augustus Long Hospital in Pointe-a-Pierre, the Arima Hospital, the National Academy of the Performing Arts and the Debe UWI campus still unoccupied.

The purpose of the facilities is to avoid an oversaturation of patients in hospitals by establishing a parallel system for treatment and monitoring.

During the conference Deyalsingh continued his call for the public to be vigilant and take the necessary precautions to avoid the spread of the virus, as he warned people that false negative test results did not necessarily clear them.

Citing the death of 13-year-old medical marijuana patient Charlotte Figi, in the US, Deyalsingh said false negative results could have fatal consequences.

"We've been hearing all along about false negatives," he said saying TT had resisted the temptation in TT and decided to accredit only private labs with reliable results.

"You have heard the CMO say on more than one occasion that too many results from private labs come back with false negatives. This is a clear indication of what a false negative can do: little Charlotte Figi apparently died from symptoms related to covid19."

Deyalsingh urged the parents of children with special needs or chronic illness to pay particular attention to their needs and condition during the outbreak.

On community spread, Deyalsingh said TT was still classified by the World Health Organization as having sporadic spread but analyses were still being done to determine if community spread was already under way.

He also said surveillance tests were being done in various regional health authorities, reporting that all 63 of the tests so far were negative.

He called on the public to do their part in reducing the chances of community spread by acting responsibly and staying at home.