Nurses' head: Covid19 figures may be 5-6 times 'official' numbers

President of the TT Registered Nurses' Association (TTRNA) Idi Stuart has suggested the actual numbers of covid19 cases may be five or six times the number officially recorded.

Giving an example of a nurse who tried to get herself tested, he said, "It's almost like they don't want to test them.

"So we are aware we should multiply current figures by five or six to get an idea of what our actual caseload is in TT."

When Newsday spoke with Stuart on Friday, he said two of the most recent cases of covid19 were nurses assigned to the maternity block of the Port of Spain General Hospital.

Stuart said both nurses were told to stay at home until health authorities could pick them up and take them to a quarantine facility, but he did not know if that had been done up to Friday afternoon.

He said the cases have caused some concern among staff, who felt testing was not being done fast enough to allow for timely quarantine.

"It has caused some unease with the pace with which testing was being done and the continued refusal by the testing agencies to carry out testing on healthcare workers unless they meet specific criteria.

"I had a nurse who was a primary contact herself who went for testing herself as a precaution and was turned down at her health facility in her area and told to go to St Joseph. She spent the whole day waiting in St Joseph for testing."

Stuart said there was need for a more efficient testing method for nurses to better prevent against the spread of the virus and warned that unless quick testing was made available to suspected cases, a larger surge of infections was possible.

"It should be done immediately, not having to wait for a week to pass. It's taking too long.

"We are already in August. From March to now we have had six months of experience with covid, and we should be working much more efficiently. If we can't control it within the health community, we won't be able to control it in the wider community."