Parasram: Religious reopening guidelines available Tuesday

CMO Dr Roshan Parasram said guidelines for the reopening of religious institutions should be released on Tuesday.

He said they had been developed in consultation with religious bodies.

The Prime Minister announced on Sunday that all religious bodies would be able to reopen on Thursday with physical distancing and other public health measures in place. Parasram said the guidelines would be circulated through the Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO) and via social media.

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said 212 students were expected to return to TT, 85 from Barbados and 127 from Jamaica, and they would be quarantined at the halls at UWI, St Augustine. He said the TT Defence Force was carrying out minor refurbishments and repairs at the halls, in conjunction with his ministry, and they should be ready at the end of the week.

Parasram said the 52 Disney cruise ship workers who recently returned to TT had come to the end of their quarantine period and will be allowed to return home Monday.

He said three people remained at the Home of Football in Couva.

Responding to new guidelines for facemasks issued by the WHO on June 6, the CMO said local guidelines were issued before then. He said NIPDEC is developing a quality assurance programme which it will send to the TT Bureau of Standards.

He also said, “CARIRI has indicated that for a period of one year, they will offer testing free of charge to anyone that is making a mask, to determine the efficacy of those masks, so NIPDEC will be going to TTBS and hopefully they will be going to CARIRI to determine the suitability of the masks before they actually distribute it, so that’s the process we’re using.”

He said there are guidelines from the health ministry with respect to the types of materials, their suitability, and the easiest way to make masks.

“They are somewhat in alignment to what the WHO would have put out. There may be subtle variances in terms of the thickness, the types of materials, those types of things, but the general principles remain similar to what WHO has put out.”

The new WHO guidelines say masks should have three layers: an inner layer of absorbent material such as cotton, a middle layer of non-woven material such as polypropylene, and an outer layer of non-absorbent material, such as polyester or polyester blend.

The CMO reiterated that places associated with childcare, such as daycare centres and nurseries, will remain closed until September.

He said where exams are taking place, physical distancing measures will be enforced, with three to four people in a room, as well as sanitisation before and after an exam.

Parasram said there has been a general decline in people presenting to health centres with respiratory illnesses who would then be tested for covid19. But he expected that cases of the common cold would increase as people begin to move around with the economy reopening, and they will also be tested for the virus once they go to a medical facility.