Since the worrying outbreak caused by the ‘super spreader’ event in February, Barbados has done a good job of pulling back COVID 19 infections numbers. For the most part Barbadians have observed the protocols/directives and compared to countries near and far done excellently to administer the Covid 19 vaccine as a primary measure to combat the rampaging pandemic.
The blogmaster again takes the opportunity to thank Lyall Small who has been diligent to submit information formatted for 101 public use – see graphs below. The graphs show that compared to others in the region we are faring better than most but there is work still to be done until we are able to satisfactorily arrest the virus.
Against the forgoing the blogmaster is concerned we have religious zealots among us who blinded by an all-powering ignorance would adopt a behaviour to jeopardize the health of people on the island and economic state of the country. The blogmaster is of the strong belief Lynroy Scantlebury and his wife Heather of World Harvest Ministries International Church, based in Speightstown, St Peter should be made to feel the full weight of the law. His followers blindly following this idiot by continuing to avoid calls from authorities to present themselves should also be hauled before the court. One quality we have to nurture as a society if we are to break free from a pervasive mediocrity suffocating our little island is to respect the value DISCIPLINE adds to all that we do – see Nation News posted below for background to the matter at hand.
Why should the rest of Barbados suffer hardship to keep COVID 19 at bay and others who profess to walk a moral high ground ignore protocols and directives set by an elected government that come back to bite us in the asses where it hurts.
NO!
Attached are C-19 graphs for the week ending 16th April 2021. Barbados is now showing a slight but possibly worrying upward trend in daily cases, as well as positivity percentages (even though these are still below the benchmark levels). These indications are possibly mainly due to the cluster at a northern church which might not have been totally eliminated. The active cases chart also appears to tell the same story. The authorities, from this week’s press conference, appear to be concentrating on this cluster and will hopefully be successful in eliminating it, given their good performance so far – See COVID Updates
Lyall Small
COME OUT!
Bostic tells church members to stop hiding, get tested
By barryalleyne@nationnews.com
Stop hiding! Come out and get tested!
Minister of Health and Wellness Jeffrey Bostic did not mince words yesterday, as he urged members of a northern church to stop dodging public health officials who are conducting contact tracing into a cluster of COVID-19 cases.
He said public health officials had been hamstrung this week as they attempted to find people associated with the church.
Earlier this week in a story broken by the Midweek Nation, it was revealed that 19 members of the World Harvest Ministries International Church, based in Speightstown, St Peter, had tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. That number has since increased.
Its leader, Apostle Lynroy Scantlebury and his wife Heather, admitted that they were later ordered by Chief Medical Officer Dr Kenneth George to report to Paragon in Christ Church, for him and his spouse to start a period of quarantine.
“My concern is this church cluster occupying the Ministry of Health and Wellness,” Bostic told a national press briefing yesterday, after confirming that nine of the country’s 12 newest COVID-19 infections were related to the church.
“I would like to appeal to all persons associated with that church in the north, if you haven’t been contacted, it’s either you haven’t been told of your possible exposure to the virus, or because you are hiding. If you don’t care about your status, I care and the Ministry of Health cares. If you remain in hiding, it could be detrimental to your health.”
Matter of urgency
He then urged those from the church who remained untested to present to the Wildey Gymnasium as a matter of urgency, or to any medical facility of their choosing.
Bostic said three of the 12 new cases had already been at the Harrison Point facility in St Lucy beingassessed, but what worried
him most was that the other nine individuals were all directly related to the church. He added that two families, one of four, and one of three people, all members of the church, had tested positive, and another two were not members but indirectly connected to an organisation that had its members exposed to the virus.
In response to a question by reporters, the minister said they were glad the leaders of the church were placed in quarantine, and having them at their disposal would allow the Chief Medical Officer to “vigorously continue the investigation into the cluster”.
“We don’t yet have all the information. We are very, very closely monitoring this situation. Nothing is being ruled out. The aim is to contain the spread of the disease in Barbados, and we will do whatever we have to do to do that,” he added.
Bostic added that public health personnel, in their investigation, would also determine if to take the matter further.
Scantlebury had claimed that COVID-19 had been planted at his church.
“This was planted at our church,” he had told the Midweek Nation in a telephone interview from his quarantine at Paragon. “We never had any cases of COVID at World Harvest. Not one single case.”
In yesterday’s Weekend Nation,some of his members demanded an apology from him, saying they felt misled by the church and fell victim to Scantlebury’s many statements that COVID-19 could not touch the church.
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.