Email

Print

Patient #10, 65-year-old Conrad Everett, died at the KHMH in the early morning hours of Good Friday. And after his death events moved quickly. This morning Cherisse Halsall set out to recap the new cases and new clusters identified over the strangest easter weekend in memory.

Cherisse Halsall reporting
The Patient, 63-year-old Conrad Everett was hospitalized here at the private Belize Healthcare partners on March 27th

Dr. Marvin Manzanero, Director Of Health Services
"So the patient was initially admitted on the 27th of March at Belize Healthcare partners limited. He had an initial diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia and he was there until March 3rd, which is when we understand, he self-discharged himself from the institution and returned on March 31st with respiratory distress. He was intubated on March 31st at HealthCare partners limited."

Rt. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"This particular case is accompanied by some nightmarish circumstances as to the exposure of many persons to the patient before he died. In the result, the overall picture clearly demonstrates the possibility of widespread transmission of the virus."

The first question is how widespread was transmission at the KHMH?

Dr. Marvin Manzanero, Director Of Health Services
"The ICU staff at Karl Heusner did consider this patient to be a potential suspect as we do with any patient who's had a previous negative sample so that patient was, I mean the staff did use the proper PPE's in that regard."

But that opinion has been condemned as contradictory and misleading by the Hospital workers union They say that quote: "….(many) staff who came in first contact with Patient #10…used a mere surgical face mask and gloves at A&E, the same were used at the ICU with a linen gown…Limited N95 masks and surgical gowns were provided to the ICU staff upon the patient's admission. {...}These PPEs are claimed to be held under lock and key due to the fear of wastage by the staff.…"

But whether or not the PPE's were adequate the KHMH isn't taking any chances and the hospital has taken the decision to swab and quarantine all staff members who came in direct contact with the patient when he was in an acute state.

But before all that, Ministry of Health contact tracing has lead them to downtown Belize City, an area of concern where a cluster of infections could have been spawned:

Cherisse Halsall
"It started here at the Downtown Plaza where on Saturday, March 14th there was a party an unknown number of persons attended including some with a recent travel history from the US."

And then, across the street to Brodies where an immediate relative of patient 10 worked. She has also tested positive.

It goes on to Scotia Bank Albert Street where yet another immediate relative worked. All 3 businesses were shut today

Now the Ministry of Health is asking that those who were in attendance at that March 14th party call their hotline for instructions on self-isolation and whether or not they should be swabbed.

And today the Director of Health services had this to say about the party's guest list:

Dr. Marvin Manzanero, Director Of Health Services
"We are tying this particular last cluster to a social activity that involved preliminary data suggesting up to 100 people."

"I don't think we have a full guest list or we or we didn't have it that's the reason why we made the call yesterday."

"That's the potential ground zero may have been for that particular cluster."

"So when you trace back the previous 14 days then you go to an activity on the 14th of march that had people who had come in from the US, New York we are now told and that's where the potential outbreak may have happened."

An outbreak whose dimensions may take weeks to be fully known.

But what about the fallout for the country's largest hospital? Union workers at the KHMH say that at the time that Patient #10 was transferred, he arrived with a negative COVID test result. So, the union claims he wasn't classified as a Person Under Investigation - which is why the staff at the Accident and Emergency did not use the appropriate PPE's.

Now, the KHMH Administration says, quote, "Use and type of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) is based on the patient's diagnosis and the procedure being performed. The assigned staff complied with the use of PPEs based on the information provided at the time of referral and adhered to the standard precautions outlined in the National Infection Prevention and Control Guidelines." End quote.

In a press release responding to Hospital, workers' concerns the KHMH says quote: "Urgent arrangements are being made towards decontamination and closure of the Intensive Care Unit ("ICU")."

As for Albert Street, Brodies downtown will be closed until next week Monday and the same for Scotiabank. But are closed for decontamination.