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COVID Concerns On Caye Caulker
posted (August 12, 2020)
And surely, a good many of those calls are coming from Caye Caulker right now, which was confirmed with its first positive case on Monday night.

At this time, that patient is the first out of a total of 254 positive cases countrywide to be identified on the island.

Today, we got a chance to speak with the chairperson of the Caye Caulker Village Council about the fact that this deadly and contagious virus has now arrived at their community.

Here's what she told our Daniel Ortiz this afternoon, via a teleconference interview:

Seleny Villanueva Pott, Chairlady, Caye Caulker Village Council
"We know that the first positive case has been identified. We do know that he is a male. That is what the DHS said, other than that we are nor really sure the details, because the ministry has no obligation to reveal who it is due to patient confidentiality in health. That's a very big thing. The only thing we worry about is that it's a really small community and we interact a lot and that really is everybody's worry and that's why I think it's important that contact tracing is done quickly on the island, because there is a lot of interactions between villages on a daily basis. The island is just do small. It's just a matter of time to see the contact tracing done here on the island and see if we have any more cases related to the one. It was some good news to know that the first positive case they said it was somewhat isolated, so we just have to wait and see what more will come out of the other swabs that were done here."

Reporter
"In the event that a community spread is identified in Caye Caulker, are you guys think you are adequately prepared to handle it?"

Seleny Villanueva Pott
"We are not adequately prepared. We only have maybe 3 nurses right now and 1 doctor, but I am sure that ministry of health will send the additional staffing if needed. As we speak there is a public health officer who is assisting with contact tracing. The nurses have been on contact tracing since yesterday I think. They've been working very hard and I'd hate to knock my colleagues when I know they've been trying their best. I think they've been doing a pretty good job at the contact tracing and I would want to encourage them to continue working hard."

The Village Chair was speaking to us from her home, where she is now in voluntary isolation. That's because she has been swabbed for Covid-19, on the possibility that she may have contracted the virus herself.

In a Facebook post from 5 hours ago, Villanueva-Pott said, quote, "I came into contact with the positive person in my line of duty and I have been exhibiting some flu-like symptoms… I have been in isolation since the results of the positive case. I believe in leading by example, and will continue to do so." End quote.

We asked her about the possibility that she may also test positive for COVID-19, and here's what she had to say about that:

Seleny Villanueva Pott
"I started to manifest flu-like symptoms. I have runny nose and a slight flu with slight fever, but other than that I am fine. I have a good appetite, I love eating. I am sure if it's a flu that's passing through or if its Covid. I don't know and that why the nurses said for us to be precautious and let's do a swab and if it's the right thing to do I will do it. I've been in contact with a lot of people, but I've been very careful. As a pharmacist, the minute we knew that there were cases popping up, in my pharmacy there are different regimens that we practice: we must wear mask, we must wash our hands as often as possible, we have spray bottles as soon as we finish touching money we would spray our hands. I even installed a service window in my pharmacy, so we've been taken all the necessary precautions and I know I did made contact with a couple people who we are suspecting, we are not sure, but they are pending results as well and because of my flu-like symptoms that is why they insisted on testing me and we just have to wait. It could be a false alarm, it could be positive, I don't know."

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