Basseterre, St. Kitts, October 01, 2021 (SKNIS): Like many other countries globally, St. Kitts and Nevis implemented isolation and quarantine measures to help protect the general public from exposure to people who have or may have contracted COVID-19. Against this backdrop, the Minister of Health, the Honourable Akilah Byron-Nisbett, addressed matters related to isolation, quarantine and management of cases at the Sitting of the National Assembly on September 30.
“As we are aware, the number of active cases continues to increase. This also means that the cadre of case managers will also be increased. We currently have seven (7) case managers in St. Kitts and that number will be increased to 10 in St.Kitts. There are currently three (3) in Nevis and this number will remain the same for now,” said Minister Byron-Nisbett. “Each case will be contacted by his or her case manager. However, each case is advised to maintain constant contact with the assigned case manager to help prevent deterioration in medical conditions. So, if you start to feel worse while you are in quarantine, we are asking you to reach out to your case manager who would be able to assist you with a medical response to help prevent you from getting to a point of being severe,” she added.
Minister Byron-Nisbett said that stricter measures will be implemented to ensure that the same information is disseminated to the general public to avoid any misconception.
“Our case managers, contact tracers and testers will all be sharing the same information to the public. So, it doesn’t matter who you speak with, they will all be providing you with the same information because we have been getting reports that persons have been receiving mixed information. We are going to ensure from our ministry’s end that all of our case managers, contact tracers, testers, even our clerks and nurses, all provide the same information to the general public,” said the health minister.
The health minister noted that assistance will also be sought from the various hotels regarding testing.
“One of the recommendations that we will also be putting forward is for us to be able to engage with our hotels and encourage them to utilize the hotel doctors and nurses to help with taking of the swabs from their guests each morning and transporting those samples to the relevant laboratory in a timely manner. This will decrease the burden on our Public Health system,” she said.
