Magdalene Poponne-Alexander, a senior community health nurse and supervisor of the government quarantine facility in Portsmouth, has provided a detailed statistics of the people that have been quarantined at the facility since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in Dominica. She gave a breakdown of the number of people exposed to COVID-19 before and after the nation’s borders were reopened, and isolated at the facility.
Poponne-Alexander a total of 1,374 people have been quarantined at the government isolation centre since the pandemic started in the country. She said this figure includes 42 unauthorized entries where 671 males and 696 females and children quarantined at the facility. She further disclosed that 859 people comprising of Dominican nationals and facility visitors have been at the centre since the borders were reopened – representing 62% of the total number of people admitted for quarantine at the facility.
The senior community health nurse further revealed that 31 males and 38 females are presently quarantined at the government facility, and will be discharged once they complete their treatments or test negative for the pandemic. According to her, 1,087 people have been swabbed for PCR tests and 1,300 discharged from the facility, while the five persons who tested positive during isolation have been moved to the St. James COVID-19 Centre for appropriate treatment and care.
She further explained that given the total number of people who entered the country and got quarantined at the facility, 810 came in through Douglas-Charles Airport, 31 entered the country through the Longhouse seaport in Portsmouth, and 18 got into the country through the backdoor.
However, quarantine coordinator said health workers at the facility have been giving their best to care for inmates and manage their situations as best as possible, but many of the inmates are not cooperative and seemingly abusive of the process. “Currently the greatest challenge faced by the staff at the facility is the non-acceptance of the quarantine protocol by individuals,” Poponne-Alexander disclosed.
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