THE Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) which has oversight responsibility for 52 childcare facilities across the island has activated a National Emergency Disaster Committee as it prepares to protect some 4,000 children under its supervision should the dreaded coronavirus COVID-19 hit the island’s shores.

This week, at least two high-level strategy meetings have been held with key representatives from across the CPFSA’s network.

Participants, including facility managers, children’s officers, and members of the executive management discussed preparations for the agency’s various offices and childcare facilities islandwide, the Observer has learnt. Of the 52 facilities, nine are owned and operated by the Government of Jamaica.

There are roughly 2,000 children in homes and another 2,000 in foster care across the island. The CPFSA has some 15 offices.

“They discussed preparation for both our offices and childcare facilities, [and] certain measures are now being put in place,” a source told the Jamaica Observer.

Those measures include placing sanitisation dispensers in facilities and offices, limiting visitor access to childcare facilities, and disbursing emergency funds to all these locations.

“Emphasis is placed on facilities with special needs children and those with respiratory and other illnesses,” the Observer was told.

Arrangements are also being made for public health nurses to visit facilities and educate children about proper hand-washing and hygiene practices, the Observer was informed.

In addition, two locations have been identified as possible isolation facilities for occupants of childcare facilities, one in Kingston and the other in St Ann.

Meanwhile, at yesterday’s meeting of the National Disaster Risk Management Council at Jamaica House, the Ministry of Education Youth and Information (MoEYI) was among several ministries that provided updates on their level of preparedness for dealing with COVID- 19.

According to minister with oversight for education, Karl Samuda, the MoEYI will be issuing funds to schools across the island to purchase hygiene products in preparation for the possible threat of COVID-19.

He said that each school will be provided with $30,000 to $50,000 for the purpose of procuring items such as soap and sanitiser.

In the meantime, parents and guardians of children who exhibit flu-like symptoms are being advised to keep them home, instead of sending them to school.

COVID-19, a new form of the coronavirus, originated in Wuhan, China, and has now spread to over 60 countries worldwide, almost 40 of which have been in the last two weeks alone.

Jamaica’s Health Ministry, while indicating that there are currently no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the island, said focus is being placed on activities to reduce the risk of exposure among the local population and enhance the capacity of the public health system to manage patients in the event that there are cases.

Those efforts, it said, include imposed travel restrictions on China, Italy, South Korea, Singapore, and Iran; the patrol of unofficial borders; sensitisation of key personnel at all air and sea ports; as well as the identification and, as appropriate, retrofitting of quarantine and isolation 0facilities.

The ministry, among other things, says it has also developed the local capacity to test for the virus; assessed the readiness of public health facilities to meet the anticipated increase in demand on services; and trained health personnel.

It said the efforts are underpinned by a communications campaign to keep Jamaicans abreast on the developments regarding the virus with oversight provided by the multisectoral National Disaster Risk Management Council led by Prime Minister Andrew Holness.