MANDEVILLE, Manchester — The spike in novel coronavirus cases in this south-central parish continues to worsen with health officials reporting a crisis at Mandeville Regional Hospital where, up to yesterday, 34 staff members had tested positive for COVID-19.

Additionally, the hospital is stretched with a full isolation ward and patients being moved from other wards into isolation after testing positive for the virus.

Acting medical officer of health Dr Shonette Blair-Walters told the monthly meeting of the Manchester Municipal Corporation yesterday that health officials are trying to minimise the risk of spreading the virus at the hospital.

“The Mandeville Regional Hospital has cases not only on the isolation ward based on these numbers. The hospital is a regional [facility], it has cases not just for the parish of Manchester. There are cases for many parishes at the hospital,” she said,

“We have now exceeded our capacity on the isolation ward… We do have cases that are found on the other wards. We are trying to manage those as best as possible, to reduce spread to other individuals,” she added.

Southern Regional Health Authority (SRHA) Director Michael Bent told the Jamaica Observer yesterday that there were 26 COVID patients admitted at the hospital, while staff from the operating theatre and six other wards are in isolation.

The SRHA, which has oversight of the facility, in a press release yesterday said since last March, 61 of the hospital’s 780 staff members have contracted the virus, of which 27 have fully recovered and are back at work.

A surge plan has been activated to manage the overwhelming numbers of COVID patients and reduced staff complement.

Bent reiterated the availability of other facilities for recovering patients.

“The surge plan’s first tier includes repurposing an additional ward to serve as a 16-bed isolation ward, and redistribution of patients who can be managed at other hospitals in the region. In addition, there is a 30-bed facility at the Kendal Camp and Conference Centre in Manchester, and a 12-bed facility at Font Hill, St Elizabeth, for recovering patients who do not need hospitalisation,” he said.

He also sought to ease public concern about the situation at the hospital.

“We assure the public that while we are stretched, we are not broken, as from the onset of the pandemic we have anticipated most of the challenges we now face. We continue to serve the public in the best way possible in all areas of health care, thanks to our dedicated team,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Blair-Walters said health-care workers were not necessarily infected while on the job.

“Just like other persons in our community, there are times when health-care workers drop their guard. Globally, it has been observed that health-care workers tend to drop their guard outside of the workplace, so many times they become infected not on the job, but outside of the workplace,” she said.

“… Sometimes they fall prey to the infection in other circumstances. This is not to say that they may not pick up the infection in the workplace,” she added.

The hospital’s CEO Alwyn Miller disclosed that investigations revealed that 10 of the active cases are likely to have been contracted outside the hospital.

He had told the Observer on Wednesday that an assessment would be done of the operating theatre after 27 of its staff contracted COVID-19, but stated that there were sufficient staff members to attend to emergencies.

In Manchester North-Eastern, Percy Junor Hospital is being closely monitored.

“There is a similar picture happening at the Percy Junor Hospital, not yet bursting at the seams, but a great concern,” said Dr Blair-Walters.

She disclosed that hospitals in the southern region (Clarendon, Manchester, and St Elizabeth) “are reporting similar situations”.

Manchester, up to press time yesterday, had recorded 1,279 confirmed cases, 402 of which were active, and 40 deaths.

“As it relates to the COVID-19 situation in Manchester our cases spread right across the parish. We, however, have noticed a concentration of cases mostly centrally, [that is] Mandeville and its immediate surrounding communities. We also have a concentration of cases in the northern sections of the parish,” she said.

“We have seen increases in the south, but those cases are less than in the north,” she said, adding that seven of the deaths “occurred in the last week-and-a-half to two weeks”.

The doctor also said the Health Department’s operation centre “is at its wits’ end at this time receiving calls, making calls and ensuring that those particular individuals [active cases] are given their information and are checked upon to ensure that they are following the guidelines”.

“… In recent days we have hit some high numbers. We have never had those numbers before, and certainly these numbers are not necessarily reflecting behaviours today, but [those] prior to, and we are now reaping the consequences of those behaviours,” she added.

“Our emphasis really is to stop and get people to think about their behaviour and to change. The numbers will continue to rise if we do not change our behaviour,” she said.

Mayor of Mandeville Donovan Mitchell was unhappy with the situation.

“We are in a crisis in the parish. We all would have been…. reading the Observer and realising what is happening in the parish…. Something seems to be falling on deaf ears. The health services in the parish are not too far from a crisis… We can’t take business in the parish as usual,” he said.