Around 100 health workers quarantined due to ward incident

Health Minister Dr. Duane Sands indicated yesterday that about 100 health care workers from the Medical Surgical Ward II at Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) have been quarantined after a patient in the ward tested positive for COVID-19.

On Monday, the Public Hospitals Authority announced that following the confirmation of a COVID-19 case involving a patient on that ward, no further admissions will be made to the ward until further notice.

Yesterday, Sands told The Nassau Guardian, “We have more than a hundred health care workers quarantined but some of them are from previous exposures and are expected back to work.

“For this episode, possibly as many as 100 [are quarantined]. Not everybody believes that everyone who is quarantined should be quarantined and that is a discussion that is going on, even at the level of the medical staff because we use a fairly rigid — I don’t want to say all or none — definition of exposure.

“Whether we maintain that position in consultation with the medical staff and so on and so forth, we may change. But, certainly, the goal is not to endanger anybody’s safety or health but it’s to look at what’s best practices.”

So far, nine healthcare workers have tested positive for the virus, according to Sands.

There are 70 confirmed COVID-19 cases in The Bahamas.

The minister previously said the government is “keenly aware of the heightened vulnerability” of health care workers during the pandemic.

On April 6, Sands said the government was considering establishing “relief accommodations” to house at least 100 health care workers during this time.

Sands said yesterday that for the past several weeks, the government has been providing relief accommodations to health care workers who are working during the COVID-19 pandemic and to those who have been exposed to the virus.

“There are several places that we have used,” he said.

“Now, we’re trying to, as this thing settles down, we have to pay attention to the sustainability.”

He said this is costing “hundreds of thousands of dollars”.

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source https://thenassauguardian.com/2020/04/23/around-100-health-workers-quarantined-due-to-ward-incident/