Government wasn't prepared for reopening of borders, says public health expert

 

Peter Figueroa, Professor of Public Health at the UWI Mona, has said the increase in COVID-19 cases is an indication that the government was not prepared for the reopening of the Jamaica's borders.

 

He said the administration was also slow in reinforcing the message to citizens that they must take specific actions to protect themselves. 

 

"I think there was an ambiguous message to people because people seemed to believe that we had controlled the epidemic and somehow we had done very well, but did not appreciate that COVID was going to come back and the strategy that we used to try and manage the return of the COVID was inadequate, so it was inevitable that we were going to get increasing cases and increasing spread," he reasoned.  

 

Professor Figueroa said with two public hospitals reaching capacity for COVID-19 patients, more stringent measures will be required, as the health authorities are no longer in full control of the situation. 

 

"The surge is beginning to race ahead of them, so a dilemma faces the country now, 'How are we going to control the spread?' Because if the surge really continues to take off, you face the problem that you're gonna get more severe cases, you're gonna get an increase in death and you're gonna get severe stress on the health services," he warned. 

 

Professor Figueroa was a guest Thursday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106.