Special Advisor to the Ministry of Health, Dr Ronald E. Georges explained the reason behind the decision to wait 10 days before testing during a live interview titled ‘COVID-19: Ask the Experts’ with Government Information Service (GIS) last night, March 29, 2021.

“The reason that that is done is because if you are exposed today, you have a potential incubation period of at least 14 days, so there is no point testing today because you are not going to test positive, so you have to wait to see if anything happens in terms of if you do become positive.”

“At 10 days, we are looking at 90 something per cent of persons who would become positive who would be positive, so that is actually a better time to test. So there were some people who were trying to get tested today, and that is not necessary, it’s not advisable, you are putting yourself at risk potentially, and you are also potentially causing congestion in the system,” he stated.

Leading the panel during a live interview titled ‘COVID-19: Ask the Experts’ with Government Information Service last evening, March 29, 2021, were Minister for Health and Social Development, Hon Carvin Malone (AL) (Top Right), Chief Medical Officer Dr Irad Potter (Bottom Left) along with Dr Ronald E. Georges (Bottom Right).

Mass testing

According to Dr Georges, special arrangements are being made to accommodate the large number of persons that would need to be tested.

The mass testing will be done at the Ebenezer Thomas Primary School in Sea Cows Bay on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.

Health authorities have said they are in possession of a roster of persons who would have attended the funeral, to further aid with contact tracing.