Director of Health Services Speaks on COVID Patients and Elections
Marvin Manzanero
Prime Minister Dean Barrow has announced that COVID-19 positive persons who are eligible to vote will not be allowed to on November eleventh. Barrow says that it cannot be permitted because patients should be in quarantine and the logistics exercise would be extremely difficult. The anticipation is that those who are not positive will not come out and vote because of their fear of catching the virus. Director of Health Services, Doctor Marvin Manzanero says that no one who is positive should be anywhere out in public. The recommendation came out of the National Oversight Committee.
Dr. Marvin Manzanero, Director of Health Services
“If you are symptomatic, visible symptomatic I don’t think it should be recommended that you be anywhere. The recommendations that we have been making are to be considered. Understand that if you are visible symptomatic you will be more like to be infectious, and so you are more like to be passing on the virus to others. That is one. Two, it also has to do with levels of fears that people are going to be able undertake and keeping track of all those persons that are potentially positive. I think that is a grey area in determining levels of safety.”
Hipolito Novelo
“The probability that more cases will emerge on Nomination Day and Elections Day is high.”
Dr. Marvin Manzanero
“If we are able to adhere to what has been clearly stipulated as a prevention measure I don’t know if that should be a concern and I expressed that to Elections and Boundaries when I met with them last week because I know people are concern with the touching the pen or the pencil, the ballot paper, the dipping of the finger in ink. And I was explaining to them where the real risk is. So if people are able to just go in and vote and go home and not having this mass congregation anywhere then I think it should be a pretty safe process and procedures similarly to what should happen on Wednesday.”
Hipolito Novelo
“Okay so I go back to my original question. Taking into consideration if what you just said and what you previously said, is it safe for COVID-19 patients to go and vote? I ask again because as you say you have people out there walking with it, asymptomatic people who as we speak now have not been detected by the system.”
Dr. Marvin Manzanero
“That is correct and that is why I go back to what I said. If you are visibly symptomatic you are more likely to have a high viral load. You risk is going to be higher in passing of the virus. But you see it is the elements of not being able to do that, the elements of people who know they are positive still walking around. So it is how you balance that situation. I don’t know if you are discipline enough to be able to keep those principles. The same factors that you see or that you asked that are driving the situation in Orange Walk could be the factors that drive a situation on Nomination Day or on Election Day. Si if we have not been able to get a good grasps of that then you can anticipate that something will happen.”
Hipolito Novelo
“In your meeting with the E and B, Elections and Boundaries was it discussed any possibility or any information of any procedures that would allow COVID-19 patients to vote?”
Dr. Marvin Manzanero
“No, no we did not reach that discussion.”
