COVID-19 Cases Double Over Easter Weekend; Another Casualty is Reported
Conrad Everett
The number of persons infected by COVID 19 doubled over the Easter weekend. As of this afternoon, six hundred and twenty-nine persons have been tested; of that amount eighteen persons are positive. Notably so far, the Orange Walk, Stann Creek and Toledo Districts have not reported any confirmed case but the Belize District accounts for most of the persons carrying the virus. Of the eighteen cases, two men have died; the latest victim is retired BATSUB mechanic, Conrad Everett. And a number of his family members are in a cluster, who have tested positive. But there is a much wider group of persons who attended a party along with Conrad. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
Another casualty of coronavirus disease 2019 has been recorded by the Ministry of Health. Conrad Everett, a resident of Belize City, is the second victim to have lost his battle with the highly infectious contagion. The affirmative test result for the sixty-three-year-old came from a batch of thirty samples that were analyzed on Holy Thursday; however, Everett had been swabbed twice before while hospitalized at the Belize Healthcare Partners Limited.
Dr. Marvin Manzanero, Director of Health Services
“He had initial diagnosis of community acquired pneumonia and he was there on until March thirtieth which is when we understand that he self-discharged from the institution, returned on March thirty-first with respiratory distress. He was intubated on March thirty-first at Healthcare Partners Limited and he remained intubated there for one week before he was transferred to Karl Heusner.”
That was on April seventh. Everett arrived at the KHMH with a tube inserted in his windpipe to provide his lungs with oxygen. He was immediately admitted to the intensive care unit. Of note is that Everett had been placed on a ventilator since admission at BHPL eight days earlier.
Dr. Marvin Manzanero
“He improved significantly in terms of his respiration process and when they tried to take off the sedation on April second they realized that he had, in point of fact a neurological condition. He had had a stroke while he had been in the induced coma which can be a complication of being in an induced coma and prostrated in a bed. He got a CT scan done that confirmed that he did have a stroke and so that would have made his weaning off a ventilator much more difficult than any patient who doesn’t have a complication.”
The previous tests that he had undergone while at Belize Healthcare Partners were inconclusive. Upon his transfer to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, specimen was once again taken from the former BATSUB employee.
Marvin Manzanero
Dr. Marvin Manzanero
“He was swabbed at Karl Heusner on Thursday, April ninth. We had that preliminary screening test at around three p.m. and so Karl Heusner staff was alerted at that time of what the potential result would have been, until we got the confirmatory test at about nine p.m. last night.”
The official announcement from the Ministry of Health came just before six thirty a.m. on Good Friday. Less than five and a half hours later, Everett was pronounced dead.
Dean Barrow
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“My fellow Belizeans, very early on this Good Friday morning we recorded our second COVID-19 related death. I offer sincere condolences to the bereaved family. In consequence, you know that this particular case is accompanied by some nightmarish circumstances as to the exposure of many persons to the patient before he died. In the result, the overall picture clearly demonstrates possibility of widespread transmission of the virus. To try to contain this possibility we must act now.”
While it has been reported that members of the KHMH staff who attended to Everett at the ICU were all wearing personal protective equipment, where and how he contracted the deadly virus is still being determined. Everett reportedly attended a private gathering of as many as a hundred guests, including persons who visited from the United States, at Plaza Diner on the night of March fourteenth.
Dr. Marvin Manzanero
“In the case of victim number ten, that’s the one that we’ve identified at least four other persons that are positive and that’s what we call an active cluster because that has produced five cases linked to one case. And so that’s why it’s called an active cluster because we are trying to identify all other potential cases that are linked to that one single case.”
It is believed that those five patients linked to Everett include his wife and daughter, both employees of James Brodie and Company Limited on Albert Street. That department store has since been closed for business while a decontamination exercise is carried out. Another of Everett’s daughters works at Scotiabank, also on Albert Street. That financial institution was disinfected on Easter Sunday. Meanwhile, Belize Healthcare Partners remains closed until April fifteenth, notwithstanding the fact that its employees have also tested negative for COVID-19 after attending to Everett. The contact tracing for those infected in his family continues. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
