Almost Half of COVID-19 Cases from Belize District
Melissa Diaz-Musa
The number of COVID-19 cases now stands at over eight hundred as the positive cases are being identified across the country. The Belize District alone is responsible for almost half of that number. Today, News Five spoke with Deputy Regional Health Manager of the Central Health Region, Doctor Melissa Diaz-Musa about the COVID-19 spread.
Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa, Deputy Regional Health Manager, Central Health Region
“Belize City to date, as of yesterday, we had three hundred and seventy-four active cases in Belize District. And we know that Belize City has about two hundred and fifty cases followed by San Pedro with thirty-five cases; Caye Caulker has thirteen and the Ladyville area is about forty-five cases. So those are areas of concern for us: Belize City, San Pedro, Ladyville and we are looking at the numbers in Caye Caulker going up. We are seeing household clusters much more than before. So we are seeing almost all members of households becoming positive compared to last year and when we are dealing with the original strain, we were seeing two or three persons in the household; not it is seven, ten persons in a household. We believe that most of the spread occurs in households – so it is the close contact when you don’t have on your masks, when you are eating together, socialising together in your household – that’s when we do find that there is significant spread. But we wanted to make mention for instance with workplaces, it is very important for us to reach out to employers so that employers are aware that if you do have a staff that has tested positive. Let’s say somebody tests positive today, we are asking you as the supervisor, as the employer, please don’t send your entire team to the clinics to be tested. It is futile for us for many reasons. One is that the exposure is very short. You have just been exposed a day or two. If you test negative that following day, it doesn’t mean you are truly negative. And this is something that I find that we are going around and around in circles because people would say well I tested negative so I then return to my normal duties and went back to work and then I started with symptoms.”
