By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Health Minister Dr Duane Sands and members of his family have tested positive for COVID-19.

Speaking to The Tribune yesterday, the former Elizabeth MP said four people in his family got a positive test. Two babies weren’t tested but it is suspected they have the virus as well.

“There’s rampant community spread,” Dr Sands, who is fully vaccinated, said. “I think on Wednesday my entire family started to feel unwell. We had been on vacation visiting family in Freeport and then some symptoms we began experiencing. We tested positive the day we got back and so everybody tested positive.

“Scratchy throat, fatigue, the babies had some fever and irritability; the difficult part has been the isolation. It’s a holiday and you’re stuck and to hear how many hundreds of people if not thousands of people are going through the same thing, this has been a horrific holiday season.

“There are a number of doctors and nurses out (of the health system) and people say ‘oh this is a mild problem.’ It would be mild if it didn’t have an impact on essential services and so you have major holes in the ability to provide emergency healthcare, policing, basic public services because so many people are out,” Dr Sands, a heart surgeon, said.

 “The holidays made it difficult to see the impact, but as we get back to work tomorrow what will be obvious is just how many people are out, either in quarantine or in isolation and we have to empathise with people who are going through this. Just by the sheer number of cases we cannot trivialise this Omicron variant.”

 Last week, health officials acknowledged that a significant number of healthcare workers are in isolation or quarantine due to exposure from the virus.

 Health Minister Dr Michael Darville said officials are monitoring what’s happening around the world to make certain that adequate numbers of healthcare workers are working on the frontlines, suggesting that quarantine guidelines may be adjusted.

  “It is moving in the direction where individuals who are vaccinated, who were exposed to COVID-19 and who subsequently become positive whether it’s a rapid antigen test or RT-PCR test may be eligible to have a shorter isolation time and get back to the affairs of the hospital in a shorter period,” he said at a press conference last week. “We are seeing other countries around the world doing it and for us with limited healthcare resources and manpower resources we have to be innovative in our approach, but like I said before we understand the potential shortage.”

 Last week, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention slashed the number of days it recommends COVID-positive people remain in isolation—from 10 days to five if they are no longer showing symptoms.

 The CDC recommends that people wear masks for another five days after that to avoid infecting others. The health agency said the change “is motivated by science demonstrating that the majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of illness, generally in the 1-2 days prior to onset of symptoms and the 2-3 days after.”

 However, US media reported there was backlash to the guidelines with the CDC now considering altering the advice.

 According to Dr Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, the CDC is considering adding the recommendation of getting a negative test before a person ends quarantine.