16th CASE OF CORONAVIRUS IN JAMAICA: Corn Piece Lockdown - Elderly Man Who Interacted With COVID-19 Casualty Fears For Life As Clarendon District Quarantined

Friday, March 20, 2020
Source: Jamaica Gleaner

An elderly man from Corn Piece Settlement in Clarendon could be one of many contacts the Ministry of Health will be following in relation to the traveller from New York who was confirmed as Jamaica’s first fatality of COVID-19. The community was yesterday placed under quarantine as public-health officials concluded that many residents would have been exposed to the deceased, who was symptomatic, and, therefore, would have a high risk of infection.

The 67-year-old resident, who said he had come in contact with the now-deceased 79-year-old man, is fearful for his life not only because of his advanced age, but because he has underlying health conditions. “I am really worried about it because of my age and because I have a heart condition. I even did affi do surgery already,” he told The Gleaner yesterday. “Me go over the yard because me never see him for this long time, so me go over deh the Saturday.”

Linda Allen, a resident of Corn Piece Settlement in Clarendon, was unaware of the first person to have died of COVID-19 complications lived near her home. Allen, who is 80 and lives alone, is among the most vulnerable age cohort for the pandemic’s worst affected. The community was placed under quarantine on Thursday night.

“Me nuh think me did make no physical contact with him, but yuh can’t too know...My daughter go over there, to, and hold on pon the gate, and all them thing deh, too, so you may never know,” the elderly resident said.

The sister-in-law of the deceased man said that he, too, had long suffered from a slew of complications, including a history of heart problems, conditions that made him as vulnerable as the majority of severely affected people worldwide who are elderly and ill. more