Tivoli residents welcome COVID-19 testing

Some residents of Drecketts Place in Tivoli Gardens were given COVID-19 tests yesterday as part of community-surveillance measures following the recent confirmation of five cases of COVID-19 in the area.

These persons are contacts of a confirmed case who recently returned from the US.

About 100 health staff, including nurses and public-health inspectors, conducted house-to-house assessments of residents for respiratory symptoms.

Residents with symptoms and those deemed to be at high risk were tested for COVID-19. Most residents gladly volunteered.

"I opted to do it. If people don't volunteer to do it and, God forbid, they have it, then I am exposed. Maybe they should make it mandatory that everybody do the test," Devon McFarlane, 52, told THE WEEKEND STAR.

He admitted that it caused some level of discomfort.

"They insert some swab thing in my two nostrils, and while inserting, they instruct me to swallow. That cause a little discomfort. Even my eyes start running water," he said. "And then there was one in the mouth. That one is not so uncomfortable. They said I should expect my results within 72 hours."

He said that he welcomed the test with open arms and is willing to welcome quarantining if too many cases return positive from the community.

"If it means that there is a little discomfort or displacement fi my betterment of my yute dem, betterment inna the future, me nuh mind a quarantine fi a 14 days. I don't have a problem if that's the measure that has to be taken. Fourteen days of my life is probably wasted on many occasions, so if I have to stay in my house for 14 days because of this, it nah go kill me," he said.

Likewise, 87-year-old Eucella Bennett inquired about being tested when she peeped through her windows and saw Ministry of Health and Wellness vehicles on her roadway.

"Me nah put up no fight. Me will do what they say to keep the virus away," she said. "When I came out and saw them today, I wasn't worried or scared. Me just go out and take my test, too. Dem seh dem will tell me my results. They took my name and everything about me. The test wasn't painful to me. They put the swab in my nose and throat." Bennett said that should a quarantine be deemed necessary, she felt residents would cooperate.

Another resident said: "Me do my test cause me wah know if me have it. Di nurse dem did nice, too .... Dem did gentle and tell me wah fi do."

"Me nah tell no lie, the swab dem long, still! When me see dem take out the two a dem, me almost run back inna me house. But dem make me know seh is a quick thing..., and in no time, it done."