Councillor: Carry out more COVID-19 tests in Corn Piece

COUNCILLOR FOR the Hayes division in Clarendon, Scean Barnswell, wants the Ministry of Health & Wellness to conduct random tests for COVID-19 on residents of Corn Piece Settlement in the parish.

Corn Piece falls within the Hayes division.

The community was placed under quarantine by the ministry after it was discovered that a 79-year-old man who travelled from New York was in contact with persons from the community.

The man who had underlying health conditions became the first person to die from COVID-19 in Jamaica.

Stating his concerns at a digital meeting of the monthly sitting of the Clarendon

Municipal Corporation, Barnswell said that residents from Corn Piece were facing acts of discrimination outside of the community.

“Once persons go to May Pen to do business and they say that they are from Corn Piece Settlement or the Corn Piece area, there is resistance from the persons interfacing with them because of the address,” he said.

The councillor said that even persons from Hayes were forced to deal with the same kind of stigma.

Pointing out that it’s just one area that is under quarantine, Barnswell urged the health ministry to carry out random testing on those in the quarantine zone. He said that this would help to alleviate the fears expressed by persons from outside the area.

“As the councillor for the area, I am asking the minister of health & wellness to test the persons within the quarantine zone or even random tests of households within the zone.

That way we will have a better understanding of the status inside there, because as it is now it is just five persons from the same household who have tested positive,” he said.