Clarendon’s Longville Park on COVID radar

WITH EIGHT confirmed cases of COVID-19, the medical officer of health for Clarendon has sounded the alarm, warning residents of Longville Park that the parish could be in serious trouble if there is a major outbreak in the community.

Making a presentation at yesterday’s monthly meeting of the Clarendon Inter-Agency Network, Dr Kimberly Scarlett Campbell said that Longville

Park, which is home to more than 12,000 residents, is now leading the parish in terms of active cases.

She said the Clarendon hotspots are currently Longville Park with its eight cases; followed by Hayes, with six in the past two weeks; and Spaldings with five.

Campbell said that a number of strategies would have to be implemented to curtail any spread of the virus in the communities. This includes targeted interventions within Longville Park, liaising with the various taxi associations and doing virtual sessions with them to boost awareness, and forging a partnership with the Social Development Commission for intervention in Longville Park.

HOUSE-TO-HOUSE TESTING

She said a major testing initiative would be carried out in Longville Park.

“We gonna be going house to house. We gonna be coming in with the bus and taking samples because we need to know the spread of COVID in Longville Park,” she told the meeting.

Campbell also expressed concern regarding the market spaces as she said there has been a lot of overcrowding. Calling for more intervention from the municipal police, she revealed that a handcart vendor had recently tested positive.

Up to Tuesday, Clarendon had recorded 430 cases of COVID-19 since March, the fourth highest in the island. Only Kingston and St Andrew (2,882) and St Catherine (1,793) and St James (702) have confirmed more cases.

Clarendon has also recorded 170 recovered cases and 14 of the island’s 151 fatalities.