Clarendon councillors want pause on use of COVID-19 self-test kits
MAY PEN, Clarendon — A number of locally elected officials in this parish are growing increasingly concerned that positive results from self-test COVID-19 kits are not being reported to the health ministry, with one councillor calling for a pause in the use of the kits until the issue is resolved.
The issue was raised at last Thursday’s monthly meeting of the Clarendon Municipal Corporation.
“The numbers that are being reported in Clarendon are not the true reflection of what is happening if we are allowing self-testing. Our figures are going to be way off,” lamented Collin Henry, who is the representative for the Thompson Town Division. He, like all the other councillors who expressed disquiet about the use of the kits, was elected to office on a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) ticket.
“The ministry has to create a system for this because some persons who have gone to the pharmacy and purchased the test may have gotten a positive result but didn’t report it, so it’s not captured [in the official data]. I think the ministry needs to form a partnership with these pharmacies and see how best we can tidy up that,” Henry suggested.
“Some people may be positive and still be on the street pretending that they are not positive.”
However, the parish’s Medical Officer of Health, Dr Kimberly Scarlett-campbell, explained that the Clarendon Health Department should be notified of all positive cases.
That is a stance taken nationally, with all positive results – regardless of where the test is done – to be routed to the Health Ministry for a comprehensive view across the island.
“Whether it be home test, pharmacy test, or testing that was done privately at a lab, the person needs to bring it to the attention of the health services. When you are positive, to go back to work you will need a quarantine order or a release form — so we need to be notified,” said Dr Scarlett-campbell.
“The directive has gone out that persons who test positive or have symptoms of COVID-19 should make contact with the parish health department or their nearest health facility and we will acknowledge those tests.”
However, Mayor of May Pen and chairman of the municipality, winston Maragh (Rocky Point Division, JLP) countered that this will be difficult to implement. He said that action is needed by the Health Ministry to plug the hole in the system.
“It’s going to be hard to track these people. You won’t know who is testing positive because some of them won’t report it, so it will be difficult to capture that data. We are therefore asking that the MOH [Ministry of Health] regulate these self-testing kits,” said Maragh.
Councillor Kenneth Davis (May Pen East Division, JLP) took it a step further, suggesting that there should be a halt to the use of the kits.
“Why proceed with it then if they will be unable to capture the data? Why not pull it back? It seems likely to cause confusion so we need to pull the kits and sort it out properly before we allow the public to use them,” argued Davis.
In response, Dr Scarlett campbell repeated the established guidelines for persons who test positive when using the kits.