Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at the Ministry, Dr Shamdeo Persaud, has said that Georgetown continued to be the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic in Guyana with majority of the victims being males, since they were the main ones not adhering to the guidelines and restrictions put in place to contain the disease and flatten the curve.
According to the CMO, males are congregating way past the curfew hours as if it were a prolonged holiday. “Have you stopped to think of the unnecessary risk that you are exposing your children, your wife/significant other, your mother or grandmother to? Yes, you are exposing your entire family.
“As one male to another, I am pleading with you to do the practicable thing, which is to stay home and to be off the roadways. Do not think for one moment that you are invincible and that the virus cannot affect you, because your area has not been identified as a COVID-19 hotspot,” he posited.
According to Dr Persaud, everyone is at risk of contracting the disease and the only way to stop the numbers from increasing and persons from dying is if persons seriously follow all the advice and guidelines implemented.
He added that if persons have to leave home, it is a must that they wear face masks and keep six feet of physical distance between themselves and others when in public.
Moreover, he further pleaded with persons to step forward if they have been in contact with a positive case or experiencing any of the symptoms associated with COVID-19. He warned that seeking medical help at an advanced stage of the disease would place those persons at a disadvantage and there may be very little that could be done at that point to save their lives.
Another issue the CMO lamented was the lack of cooperation in the Ministry’s contact tracing efforts.
