With COVID in the community now a daily reality, Red Cross director Jondo Obi is advising residents to prepare for the possibility of quarantine like they would for a hurricane.
Over the past couple of weeks, Red Cross volunteers have been delivering food and other groceries to households that suddenly were placed in quarantine because they had come into contact with a COVID-positive case or because a member of their family had tested positive.
Families in isolation have found themselves with empty fridges and cupboards as they had no notice they were about to be quarantined.
Those short of money, or with no credit cards or internet access, who were unable to order food and groceries online had no option but to turn to neighbours, family members, colleagues and politicians to assist them, before government last week announced a new approach. Health Minister Sabrina Turner, at a 14 Oct. press briefing, revealed that people in quarantine should contact the Public Health Flu Hotline to request assistance.
The Red Cross, Hazard Management Cayman Islands and Foster’s are part of the programme to bring groceries to those in need.
How the process works
To apply for help, a person in quarantine should first contact the Flu Hotline and put in a request for groceries; that request is assessed and then a referral is made to the Red Cross, Obi explained.
The budgeting of the programme is carried out by Hazard Management, while Foster’s supplies and prepares standard grocery kits, with tinned food and other non-perishable items – similar to hurricane food supplies – that are already placed in carts, ready for pick-up and delivery by Red Cross volunteers.
Obi said a spreadsheet is provided to the Red Cross with the names and addresses of those in quarantine who are in need of deliveries, along with specific requests for additional items like diapers or baby formula, or feminine hygiene products.
She said Foster’s prepares trolleys of items every morning, with enough supplies for about 10 large families. Obi said each cart has enough items to feed a family of five, though in one recent delivery, the Red Cross was called to help out a household with nine people in it.
“In that case, we doubled up on the supplies,” she said.
Between 9 Oct. and 20 Oct., Obi said, the Red Cross delivered groceries to 178 people – 104 adults and 74 children.
She said the majority of deliveries are being made to homes in the George Town area, with each volunteer making an average of three deliveries a day.
It’s not just people who suddenly find themselves in quarantine, without any income and short of money, who are calling the Flu Hotline looking for assistance in getting food. Obi said, in a number of cases, it’s simply that the householder may only have cash on them and doesn’t have a credit card, so can’t order food deliveries online.
Because of COVID quarantine restrictions, people in isolation cannot pay cash to anyone bringing food to them.
Obi explained that part of the assessment process is determining people’s ability to be able to access groceries and supplies, not just their financial needs.
Buddy system
She suggests that people in Cayman prepare for unexpected quarantine in much the same way they would be prepare for hurricane season, and have supplies on hand.
Obi also advises establishing a “quarantine buddy system” with a neighbour, family member or colleague.
In her own case, she said, if she suddenly had to quarantine, she has put money aside so that a friend can access that cash and use it to buy supplies for her. She also suggests swapping a food voucher or supermarket gift card with a neighbour, so that if that person is placed in quarantine, they can ask their neighbour to shop for them, and vice versa.
Additional manpower
More than 30 people had been seconded or hired to man the Public Health call centre, in anticipation of increased calls to the Flu Hotline, officials said at the 14 Oct. press briefing.
These include people with clinical training and non-clinical staff who are specially trained as per a call tree.
One common complaint among people in quarantine has been a lack of communication from authorities, with many not receiving a call or visit from Public Health from the beginning to the end of their isolation period, something Deputy Governor Franz Manderson apologised for during a debate on mandatory vaccinations in Parliament earlier this month.
Manderson said a wellness team and manager would be established to deal with the issue.
At the 14 Oct. press conference, Turner stated that this team and manager were in place as part of the new programme that had been set up to offer assistance via the Flu Hotline.
She acknowledged that there were shortcomings in how authorities dealt with people who were quarantined as a result of local outbreaks.
Since last year, Travel Cayman has been dealing with incoming travellers who are placed in quarantine immediately upon arrival in Cayman. However, when cases of COVID-19 began to emerge in local schools in September, there was no similar system in place to deal with their quarantine arrangements and welfare checks.
“We‘ve learned that there are areas of our public health response that definitely needs some support,” Turner said at the briefing. “In fact, the public healthcare system is ramping up in several ways to ensure we will be ready to meet the challenges that may land on our doorstep in the coming months. We have increased recruitment of additional staff, and I’m pleased to hear of new job placements of many, many Caymanians that will help to enhance our COVID response.”
However, she said with the introduction of rapid lateral flow COVID testing in Cayman, the number of people isolating when there is an outbreak in a local school or workplace will “seriously diminish”.
She added, “My humble apologies on behalf of this nation for not getting it right, but that’s why we’re working with it and putting and directing the resources as best that we can in real time.”
Premier Wayne Panton also apologised for the lack of contact from authorities with families in quarantine. “We are very concerned about making sure when people are going through difficult circumstances, going through all these uncertainties, that they have someone who is going to be that lifeline for them, who is going to be able to respond to them and check in on them.”
As of Monday, 25 Oct., the latest figure available as of press time, there were 1,555 people in quarantine, including both travellers and residents.
Who to contact
Those who need this kind of support can call 1-800-534-8600, 925-6327 or 947-3077, or email [email protected].
Any people in quarantine who are at risk of having their utilities cut off are advised to email [email protected], Turner said.
Employees who are in mandatory quarantine and who need a letter to prove this is the case to their employer, can request a letter via the Flu Hotline.
Related Videos
