There has been a COVID-19 outbreak at the Lady Hochoy Home in Cocorite, resulting in eight members of staff, 12 adult residents, and three children testing positive for the virus.
Providing an update on the situation yesterday, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, Ayanna Webster-Roy said, “Positive and negative residents have been separated into different spaces, and also, they are maintaining separation between adults and children.”
Pressed to say what are the ages of those who had tested positive and if the Delta strain had been identified among the infected, she directed those questions to the Ministry of Health (MoH).
Indicating it would be the Children’s Authority of T&T (CATT) that had oversight for the Home, Webster-Roy said while this is under her ministry’s purview, the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), “was not directly involved in children being placed at the Lady Hochoy Home or the staffing at the home.”
“The CATT will provide the necessary oversight in terms of the quality of the facility, the staffing and care of the children,” she said.
She said while the facility has not been closed down, its’ operations have been restricted.
“The CATT is ensuring the best interest of the children is maintained at all points in time,” she assured.
Pressed about preliminary reports as to how the virus would have found its way into the Home, Webster-Roy said, “Same way I don’t know how I contracted COVID-19 when me and my entire family got it…we didn’t know and we still haven’t figured out where we got it from.
The Tobago East MP and her family except for her second son, tested positive for the virus in September – although they had been vaccinated except for her nine-year-old son.
When contacted yesterday, the authority said, “The authority is collaborating with various agencies as we seek to ensure the children at Lady Hochoy Home receive the necessary care and protection during these unprecedented times.”
They too directed all other questions to the Ministry of Health.
The Ministry of Health’s Corporate Communications Unit later directed all questions to the North West Regional Health Authority (NWRHA) including if anyone had been hospitalised; if the Delta strain had been identified among those so far infected; how many persons had been tested; how the virus had found its way into the facility; if contact tracing was underway and what had been found so far; and measures had been put in place to prevent further spread among the home’s young and elderly residents.
NWRHA’s CEO Salisha Baksh advised that such questions be directed to the Home’s management as she stressed, “The NWRHA does not manage the Home.”
Efforts to reach the Corpus Christi Carmelites who are responsible for the Home proved futile.
