Masks should be changed every 30 minutes

The Ministry of Public Health, through the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF), in its report to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), recommended that persons involved in the national recount at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre (ACCC) should have their masks changed after every 30 to 60 minutes.

Based on the Elections Commission’s decision to have no more than 132 persons operate at the 10 workstations for a period of 10 hours daily for 25 days, it is likely that the GECOM Secretariat would require 33,000 masks, should it decide to adhere to the recommendations of the health officials to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus. That’s, however, if the masks are changed every hour. Should the GECOM Secretariat decide that persons should change their masks every 30 minutes, then 66,000 disposable masks would be needed.

The recommendation was made by a team of five Ministry of Health officials, who indicated that their recommendations were aligned with the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidance on Infection, Prevention and Control (IPC).

In total, the health team made 14 recommendations to the Elections Commission. The others include the need to sanitize frequently and for all involved to remain hydrated. “Rooms must have a table at the entrance and exit with disposable face masks, hand sanitizers with minimum 70% alcohol, disposable gloves, disposable hand tissue, for example, Bounty tissue, foot pressed type-rubbish bins with garbage bags to avoid touching,” the health officials recommended.

Noting that supplies must be replenished at periodic interval, the health officials said it was important for all persons to adhere to the strict protocol of hand sanitizing.
“Staff after 20-25 (maximum) times of hand sanitizing should wash his/her hands with liquid soap and water. Ensure there is correct use on hand washing technique;” the team urged GECOM in its report, while emphasizing that physical distance of 3-6 feet apart must be adhered at all times.

As side from those recommendations, GECOM’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) Yolanda Ward had told reporters that the report submitted by the NCTF, based on the findings of the health team, cleared the 10 rooms identified for the establishment of workstations.
However, health officials, indicated that of the 10 rooms identified for workstations, only eight could accommodate 14 persons at any given time. As such, it stated that two of the workstations, should have no more than 10 persons assigned to each.

The health officials had conducted the visit on April 20, 2020 in the company of the Chairperson of GECOM, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, the Elections Commissioners and the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield among other officials.

Guyana Chronicle was unable to confirm whether GECOM Secretariat will be adhering to all 14 recommendations, as presented by the health officials and the NCTF, however, the Elections Commission is expected to meet today from 09:30hrs at GECOM’s headquarters to discuss the Secretariat’s preparedness for the recount.

A date for the National Recount of the votes cast at the General and Regional Elections has not been set, however, it is expected that a date will be set at today’s meeting, given the fact that the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) high-level team is scheduled to arrive in Guyana on Thursday to validate the recount process.