Many persons across the island have been affected by the Chikungunya Virus and this has had an impact on our productivity levels. Here at the KSAC, it has been a similar experience as our staff too have been affected. We continue to urge residents to take the necessary precautions so as to minimize the spread of this dreaded virus.
The KSAC under the guidance of Her Worship the Mayor, has been engaged actively with the Ministries of Health, Local Government & Community Development, Transport & Works along with the Kingston & St. Andrew Public Health Department, the Office of Disaster Preparedness & Emergency Management, the NSWMA and the Social Development Commission (SDC) to collectively address the outbreak of the Chikungunya Virus (Chik V) within the Municipality. We have activated our Parish Emergency Operations Centre in collaboration with ODPEM.
We are also encouraging persons who suspect they or other persons may have contracted to virus, to seek medical attention. On September 15, the Mayor spearheaded a meeting at which both the Public Health Department and the NSWMA were present, along with Councillors from the various divisions. The major topic for discussion was the overall clean-up of the municipality, which will aid in the Council’s efforts towards mitigating against the Chic V. In addition, we have planned and have commenced training sessions with the assistance of the Public Health Department with the aim of sensitizing and training of volunteers in prevention strategies. So far 31 persons have been trained and plans are in place to have the others trained in short order. The aim is to train 100 volunteers to be deployed throughout the Municipality.
Deployment of the volunteers will begin on Wednesday October 15, 2014 in areas considered critical based on information provided by our Public Health Department. The volunteers will work in groups and engage community members in eliminating breeding sites, promoting personal care, and create public awareness by the distribution of flyers.
The September month-end report emanating from the KSA Public Health Department indicated that critical areas across the municipality have been treated through inspection, assessment and fogging; these exercises have sought to minimize the spread.
As such:
- 251 communities were fogged;
- a total of (5,042) containers were inspected
- of which (1173) were found to be positive.
The KSAC will continue to monitor the data in relation to the public education and continued treatment activities.