{"id":122861,"date":"2021-01-21T08:23:58","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T12:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=122861"},"modified":"2021-01-21T08:23:58","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T12:23:58","slug":"barbuda-covid-patient-transported-to-msjmc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/barbuda-covid-patient-transported-to-msjmc\/","title":{"rendered":"Barbuda COVID patient transported to MSJMC"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SOURCE: Daily Observer \u2014<\/strong>\u00a0Barbuda\u2019s first COVID-19 patient is currently in Antigua receiving symptomatic treatment, after the district practitioner for Barbuda, Dr Jeremy Deazle, said her condition began to worsen over time.<\/p>

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The woman, who is said to be upwards of 45 years old, and who has an underlying condition, was medivacked to Antigua with assistance from the Coast Guard.<\/p>\n

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\u201cShe started to have shortness of breath, [and] mild difficulty breathing, so before her symptoms started to get worse, we decide to transfer her to Mount St John\u2019s Medical Centre,\u201d he told\u00a0Observer<\/strong>.<\/p>

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With limited healthcare resources and facilities on Barbuda, its health team was unable to care for the woman.<\/p>

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\u201cTo medevac a COVID patient is a very tense situation, but at the same time you want to safely transport this individual and protect your team,\u201d the doctor remarked.<\/p>\n

The first confirmed Covid-19 case was reported on January 7,after the island had gone 11 months without any presence of the virus. That case was imported from the United States.<\/p>

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Dr Deazle explained that, \u201cThe patient came in from the US on the 4th. When the patient reached into VC Bird International Airport, they realised that the patient didn\u2019t have the accurate Covid test; the patient had a rapid antigen test.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, that didn\u2019t meet criteria. That was a red flag to the authorities at the airport, so they decided to swab her and do a RT-PCR test which is the one we authorise here in Antigua and Barbuda.\u201d<\/p>

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