Rapid Test Lines Now Almost Double the Amount in Vaccination Lines
From the significantly higher number of new infections being reported over the last two weeks, and the longer lines of people at the testing sites, Omicron is probably already spreading across Belize. Today, like last week, there were long lines at the three testing sites we visited. Deputy Manager for the Central Health Region, Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa told News Five today that the number of persons showing up for testing now almost double those who want to be vaccinated.
Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa
Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa, Deputy Manager, Central Health Region
“The long lines that you see here, these lines are for testing. The majority of persons here have been either symptomatic or close contact to a positive case. So they’re waiting here to be tested and then to go into isolation if testing positive.”
Marion Ali
“These lines started to grow since the suspicion was there that Omicron was in Belize, yes?”
Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa
“Yes, definitely, and we have seen an increase in our positivity rate in the Belize District as well over the last three to four days. And we look at the individual clinics as well and we see, like for instance, Cleopatra which is the flu clinic, they’re showing sometimes if they have tested a hundred persons, only a few negatives so the rate has increased to almost sixty or seventy percent positive at these facilities.”
Marion Ali
“Why do you believe that even though we have such a high increase, so fast, of new cases, new infections, people are still reluctant to come and get vaccinated?”
Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa
“Well the majority of people have come to get tested have been showing mild symptoms or almost asymptomatic, and we’ve been checking a lot of the vaccine cards as well and many of the people here are actually just waiting for their second dose or fully vaccinated. A lot of people here are people who work, so we know that the work places have reported very high numbers of persons getting vaccinated, but these people now will be eligible for their booster once one month has passed since they have tested positive.”
