And while the worry right now is about the COVID cluster at the prison, there could also be another major cluster coming out of the Banana Belt. Bella Vista Village in the Toledo District is an area of growing concern - and according to Manzanero infections have been report don 19 farms:
Dr. Marvin Manzanero, DHS
"There is a situation also with the banana farms, you may be hearing of this down south where there are some cases that are starting to pop up. When you review the infographic you will note that there are some cases that are linked to Bella Vista and those are usually persons coming out of the banana farms so what the team has done, the teams because it is an exhaustive exercise we are undertaking, is at least 19 banana farms have been identified and random samples have been taken from these entities. I met with regional manager down south a little while ago and they will continue to do the educational exercises and going and speaking to the owners, managers of the banana farms to see what more of a comprehensive approach we can have to do containment in that area because we understand that the social conditions under which farmers are there and the people who work are not necessarily the best."
Reporter:
"Banana farms where do you suspect the infections are coming from or originating, that's it, last thing."
Dr. Marvin Manzanero, DHS
"It is somebody from the community that may have taken it there Marisol, but two factors that we are noticing well it is predominately male persons working but there aren't proper social conditions, no real mask wearing, we understand that there are lots of social activities that happens between these clusters of people, you know alcohol and those situation so."
