The COVID third wave is coming on - and, this weekend, the news was that it had hit James bus line, and hard.
The PG based carrier had 14 staffers test positive for COVID-19. - which the Ministry of Health and Wellness has identified as a cluster involving a total of 18 persons.
And, like all clusters, it's not self contained - there are implications both for commuters and close contacts of the bus line employees. A government press release says - "Persons who consider themselves at-risk and commuted via James Bus Line from July 28 to present and are presenting symptoms of fever, cough, difficulty breathing, and sore throat are advised to get tested at their nearest health facility. Management and employees of public bus terminals must ensure that their staff have been tested (Mango Creek, Belmopan, and Belize City)."
The Ministry is advising all staff of James Bus Line to remain in isolation from the time being, and it's also urging the bus line to, quote, "review the services it is providing to the public and take a phased approach, using only staff that have tested negative and are not close contacts of a positive case."
But, the Bus Line says it is standing down for the time being while it tests all 60 employees. We spoke to a Bus Line consultant in Punta Gorda Town this evening:
Voice of: Wayne Bardalez, Consultant, James Bus Line
"We are on a stand down. The Ministry of Health requested that we go on a stand down for at least 72 hours. We presently got all our workers tested and we are awaiting the remaining tests to be done so that we can know if they are negative or positive. So far, we have found out that we have 14 employees that have tested positive. I can say right now that it's not going to be too long, I would guess a couple more days before we are back on the road and it is primarily, we want to make sure that we do not compromise anything out there. We have learnt from the Ministry of Health that its an urgent scenario with the members testing positive and an existing community spread to which the bus system from PG to others in the country could be compromise and we wouldn't want that to happen."
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Do you all know how it was spread? was it on a particular route? was it at the headquarters back in Punta Gorda, the office or was it on a particular run?"
Voice of: Wayne Bardalez
"We do not know how the spread started, we just know that one of our workers had symptoms and he went to the hospital and that's when the authorities realize that they had to do a contact tracing and then they decided that it's better for us to test the other workers that were along with this guy."
"But to tell you how it started, how the guy got it, no, I cannot say."`
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Finally, the Ministry of Health, it recommends that employees be fully vaccinated and if not, they should be tested as outlined in the most recent statutory instrument. We know that that means that they have to present a negative test every two weeks, they are frontliners. Where do you and your employees stand with this legal requirement?"
Voice of: Wayne Bardalez
"We have brought that SI to our staff members and I have notice that most of them are in agreement that yes, we need to comply with the regulations as set out by the SI."
Bardalez says of the 14 staffers who have tested positive, only two persons have presented with mild symptoms. He could not say how many of the 60 employees have been vaccinated. By the end of tomorrow, he expects to have the results from all the employees.
For the time being, other operators have been brought in to take up the James' runs.
