This device is well on the way to application, it would test all people who have developed symptoms and carry out targeted tests on a part of the population.
About ten days ago, the Collectivity of Saint-Barthélemy announced that it would release 2 million euros to test its population. The question of whether the COM of Saint-Martin was going to duplicate the process immediately arose. Daniel Gibbs responded to it in his weekly Facebook Live address Monday afternoon in the negative.
"We cannot test the entire population as the COM de Saint-Barth, which has around 10 inhabitants, will do, because we are in a different geopolitical context," he explained. "Testing the population of Saint Martin would only work if the two parts of the island agreed on the same health strategy with closed maritime and air borders," he added, stressing that, unlike Saint- Barth, the French part of Friendly Island is "subject to many flows of people from Anguilla and Sint Maarten".
On the other hand, the president of the COM of Saint-Martin "asked the health decision-makers to put in place alternative solutions to test a maximum of people". He said "working with health professionals, city doctors, laboratories, the management of the hospital in conjunction with national authorities" and announced that he had ordered "a complete large-scale screening device" for the territory.
The COM will acquire "a machine and cassettes", which will make it possible to test "all people with symptoms". "It will also test for antibodies to see who has been infected and healed," added Daniel Gibbs.
Funds have been “secured” by the COM and the European levers activated. However, the president did not specify the cost of the operation. He also did not give a precise date on the delivery of the device, everything will depend on the delivery times imposed by the context.
The will of the COM is to be able to "isolate and care for" people carrying the virus in order to optimize the exit from confinement and revive the economy.
In addition, Daniel Gibbs confirmed to have ordered 24 masks which will be intended for the agents of the priority services of the COM as well as its service providers (collection of household waste, portage of meals at home, etc.).
He also said that he accepted the proposal from a local company to provide the COM with a protective visor. "They will be worn by agents in contact with the public," he said.
Finally, the president of the COM "asked the distributors to make disposable masks accessible and sell at reasonable prices when the requisitions from the State are lifted". A call for expressions of interest will also be launched for the creation by craft dressmakers of the island of washable fabric masks to AFNOR standards for the population.
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