Around The Country: Updates From Six Counties – July, 3, 2020

Stay informed with happenings in your county, follow LocalVoicesLiberia every week day for the latest update on COVID-19 and other important developments.

Bong County: Warning Against COVID-19 Denial

Dr. Kateh was in Bong County to help intensify awareness about COVID-19 | Photo By: Emmanuel Mafelah 

Liberia’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Francis Kateh on Wednesday July 1, urged people of Bong County to take the fight against the novel coronavirus seriously and avoid politicizing the process.

Dr. Kateh called on people of the county to join government and partners to curb the spread of the virus in Liberia.

The Liberia Chief Medical Officer is worried that Bong County might experience a re-occurrence of incidents caused by the Ebola outbreak between 2014 and 2015 if more care is not taken by its people.

He said, “It’s crucial that citizens adhere to the restrictions that remain in place and continue to take basic precautions to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus in the county”.

He believes that these different preventive measures are citizens’ best defense against the pandemic and are very necessary to save lives.

For his part, Bong County Health Officer, Dr. Adolphus Yeiah cautioned that the county might record many more confirmed cases due to entrenched denial in the county that the virus is not real.

Grand Bassa County: No Social Distancing

Minister Findley Petitioning by chief and elders of the county brought together hundreds of people, who showed less concern about social distancing, in a county that has recorded 10 confirmed COVID-19 cases | Photo By: Elton Wrionbee Tiah

Traditional leaders of Grand Bassa County on Thursday, July 2, petitioned Foreign Affairs Minister Gbehzohngar Findley to contest the impending Special Senatorial election for Grand Bassa County.

The traditional leaders headed by the Chief Grand Zoe of the county Edward Garmah, said they have evaluated all of the aspirants and believe that Hon. Findley is the best.

The gathering brought together hundreds of citizens who showed no consideration for social distancing although some were seen wearing nose and mouth coverings.

Scores of them were seen robbing against each other at the ceremony, which lasted for more than four hours, held at the home of Liberia’s Foreign Minister in Buchanan.

Grand Bassa County has recorded 10 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Margibi County: Wrong Identity – One Confirmed Case Missing

County Health Officer Dr. Myers Pajibo says the health team is still struggling to identify a contact who voluntarily walked to the S.K.D Complex to be tested and the result came out positive.

Dr Pajibo said the contact might had given a fake identity and fake phone number when the sample was being taken – a situation that now makes it difficult to trace the person or track other people that came in contact with the person.

Meanwhile, the county health officer said the health team is currently observing 302 contacts as the result of the 45 confirmed cases in the county. Margibi County has recorded the second highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country so far.

Grand Gedeh County: Optimism and Fear Ahead of WASSCE

While administrators of schools in the county are upbeat about the reopening of schools for 12 graders, the students are worried that the lack of instructional materials, facilities and limited time for preparation may affect their chances of passing the regional exams | Photo By: Ben Brooks

Following the reopening of schools to allow 12 graders prepare for the upcoming regional exams of the West Africa Senior School Certificate Exam, schools administrations in the county say they are prepared to administer fresh lessons to students.

The Government of Liberia closed schools in March this year due to the pandemic.

The school administrators thanked the Ministry of Education for the move and the Ministry of Health for putting in place measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among students.

Amos Chea, Vice Principal for Instruction of the Zwedru Multilateral high school, urged 12th graders to observe the preventive measures while attending classes.

For his Part, Mr. Augustine Gaysue, principal of the Suah Memorial Institute, assured that his students will pass the regional exams despite uncertainties posed by the pandemic.

Meanwhile, many students have complained about the lack of basic instructional materials ahead of the exams.

The students named lack of laboratory, library, and textbooks and complained about the “limited time given them to prepare for the exams”. They are worried that this might cause mass failure.

Grand Cape Mount County: Help From UNFPA

A partial view of stock of medical supplies donated by the UNFPA to the Sinje Health Center in Grand Cape Mount County on Wednesday, July 1 | Photo By: Jenneh Kemokai

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) through the Phebe Hospital and School of Nursing has donated drugs and other assorted medical materials to the Sinje Health Center in Grand Cape Mount County on Wednesday, July 1.

According to the communication officer of Phebe Hospital, Samuel Kplaiwu, similar donation was made to other health facilities across the country including C.B. Dunbar hospital in Bong County and C.H. Rennie Hospital in Margibi County.

Kplaiwu said that the material donated also included neonatal beds for “Fistula Spotlight Counties,” including Grand Cape Mount.

Receiving the materials, Sinje Health Center Administrator, Charles Kpissay, thanked the UNFPA family and said the donation is timely because the health facility was low on drug supplies.

This is not the first time for such donation to be made to the hospital.  It can be recalled that the UNFPA funded the construction of the Sinje Maternal Waiting Home and donated Solar panel lights to the hospital.

Maryland County: Three Confirmed COVID-19 Cases

The County Health Team has confirmed it has recorded three additional confirmed COVID-19 Cases. According to Dr. Methodus George, County Health office, the cases were confirmed after Lab Technicians of the J.J Dossen Hospital in Harper were asked to send their specimens for testing.

He said three results came back positive on 2 June, and the patients are a 30-year-old female; 26- and 48-year-old male lab technicians.

Dr. George said vigorous contact tracing is ongoing to track people who came in contact with the three infected persons. He, however, said they are still investigating how the three health workers contracted the virus.

He warned that there might be more cases in the county because the three lab technicians have been working at the facility over the last couple of weeks.

Maryland County has now recorded five cases and one death. Meanwhile the laboratory of the J.J Dossen Hospital has been temporarily shut down for a day in order to disinfect the facility.