Bono East Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Fred Adomako, has bemoaned the laxity in adherence to the safety protocols in the country’s fight against the COVID-19 virus.
According to him, the apathy being displayed by people in the Bono East region can be attributed to the redirection of focus to conversations on “e-levy and what is happening in Russia and Ukraine” within the media landscape. Dr Adomako indicated that public education on COVID-19 protocol adherence, hand hygiene and social distancing have waned over the years, a move he reckons accounts for the decline in adherence to safety protocols.
“We have virtually gone back to the pre-pandemic scenario. Nowadays, for those of us who are wearing the masks, we indeed are the abnormal ones in the community. I mean if you look around, it’s becoming challenging for us to adhere to [protocols]. Whether we have gone to the de facto kind of not adhering to the protocols that have been put in place, that is really the reality on the ground”.
Dr Fred Adomako
Commenting on the surge in cases in the Bono East region, Dr Adomako attributed the increase in the number of positive cases to the “geographical location” of the region. He revealed that being a trading hub, Bono East is predisposed to the factors that puts it at risk with regards to rising cases. He explained that the Techiman market, for instance, is one of the largest in West Africa and as a result, virtually everybody in the sub-region comes to trade there. This, he noted, includes people coming from hotspot regions such as the Greater Accra and Ashanti region to the market.
“If you look at Pru East, unknown to a lot of them there, we have what we call the fish and yam market. You have traders from all over the country, especially from Accra and Kumasi coming there to be engaged in their trading. The second one… you look at Bono East, it’s one of the food baskets for the country and you have people from Accra [and] Kumasi coming to stay there; some for two months, just to trade in maize before they go back… So, if you look at where our cases have been, like the epicentre for Bono East, you can really allude to why we are having this challenge coupled with other challenges in terms of adherence to the protocols that we have been discussing”.
Dr Fred Adomako
Effectiveness of measures adopted to combat COVID-19
Dr Adomako expressed that the effectiveness of measures adopted to combat COVID-19 pandemic was impactful in the region, especially during the early days of the Delta [variant] when Bono East was declared as an emerging hotspot. He emphasized that following the move by the Bono regional minister to declare “COVID as a regional security” threat, security forces led the campaign to ensure the adherence to safety protocols.
“Our attention was really in our three hotspots and I’ll add the fourth one which were Kintampo North, Techiman municipal, especially Techiman central, Nkoranza South and Pru East”.
Dr Fred Adomako
The Bono East Director intimated that for these hotspot areas, the peaks were equally divided into four sub-districts. He indicated that when the mandates were given with COVID declared as a national security threat for the region, the security went on “rampage” which saw the swift adherence to these protocols by the people of Bono East.
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