Kakamega
By Wilson Abiri
- Oparanya quarantines three county employees from Water Dept. by force
- They stayed in Italy for one week
- They went to buy water-drilling equipments
- County now tracing the people they came into contact with
- Italy is the worst hit country with the virus
The residents of Kakamega town are in a panic mood after learning that three employees of the county government who jetted in from Italy one and a half weeks ago had refused to go on self-quarantine as per the government’s directive.
Governor Wycliffe Oparanya had to use his executive order and have them quarantined by force.
Italy is the worst hit country with the Covid19 pandemic after recording over 5400 deaths and at least 59000 people having been infected with the virus in a span of two weeks.
The three officers are seniors managers from the Department of Water. They stayed in Italy for one week. One of them is a CEO of a county water agency.
Governor Oparanya in his address to the press today, he directed that the officers to go on quarantine with immediate effect for 14 days, adding they had travelled to Italy to buy water-drilling equipments.
He was in company of Kakamega County Commissioner Pauline Dola and County Police Commander, Bernard Muli.
Oparanya said they are tracing anyone who came into contact to them so that they too can be tested.
“We are calling upon any employee of the county government and the locals at large who may have been in contact with them to come out and be checked if they have the virus. They are also supposed to proceed to self-quarantine for 14 days,” said Oparanya.
Last week, doctors and nurses at the Kakamega County General Teaching and Referral Hospital fled from the casualty ward after a patient with coronavirus-like symptoms was brought to the facility.
The health workers said they feared contracting the highly contagious coronavirus disease because they do not have protective gear.
The patient had jetted into the country from Dubai. Two other patients were also quarantined after arriving in the country also exhibiting corona like symptoms. They tested negative.
The other was a woman who had travelled from Rongai in Nairobi and was first attended to at Mwihila hospital in Khwisero while the third one, a woman jetted into the country from Qatar.
Meanwhile, the County Government has already procured protective gears to be used by isolation facilities and hospital workers as well as those directly involved in emergency response operations such as the Red Cross, County enforcement and National security agents.
“Disease Surveillance Teams have been trained and stationed at Sub County
and ward levels to monitor the situation and take appropriate preventive and
mitigation interventions.
Madam Rachel also informed the team that USAID had been approached for support
in provision of required materials and logistics,” said Rachel Okumu, CEC
Health.
Ends
