Workers and residents in Kakamega County have a reason to worry after all 17 Coronavirus tests conducted on County staff at the County General Hospital (CGH) last Thursday have turned out positive.
Last week, Governor Wycliffe Oparanya ordered a shutdown of the County headquarter offices and directed all staff and workers at the County assembly to take mandatory Covid-19 staff after colleagues tested positive. However, according to a staff member, County workers who turned up for testing at the General Hospital couldn’t proceed with the tests due to an alleged shortage of testing kits and reagents. As a result, only 17 were tested, “We were told the facility had 25 kits and only 17 were used. The remaining 8 were allegedly spared for emergency cases.”
Kakamega Health CEC Collins Matemba said 17 people have tested positive and that the department of public service and administration and the health services department were heavily affected. The County headquarter building hosts the Governor, Deputy Governor offices and their aides, County Treasury, Public Service and Administration, the County Secretary and the Governor’s press.
However, the Health CEC has played down reports that the County’s Coronavirus case load is unmanageable, insisting that the deaths of prominent people shouldn’t be used to draw conclusions. This comes after the demise of three prominent figures in the County, business woman cum politician Mable Muruli, Kakamega County chief of staff Robert Sumbi and Kakamega based orthopaedic surgeon Daniel Alishula.
Statistics show that 74 health workers in the County have so far tested positive to the disease including 2 nurses admitted at the ICU. Lurambi and Malava sub counties have been identified as epicentres of the virus in the County. Mumias Isolation centre has 30 active cases, Likuyani isolation centre has 17 active cases, the County General Hospital (CGH) has 6 cases, mainly County government staff, with plans to turn it into a VIP isolation centre for County staff and health workers.
A spike in infections prompted a shutdown of operations at the CGH main theater, the Butere sub county hospital theater and the Nabongo dispensary in Sheywe ward. 6 patients reportedly tested positive for the virus at Butere hospital and 2 nurses at Nabongo dispensary.