The “Covid army” which includes at least 5,000 school teachers will be prepared for the third phase of fighting the pandemic, expected to begin from June 1. (Representational)
With 26 more people infected with COVID-19 being discharged on Tuesday from the Nagarwada red zone, the total number of recoveries in Vadodara has reached 88.
The recovery rate of 34 per cent — 263 positive cases have been recorded until Tuesday — appears to be a progress for the city, but officials are preparing a “Covid army” to offer support in case of a possible community transmission.
The “Covid army” which includes at least 5,000 school teachers will be prepared for the third phase of fighting the pandemic, expected to begin from June 1.
On Tuesday, Officer on Special Duty Vinod Rao met the Shikshak Sangh of primary, secondary and higher secondary teachers of the district, in the presence of the District Education Officer (DEO) and District Primary Education Officer (DPEO). These teachers will be trained to offer community support in June and July, when the administration expects several affected people to be home-bound in isolation– those who will not need intensive medical assistance.
“The training of ‘master trainers’ will be conducted on April 30 and the training of all 5,000 teachers will be done from May 1 to 4 before the summer vacation. They will help us when affected people will be home-bound. The first training will be primary orientation to what they will have to do as support groups. Later, more training will be conducted as it is also possible that they will have to operate back-end control rooms from their own homes — we could assign about 30 patients to each of these teachers to monitor and help them. Further details will be clear in a few days,” Rao said.
With the lockdown expected to end on May 3, VMC Health Officer Dr Devesh Patel said that they are prepared for the challenges that will emerge after it ends.
Patel said that the doubling time of the virus in the district was three days but the lockdown has extended it to 6.5 to 7 days.
“It could change after lockdown. We don’t know how long it will last but we are prepared for the challenges,” says Dr Patel, who is also the coordinator for the team preventing community transmission in the disaster management department.
Health and disaster management officials said that the possibility of at least 6.5 lakh residents being affected is a projection that the administration is preparing for.
Of the 263 cases reported in Vadodara, more than 150 have been asymptomatic — but potent carriers of the virus — detected as close contacts of positive patients or during mass sampling of red containment zones.
Patel admits that the undetected asymptomatic cases are a threat to the city. Most of the new cases reported over the last fortnight have been in areas which have not reported any positive cases — almost all of the first cases from these localities neither had any travel history nor any immediate contact with positive cases.
Only five patients had a history of foreign travel in the beginning of the pandemic.
Patel said that as the asymptomatic cases cannot be tackled, they have to use some presumptive measures like asking the residents to remain in self isolation.
“We can divide the city into various zones and ask people to be in isolation to prevent spread. And you don’t have the capacity to test everyone, So, there has to be some empirical treatment,” he added.
Patel said that little can be done to increase the low testing capacity.
“The testing capacity cannot be built overnight. Setting up a PCR testing facility itself costs Rs 1 crore. Then each test costs Rs 4,500. Even the rapid kits just give you a sense of the field. A positive kit would help you locate an area where a positive case could be present but is not completely reliable and it has to still be reconfirmed on a PCR test.”
The “Covid army” is, therefore, expected to play a big role in the coming days.
“We have to be ready for hospitalisation of only those who really need it. The numbers are eventually going to be in lakhs and we will not have hospital facilities to manage everyone with mild symptoms. They will have to remain in self-isolation,” Patel said.
Meanwhile, the Officer on Special Duty met EME School Commander Major General MJS Syali, Air Commander Kuttappa from Air Force Station and Brigadier Sanjog Negi from Army to discuss setting up of a dedicated COVID-care centre for the defense personnel in Vadodara and use various resources available with EME, Army and Air Force Stations for fighting the pandemic.