Grenada’s Health Minister Nicholas Steele says the island’s healthcare system was on the verge of collapse as Grenada experienced the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic during the period August to October last year.
“With regards to the effects of COVID-19, it has been significant…we survived the wave last year, our Delta wave, but I will be the first to admit and I know, and Dr. Donald can tell you, we came very close, like most other nations to collapsing, which was what we are trying to avoid always,” he said.
“It was a lot of pressure on the team, on the facilities, etc. We have seen other nations that have succumb too, but we have watched and we have learned, we bolstered, and we put support where we had to, and we came through. We lost a lot of Grenadians, unnecessarily, I think,” said Steele, as he recalled the impact of the outbreak which resulted in the community spread of the coronavirus.
During the first outbreak, more than 100 of Grenada’s healthcare workers including nurses and auxiliary staff became infected and had to be quarantined.
