COVID-19 fears have triggered an anecdotal decline in visits for medical attention among diabetic and hypertensive Jamaicans, potentially worsening their vulnerability to the highly contagious disease that has killed 101 people in Jamaica.
The disclosure was made on Tuesday by president of the Jamaica Diabetes Association (DAJ), Lurline Less, who emphasised that a number of persons living with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) “were afraid of getting COVID.”
“They are not going for their care, so they are out of medication, their sugar is out of control, blood pressure out of control, and, of course, that makes you susceptible, because your immunity is low given those situation,” Less told The Gleaner.
The Diabetes Association president did not offer empirical data.
However, her alarm over the psychological effects of COVID-19 was corroborated by Chief Medical Officer Dr Jacquiline Bisasor-McKenzie, who said that the spectre of mental illness concerns was blunting the effectiveness of public-health messaging.
Bisasor-McKenzie told Rotarians during a virtual meeting late Tuesday that “right now, there is a lot of anxiety and fear”.
“Sometimes it is very, very difficult to strike a balance as to what it is to say because people want to know what is happening in terms of hospitalisation and what is happening in terms of deaths.
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