Kenya: COVID-19 – Homa Bay Teacher Tests Positive After Meeting Principal

Homa Bay County has recorded its fourth Covid-19 case after a 24-year-old teacher tested positive on Saturday.

The Ober Boys High School teacher came into contact with the school principal who died of the virus on Monday.

According to a statement from the county Health department, the patient had attended a meeting that was chaired by the principal on May 19 in the school compound in Rachuonyo East.

The meeting was also attended by four other staff from the institution including three teachers and an official from the finance department.

County Health Executive Prof Richard Muga said the patient could have been infected with the virus after meeting the principal who died and was later buried in Siaya County.

During the meeting, neither the teacher nor the principal knew that they were infected. The principal is said to have gone back to his home in Migori County later that day after visiting Oyugis Town in Rachuonyo South.

He is reported to have complained that he was not feeling well after arriving at his home in Migori.

Prof Muga said the principal sought medical care at local health facility within Migori County but his condition continued to deteriorate.

“He was referred to Agha Khan Hospital in Kisumu County but failed to get admission at the facility for lack of a comprehensive [health] insurance cover. He was transferred to another private hospital within Kisumu,” Prof Muga said.

The teacher died before doctors could attend to him. A close relative of the principal, however, denied that the teacher died of Covid-19. He insisted that the teacher succumbed to malaria and typhoid. The relative said the teacher had been unwell for one week before he died.

“His sugar level had risen but it was being managed. His condition worsened days before he died,” the family member said.

However, Prof Muga said tests conducted on samples from the principal showed that he died of Covid-19.

“Tests were done on samples collected on the teacher and it turned positive on Monday. Health officers from the county government began contact tracing,” he said.

Prof Muga said after discovering that the principal died of Covid-19, all staff from Ober Boys who interacted with him were advised to self-quarantine.

“The patient stayed in his house within the school compound from Wednesday after the principal was found to have died of Covid-19 on Monday. The other staff who attended the meeting he chaired also did the same,” Prof Muga said.

Prof Muga said the teacher was taken to Malela isolation unit after he was counselled. He added that contact tracing is ongoing to within the community at Ober and in Oyugis Town where the teacher is suspected to have interacted with people.

Health officers are also undertaking a decontamination exercise through spraying of the school, houses and surfaces, gates and other premises, around the school and at Mikayi Market.

Four cases of coronavirus have been reported in Homa Bay with one recovery.