The flood of positive cases of COVID-19 recorded at the Alorica Business Process Outscoring (BPO) facility over the last week has resulted in a dramatic reduction in the average age of persons confirmed with the deadly virus in Jamaica.
Up to April 15, when there were 143 cases, the mean age of persons with the disease was 37, with the median age being 31.
This was revealed by National Epidemiologist Dr Karen Webster Kerr at a teleconference put on by the Faculty of Medicine at the University of the West Indies on Sunday.
“The Alorica cases are skewing Jamaica’s data. This is a call centre that has over 700 persons working, and so far 60 have been positive for COVID-19,” Dr Webster Kerr said.
Since then, the number of positive cases at Alorica has soared to more than 100.
The explosion of cases at Alorica, which is located in Portmore, resulted in the Government ordering a lockdown of the parish, with only certain days allocated for persons to leave their homes to shop for essentials such as food and medicine.
Webster Kerr noted that Alorica also shifted the ratio of males to females having the virus, with 39 per cent male and 61 per cent females in the total.
The staff of Alorica – like all call centres in Jamaica – is made up of mostly women.
She said, when the Alorica cases were taken out, the mean age of persons testing with the virus was 50, with the median being 49.
Looking at the Alorica cases alone, the mean of persons with the virus is 22 with the median being 24.
Of the Alorica cases, 82 per cent were women and 18 per cent men.
Webster Kerr also stated that the rush of Alorica cases also reversed the relatively slow increase in COVID-19 cases in Jamaica. The number of cases are now doubling every five days, as against the doubling in 10 days before the Alorica cases were detected.
The age range of persons confirmed with the virus is two years old to 87. Five persons have died so far.
Credit: Loop
