JAMAICANS PRONE to respiratory illnesses have been warned to take precautions as swathes of the country become covered with the hazy Saharan dust.
With the global COVID-19 pandemic already posing fatal risks to persons suffering from respiratory conditions, Keron Crossman Johnson, environment health specialist in the Ministry of Health, said that the Saharan dust could inflame vulnerabilities.
Crossman Johnson has cautioned that overexposure could prove hazardous “dependent on the health status of the individual, because for COVID-19, there are persons who are asymptomatic, there are persons who are having mild symptoms, and there are persons who we would call chronic.
The health specialist also said that the Saharan dust could result in increased reports of allergies and eye and skin irritation.
Crossman Johnson also warned that individuals who harvest rainwater might also become sick because of microorganisms carried with the dust.
