Parasram: Brace for covid19 spike

CMO Dr Roshan Parasram warned TT to brace for a spike in covid19 cases within the next few days as a result of the recent mass gatherings coming out of the August 10 general election.

He said during the Ministry of Health’s press briefing on Wednesday at the NCRHA boardroom, Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, that the public health department is preparing for the worst, although the extent of the spread cannot be determined.

Parasram said, “One can’t predict for sure what is going to be the outcome. If you have a thousand people gathering and no one has covid19 or covid19 symptoms, obviously out of that one event nothing will happen. Or you could have a crowded situation where you would have a number of positive cases moving around in that environment you would expect an explosion.

"It all depends on what movement you have, the amount of mask wearing that would occur. There are a lot of variables to take into consideration, and I don’t think that people could predict what could happen but we do expect that we will get an increase of viral spread in general and increases in covid19.”

Parasram said, in light of the expected spike, public health officials were doing what they could to prepare.

Over the past two weeks as the country neared election day on August 10, a number of gatherings for political rallies, motorcades and walkabouts were observed, even as public health ordinances advised that people limit their gatherings to groups of ten.

Even on the night before the general election, videos circulating on social media depicted supporters of political parties gathering in large groups.

Parasram said, as a precaution, health officials were trying to treat the patients that were in hospital – of which there were 126 at the time – in as quick a time as possible, to move them to step-down facilities in order to have as many beds available as possible.

Technical Director of the Epidemiology Division, Dr Avery Hinds said gatherings were among one of the settings that posed the highest risk of spreading covid19. He said a total of 64 per cent of cases were linked to one another.

Hinds added that there were a number of people who exhibited symptoms of covid19 but dismissed it as another virus, sinusitis, or a flare in asthma. Hinds warned against this.

“We are asking anyone who is ill not to go to work or school or any gatherings that they would normally go to as well. When at home (we advise) not sharing utensils and staying in your room and not interacting with other relatives.”