St. Vincent and the Grenadines, on Thursday, announced 31 new COVID-19 cases, the highest number for a single day in recent times.
“Cases include persons who work in environments with low vaccination coverage and those who attended various events known to be high risk for spread,” the National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO) said in a statement.
NEMO did not specify the “events”, but the significant rise in cases comes almost two weeks after the May 30 hosting of the finals of the Vincy Premier League cricket competition.
Thousand of persons attended the event and the majority did not wear masks, and those who did wore them incorrectly.
There was also no physical distancing at the event, whose organisers the SVG Cricket Association has remained mum on the development.
NEMO said that the 31 cases were reported from 221 samples processed on Wednesday, resulting in a positivity rate of 14%.
NEMO also announced 27 new recoveries, bringing the total to 1,889.
Since March 2021, SVG has recorded 2,132 cases of COVID-19.
Twelve people have died of COVID-19 and 231 cases are currently active.
“Persons who persist in incorrect or no mask use, remain unvaccinated and participate in mass gatherings will continue to be at risk for being infected and spreading COVID-19, as is happening now,” NEMO said.
“The public is urged to continue to use masks, sanitize, physically distance and get vaccinated to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.”
St. Vincent and the Grenadines seems to be approaching the crossroads rather quickly.
I sincerely hope we see the need to inform ourselves about the positives and negatives of getting vaccinated against COVID-19 (source of information is critical – I suggest going straight to the websites of vaccine manufacturers as a start).
Pertaining to the article, I believe the headline is mischievous to say the least, and contents relating to cricket are bordering callousness. I was one of those who attended the cricket final and several of the matches prior.
Arriving for the finals, I was offered a free mask by stewards after which my hands were sprayed with the applicable disinfectants by the stewards inside the stand. I also observed stationary hand sanitizing stations at the event which i thought was an excellent initiative; and ofcourse the guy on the mic advising of the covid-19 protocols (this aspect can be improved upon as I believe he wasn’t clearly audible at times).
I have always been a stickler for details so upon seeing the crowd on the day of the final (which in my opinion was as much as 3-4 times the amount that came on the day before the final), I was extremely surprised to say the least and wondered why persons weren’t ushered to the other parts of the ground to accommodate better physical distancing – they really could have done a better job at this. Be as it may, I, along with my family kept to our little corner and had a most exhilarating time (didn’t realize how much i missed the outdoors until i started going to the games).
Almost immediately after the final, i saw that social media was inundated with pictures of the crowd which in my mind was a bit misleading especially when taken from specific angles – I was in Michael Findley Pavilion. Was there too many people allowed in the stand? Yes! Was it the stand filled to capacity? No! There were several empty seats but the exuberance of the crowd made it look like there were none.
I understand from the National Sports Council, that the maximum seating capacity of the Michael Findley, Frank Thomas and PH Veira pavilions is 1000, 1100, and 400 respectively. Based on those numbers and the fact that there were a few spectators in the much larger double decker stand, I believe at most, there were approximately 2250 persons at the event.
Given the seating capacity of the complex is about 12000, the organisers should have done better in relation to physical distancing. I heard someone from the cricket association on radio saying that based on the crowd attendance leading up to the finals, they were caught by surprise and did not adequately accommodate for the crowd. I honestly can understand why they could not have predicted the crowd on the final day because judging from crowds in the semifinals, no one could have seen that happening.
Additionally, based on all available science, it is near impossible to say with certainty that a specific outdoor event is responsible. A New York Times article indicated that a review of 7,000 cases in China documented only a single instance of outdoor transmission — but it apparently occurred during a long conversation between two friends. One of them had just returned from Wuhan, the center of the outbreak.
Now, while i have just referenced this one article, I am sure a simple google search would point to similar assertions.
On a different note, I can not wait for another tournament and i certainly hope football can organise a similar tournament but the fact that football is a contact sport as as opposed to cricket it might not augur well. However, whatever is done, must be done where physical distancing can be achieved. I am not too much concerned about mask wearing outdoors as hardly anyone wears the correct mask (N-95s or similar) anyway. Additionally, science has shown that these cloth masks and the like do very little to prevent the spread of the virus. As long as there is enough physical distancing, I would be happy.
Be mindful and get informed.
One Love!
Reference
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/03/well/live/coronavirus-spread-outdoors-party.html