Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Simone Keizer-Beache says that the COVID-19 figures, along with the amount of testing and contract tracing taking place do not suggest a flattening of the curve amidst the current spike in case in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
She is, therefore, advocating that vaccinated and unvaccinated people wear double masks.
“I am looking at the figures daily, looking at the amount of testing, the contact tracing that’s going on and I’m not seeing, at this point, any sign that we are flattening the curve. Rather it’s an exponential,” Keizer-Beache said on VC3’s Round Table Talk.
“And we know that as we go, [there is] that exponential rise as happened in Grenada — even look at Barbados, Barbados was pretty fine for quite a while and now they have gone right back up, you’re seeing deaths again. So I’m going to say that we are very concerned.”
St. Vincent and the Grenadines has recorded 1,574 cases of COVID-19 and 12 deaths, since Sept. 8, taking the total to 3,965 cases and 33 deaths.
Keizer-Beache said:
“We urge vaccination, we ask persons to really use your masks. We’re dealing with Delta, Gamma and Mu so you should be using your double masks; double masks.
“Even you vaccinated persons, we should use double masks. You should be using properly fitted masks. And we should be seriously looking at if we are using cloth masks, we should be doubled or we should use N95 masks so we are even more protected than before. That’s the only way we’re going to cut this. We have to do masks, we have to distance, we have to sanitize, and we have to be vaccinated.”
It is not clear if the double-mask advice applied to Parliament.
In respect of masks, the Health Services Sub-committee of the National Emergency Management Organisation, which Keizer-Beache chairs, has approved protocols for Parliament, which say that the unvaccinated or those who have not declared their vaccination status must wear double masks, the outer one of which has to be black.
Further, these MPs have to speak from a booth erected towards the end of the assembly chamber.
The protocols do not specify any colour mask for the vaccinated MPs, but say they can remove their masks when speaking.
U all crazy how the hell is this possible u can’t even breath in one much less 2 u all really want to fill them body bags…smh
The Government would be issuing mask for that purpose
What’s the rational for outer mask being black? CMO please let us know, there’s must be some reasons.
Apparently we have now entered dangerous waters. The health services are overwhelmemed, and the doomsday fanatics have gone into overdrive. We have non medical professionals giving medical advice. Fortunately our bonafide medical professionals are also giving advice as they should. This is chance for a reset and sensible people can weight the facts over again. Old bang guts should stay out of it cause people don’t trust he, the local Portugees who want to play the roll of messiah in the political theater. Forever scheeming for people’s minds and hearts, all the while keeping the people wallowing in ignorance with jumby stories.
Wearing double mask and being black on the outside, it was a means of insulting the NDP in parliament, people why this did not mention before hand, so now they are trying to justify it outside now, we all have a head please use it, It is not for looks only
Madam CMO; this is clearly not helping but creating more panic to the people; when the head of Medical is saying: – “Even VACCINATED persons … should use double masks”, at the same time you are urging the need for vaccination; the said vaccine that still require “double mask” as per your recommendation.
At this point the entire Island should be focusing on “symptomatic care”, such as staying hydrated, distancing, conscious sanitizing and masks; considering the neglect and unconcluded coverage in regards to the lack of ‘contact tracing’ data.