St. Vincent and the Grenadines, on Monday, recorded its 100th and 101st COVID-19 deaths, according to information released by the Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment today (Wednesday).
A 71-year-old male with underlying conditions tested positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 31 and was admitted to the Isolation Ward at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH).
He died on Monday of COVID-19 pneumonia.
Also, an 89-year-old female with underlying conditions tested positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 30 and was admitted to the Isolation Ward at MCMH.
She died on Monday of COVID-19 pneumonia.
Both patients were unvaccinated and brought to 101 the total number of people to die of COVID-19 in the country.
Of the people who have died, 97 were unvaccinated, three were fully vaccinated, and one partially vaccinated.
There are nine COVID-19 patients in hospital as of Tuesday, two of whom are fully vaccinated and seven are unvaccinated.
The country has recorded 6,713 PCR confirmed cases of COVID-19 since March 2020 while, as of Jan. 5, there were 1,446 rapid test cases, for a total of 8,159 cases.
Four new PCR and 11 rapid antigen cases were recorded during the reporting period.
There were 72 recoveries during the reporting period, leaving 144 active cases.
As of Tuesday, 66,277 doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered in the country, made up of 34,832 first doses, 28,660 second doses and 2,785 booster shots.
If what’s happening in Bequia mirrors what’s happening throughout the State, then there is total absence of a track and trace system of any description. That being the case, how reliable are the infection figures published daily by the authorities? I’ll say ” not much” for the following reasons:
▪︎ some people experiencing Covid-like symptoms are deterred from getting tested because of the exorbitant costs demanded by private suppliers.
▪︎A positive test requires self-isolation by the affected and in most cases, other members of the household. For many this is unaffordable and therefore they are reluctant to get tested.
Therefore, the published figures present a false picture of the rate of infections across the State.
But worse, the lack of an effective track and trace system, plus a policy which deters testing, allow infected individuals to unsuspectingly infect others.
The government needs a complete rethink here if the intention is to limit the spread of this virus.
Do you think you can get the statistics of the number of unvaccinated persons why have recovered compared to the vaccinated recoveries?
If what is happening in Bequia is happening across the State, there is currently no track and trace system of any description nationally, and individuals who may well have Covid-like symptoms are deterred from getting tested. Therefore, how reliable are the daily infection figures published by the authorities? I would say “not very reliable” for at least two reasons:
▪︎ many people with Covid-like symptoms are expected to get tested privately at exorbitant costs demanded by private suppliers. Therefore, in the absence of confirmation that they maybe infected they continue to mix socially and unwittingly spread the virus.
▪︎a person who is tested positive, and most likely the entire household, is required to self-isolate. For many, this is unaffordable and they are therefore reluctant to get tested for fear of lost wages.
▪︎it is commonly known that people who are tested positive are not asked to provide information which would allow the authorities to trace and follow-up their “contacts”.
Therefore in my view, the daily figures published by the authorities are woefully unreliable and misleading.