Pictured above — Attorney General Dale Marshall.
With Barbados recording its 49th COVID-19 related death today, residents are being warned by Senior Medical Officer Dr. Ingrid Cumberbatch that if the Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus continues to spread rapidly, the island could possibly be looking at recording hundreds of cases per day.
Statement from AG on new directive. Saturday – August 28, 2021
“The Prime Minister, in her address to the country, set out the changes that will be made in the Directive which will come into force as at midnight tonight. The PM also chaired the meeting of the Cabinet Covid Subcommittee this morning and certain of the matters were reviewed and refined.
For absolute clarity I want [to hone] in on a few points.
Firstly, Churches are limited to 25 persons but we are well aware that there a many very small church buildings in Barbados. We therefore want to make it clear that in no circumstance can more than 25% of the floor space be occupied for the service.
I can say that the Prime Minister will meet with the faith based organisations so that we can have in depth discussions to see how we can better establish arrangements that are specific to each assembly. We understand the difficulties of adopting a one-size fits all approach and we want to open those discussions with the religious sector.
The new Directive will stipulate that aerobic or dance exercise classes must be conducted outdoors. And further, gyms, dance and exercise studios will be continue operations but will be subject specific protocols issued by the Covid Monitoring Unit.”
Gov’t Ensuring Barbados In Full State Of Readiness
Government is making sure that Barbados is in the fullest possible state of readiness for any COVID-19 spikes.
This assurance came from Attorney General Dale Marshall, in response to a question during today’s COVID-19 Update and Press Conference.
Mr. Marshall told his audience: “I can say that the stance of the Cabinet COVID Subcommittee and…the Ministry of Health is to ensure that we are prepared for any eventuality. And every meeting that we’ve had, we’ve been discussing, if this, then what.
“We paid a great deal of attention in today’s meeting to trying to determine what facilities we have, whether they are adequate and what further facilities we should have in the pipeline…. As a member of the COVID subcommittee, I can say to you that these matters are absolutely always under review, and we are making sure that Barbados is in the fullest possible state of readiness for any eventuality as far as COVID spikes go.”
The Attorney General pointed out that some Barbadians were continuing to be “scofflaws” with regard to following the directives. He surmised that this irresponsible behaviour then puts a greater strain on the national resources because the police have to stop dealing with their matters to go and back up the COVID-19 Monitoring Unit.
He commended the employees of the COVID-19 Monitoring Unit for their work, saying they were doing “a marvelous job” in the circumstances, and at great personal risk to themselves.
Meanwhile, when asked if the penalty in the directive required changing since some persons were not following the protocols, Mr. Marshall noted that the maximum penalty of $50,000, or imprisonment for one year, was significant, and there was no reason, at this point, to consider increasing it.
With regard to a question about incentivising persons to take the vaccines, the Attorney General said that issue had not been given any specific consideration by the subcommittee.
He continued: “For us, being vaccinated means keeping our businesses open, keeping our people healthy and being able to function as a whole, properly running country.”
SHARON AUSTINGILL-MOORE BGIS
Doctor Pleads For Public To Protect Children & The Vulnerable
The number of children testing positive for COVID-19 is on the increase, with 41 children under 18 years testing positive between August 25 and 27.
And, with Barbados recording as many as 92 new cases on Friday and another death early this morning, health officials are appealing to parents, other family members, and the general public to get vaccinated to protect the vulnerable in communities across the island.
Senior Medical Officer in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Dr. Ingrid Cumberbatch, made this plea as she addressed a virtual press conference on the heels of the latest figures released today.
Sharing statistics from the last three days, the Senior Medical Officer outlined that of the 21 cases recorded on August 25, there were seven children under age 18; on August 26, eight persons out of the 48 cases recorded were under 18 years, and on August 27, 26 out of the 92 cases were children under age 18.
This, she said, translated to 41 out of the 161 confirmed cases over the three-day period being children under the age of 18, representing 25 per cent of the total for that time frame, while those 18 years and over represented 75 per cent.
“So what we are seeing is more children are being infected and ill with symptoms,” Dr. Cumberbatch stated.
However, she pointed out that contact tracing was still ongoing for August 27, and the data was, therefore, not complete.
“I want to take this opportunity again to encourage all Barbadians to please, cooperate to the fullest extent with your contact tracers. They are working to help you, and they are working to help the whole of Barbados, so be as cooperative as you possibly can,” she pleaded.
Dr. Cumberbatch also appealed to the public to go to the doctor if they felt sick or experienced symptoms of the cold, sinus, flu, diarrhea or vomiting.
“Do not stay home sick, and certainly do not go to work, or take your child to daycare; go to the doctor and go and get a COVID test. Know your status and protect your loved ones,” she advised.
She also said that the figures show that the majority of persons becoming infected were unvaccinated. On August 25, 95 per cent of those infected were unvaccinated, and 85 per cent on August 26.
Dr. Cumberbatch added that this translates to entire families and households being affected, with three families impacted on August 25; six families on August 26, and 13 families on August 27.
The Senior Medical Officer urged the public to protect the vulnerable in their communities, such as the elderly, those with chronic diseases and those who cannot yet be vaccinated, such as very young children.
“I have presented the evidence to you. And again, I will encourage you to reduce the risk of spread amongst your families and other vulnerable loved ones by adding that additional layer of getting vaccinated,” she stated.
Dr. Cumberbatch further advised persons to wear their masks when visiting other households.
“We need to think about what we are doing… not sometimes, but all the time. It is not easy, but we need to make the effort, because these are the things that are going to reduce the risk to ourselves and to others. We need to protect our vulnerable ones,” she stressed.
In addition to maintaining a balanced diet and taking supplements, she reminded the public to practise all the layers of the protocols – hand hygiene, which is hand washing and sanitising; wearing a face mask to cover the nose and the mouth; physical distancing, and vaccination.
“[It is] your choice Barbados. You need to decide what layers you’re going to use, and how many,” she said.
JULIA RAWLINS-BENTHAM – BGIS
Senior Medical Officer Dr Ingrid Cumberbatch: Barbados could see 500 COVID-19 cases per day
With Barbados recording its 49th COVID-19 related death today, residents are being warned that if the Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus continues to spread rapidly, the island could possibly be looking at recording hundreds of cases per day.
Speaking at a press conference this evening, Senior Medical Officer Dr Ingrid Cumberbatch reported that authorities are seeing entire families and households being infected with COVID. She said that according to projections from the University of the West Indies (UWI), there could be a maximum of 500 cases per day.
Dr Cumberbatch said: “So, we haven’t seen that yet, but we know that that is a possibility. And from looking at other scenarios, when I say other, I am talking about in other jurisdictions, we know that that is not even the worst case, because that is a picture that was painted with a mixture of Alpha and Delta circulating in Barbados. So right now, given the projections from our UWI colleagues, I can say we are looking at 500 cases a day from right now, probably into next week, as a maximum”.
Dr Cumberbatch said that the 58-year-old unvaccinated woman who was in isolation for eight days passed away this morning and had no comorbidities.
The Senior Medical Officer said on August 25 there were COVID-19 cases among three families, the following day there were six families, and on August 27 there were 13 families.
“We know that the risk of the spread in families is real and given how we as Barbadians socialize and live, this is even more of a reality because we have our core families and then we have the extended families, many of whom have vulnerable persons such as the elderly, persons who have chronic diseases and those who can’t yet be vaccinated such as very young children because there is no vaccine available to them,” Dr Cumberbatch said.
She also indicated that statistics are showing that the majority of infected people are unvaccinated, and explained that 95 per cent of those who tested positive on August 25 were unvaccinated.
Eighty-five per cent of the persons who tested positive on August 26 were unvaccinated.
Dr Cumberbatch also noted that the authorities continue to be concerned about the increasing number of children getting infected with COVID.
She said: “So Barbados, if you are sick with the cold, sinus problems, flu-like or other symptoms including diarrhea and or vomiting, do not stay home sick and certainly, do not go to work or take your child to day care. Go to the doctor and go and get your COVID test, know your status and protect your loved ones.
“We can see for August 27 that the trend continues and it is increasing because you can see that the persons aged less than 18 years, 26 of them of the 92 represented 28 per cent. And those aged 18 years and over, 66 representing 72 per cent”.
The medical practitioner, who urged Barbadians to continue to follow COVID-19 protocols and get vaccinated, shared that contact tracing is continuously taking place. She also encouraged Barbadians to cooperate to the fullest extent with the contact tracing officers who are working to help the country fight the battle.
She said: “I have presented the evidence to you and again I would encourage you to reduce the risk of spread amongst your families and other vulnerable loved ones by adding that additional layer of getting vaccinated”.
Persons Breaching Directives Are Facing Legal Consequences
Twenty persons who breached the COVID-19 directives have had their court cases adjudicated.
Head of the COVID-19 Monitoring Unit, Ronald Chapman, disclosed this today, during a COVID-19 Update and Press Conference, held at Ilaro Court.
He shared some statistics highlighting the number of persons who had been to court to face charges for breaching the directives. “There was one breach of curfew; one quarantine breach; six persons attending an event that they shouldn’t have; in fact, they’re 11 of those, three non-wearing of mask and four places failing to remaining close.”
Mr. Chapman said a total of 14 persons had been found guilty of the offences that they had been charged with, while four were found not guilty. “The others are still before the law courts, and those fines range from $300 to $1,000,” he added.
He also mentioned that a few people were fined $1,000, and two were fined $1,500. He said although the information about the charges was not made public, the unit was doing its work “very quietly in the background”.
Mr. Chapman urged members of the public to call the COVID-19 Monitoring Unit’s Hotline, 536-4500, where they could make reports and have their concerns addressed.
FABIAN BELGRAVE – BGIS
COVID-19 spreading in recreational areas, places of work
August 28, 2021 Appeared first in Barbados Today by Anesta Henry……….
Head of the COVID-19 Monitoring Unit Ronald Chapman is reporting that more people are contracting COVID-19 in recreational areas and places of work
As he delivered remarks during this evening’s press conference, Chapman said that while the two categories – recreational areas and places of work – seem to be creating a headache for authorities, COVID-19 is not spreading in front offices of stores or supermarkets, where protocols are being fully enforced.
“What we are seeing is in the back offices, in the storerooms, in areas where the staff congregate, have lunch, where they take off their masks. Sometimes we are having incidents where staff decide that at lunchtime, they are going to go into the car with one another and eat lunch.
“These areas where people congregate close together are causing us significant concern. As you would have heard, we have been having issues with churches and this has to do with the same issue, close contact, confined spaces and crowds. Once you have those three C’s coming together you are going to get COVID, or you increase your chances of getting COVID,” Chapman said.
Chapman reminded those visiting bars to consume their beverages outdoors, and remain away from confined spaces indoors. He explained that persons lose their guard when they are congregating and under the influence of alcohol. He said too many people at bars are being caught wearing their masks under their chin, exposing themselves and others to the possibility of contracting the virus.
“We are not in a place where we can play now. This thing is extremely serious. Wear your mask,” he said.
Chapman said that as the new directives, which come into effect tonight, are focused on reducing crowds, members of the public are being encouraged to report the gathering of large crowds to the COVID-19 Monitoring Unit.
And given the recent spike in cases due to the highly contagious Delta variant of the COVID-19, Chapman said that while the Unit is well staffed and ready to address the issues being confronted, the members cannot be everywhere at the same time.
He said Barbadians must assist the Units’ efforts by taking care of their own safety.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Dale Marshall, who was also present at the press conference, said that two reports he received from credible sources during the proceedings indicate that Barbadians are failing to take the directives they have to follow seriously.
Marshall said irresponsible behaviour would put a greater strain on national resources, noting that in some instances, police are often called to offer assistance to the members of the monitoring unit. (AH)
