COVID-19 in Trinidad & Tobago (Local Updates & Discussions Only)

[widdyphuck]

I think we should be calling for the resignation of:
CMO
Maryam Richards
Trotman
Avery Hinds
Deyalsingh.
Tax payers dollars are being paid to them to prevent us from reaching a position like this yet we are here.
Someone has to accept responsibility for this atrocious state of affairs.

Don't even mention the massive loss of livelihood that we are currently experiencing.

If given the option CMO, Trotman and Richards would enact a full 24/7 2 week total lockdown. No movement whatsoever anywhere.

A proper full border closure including the illegals.

Supermarkets/pharmacies/fruit stands/ministries/banks/insurance companies closed. Use what's in your pantry and medicine cabinet. Eat crix and tuna if you don't have a stove.

Geriatric and night nurses to remain with the patients. If they have responsibilities during the day with family 2 weeks someone else could take over.

Army would drop off supplies in your yard.

Like when China welded people inside their houses and apartment complexes.

From a medically viewpoint they don't care about your economic affairs, livelihood, family business going under, rent collection, unpaid loans, debts piling up, economy faltering etc. That's not their problem.

They don't care about your mental health either. 2 weeks and suck it up.

They want the number of cases to and deaths to go down.

Deyalsingh, Young, Hinds and KCR are the ones who have to weigh the pros and cons, and take the relevant steps to "keep the lights on".

They are the ones who are accountable at the end of the day.

Whose advice was it to send everyone to Tobago?

[Dohplaydat]

708 new cases and 7 deaths

FB_IMG_1621627684872.jpeg

708 cases
7 deaths
1354 tests
52.3% positivity

u sure they report no of tests the exact same way as the new cases? as in the no of tests reflect test done in the exact same period as the period in which the positive samples come from?

They don't, the positives come from tests results obtained over the last few days. This 700 you today technically happened 4-5 days ago.

But with positivity rates and tests at an all-time high, expect next week to be just as high or higher. Sad to say but we gonna have 100s more dead in the next month.

Screenshot 2021-05-21 at 5.20.06 pm.png (37.92 KiB) Viewed 2119 times

[matr1x]

You feel they telling you which one you getting?

[Mmoney607]

I think we should be calling for the resignation of:
CMO
Maryam Richards
Trotman
Avery Hinds
Deyalsingh.
Tax payers dollars are being paid to them to prevent us from reaching a position like this yet we are here.
Someone has to accept responsibility for this atrocious state of affairs.

Don't even mention the massive loss of livelihood that we are currently experiencing.

How dare you attack our hard working health professionals who are totally apolotical. They are beyond reproach and anything they say should not be questioned.

[Habit7]

I think we should be calling for the resignation of:
CMO
Maryam Richards
Trotman
Avery Hinds
Deyalsingh.
Tax payers dollars are being paid to them to prevent us from reaching a position like this yet we are here.
Someone has to accept responsibility for this atrocious state of affairs.

Don't even mention the massive loss of livelihood that we are currently experiencing.

Well these countries need to fire their public servants and politicians too because variants don't really care who is in charge.

Covid-19: What went wrong in Singapore and Taiwan?
By Yvette Tan
BBC News, Singapore

Published1 day ago
Share

They've been hailed as virus success stories - places that have seen virtually zero or single-digit Covid cases since the start of the year.

But this month, Singapore and Taiwan have both seen a sudden and aggressive rise in cases - with Singapore logging 248 new cases just last week, and Taiwan 1,200 local infections.

Both places have gone into a heightened state of restrictions, limiting the size of social gatherings and closing schools.

By global standards, these numbers may seem small - but for these places, these figures would have been unthinkable just months ago. So what exactly went wrong?

A tale of complacency: Taiwan
Taiwan was among the first places to ban foreign visitors almost as soon as China reported the emergence of the virus - and these tough border restrictions still remain in place.

Locally however, the population started to become complacent - as did its government.

Hospitals stopped aggressively testing people for Covid, even those with a fever - a common symptom of the virus, according to Associate Professor Lin Hsien-ho of the National Taiwan University.

According to online publication Our World in Data, Taiwan was administering just 0.57 virus tests per 1,000 people in mid-Feb. This compared to Singapore's rate of 6.21 and the UK's rate of 8.68 at around the same period.

"There was a general assumption even with people showing symptoms that the probability of having Covid-19 was essentially zero," Dr Lin told the BBC, adding that it stemmed from a belief that the virus could not break through Taiwan's strong borders.

"Doctors were not taking it seriously, hospitals were not alert, they were not doing a lot of contact tracing. There was definitely a certain sense of complacency."

This was especially highlighted when Taiwan relaxed its quarantine requirements for non-vaccinated airline pilots from an initial 14-day period, to five days - and then, just three days.

Shortly afterwards, a cluster broke out connected to a handful of China Airlines pilots who had been staying at a Novotel near Taoyuan Airport. Many of those linked to this cluster were later found to have contracted the UK variant, known as B.1.1.7.

The virus then spread through the community, eventually making its way to Taiwan's "tea houses" - adult entertainment venues.

"You had people singing, drinking, coming into frequent contact in an indoor setting. It was not just one teahouse but many on the same street - it was a very large super spreader event," said Dr Lin.

Professor Chen Chien-jen, an epidemiologist and former vice-president of Taiwan, says the fact that many who tested positive were unwilling to declare they had visited such adult entertainment venues made contact tracing even more difficult.

"It just reminds us that even when a very small proportion of the population breaks the rules, it will lead to leakages," said Dr Chen.

He also adds that Taiwan failed to look at Japan's adult entertainment industry - which at one point was also a hotbed of infections - before it was ordered shut.

"We didn't learn the lesson from Japan and reflect that Taiwan might have these same issues," he said.

According to Associate Professor Alex Cook of the National University of Singapore (NUS), Taiwan's situation is a "a reflection of the constant risk of a strategy that puts too much emphasis on border control and not enough on measures to prevent within country spread".

Cracks in the wall: Singapore
In Singapore however, it was a different story.

Measures here have always been stringent despite low cases - public gatherings were kept to a maximum of eight, clubs have not been allowed to open and there is still a cap on mass gatherings like weddings.

But there were still gaps in its vaccine playbook, and by late May, Singapore's Changi Airport - which also boasts a popular shopping centre - had turned into the country's biggest Covid cluster this year.

Authorities later found out that a number of infected airport staff had been working in a zone that received travellers from high-risk countries, including those in South Asia.

Some of these workers then went on to have their meals in the airport's food courts - which are open to members of the public - further spreading the virus.

Singapore has now closed its passenger terminals to members of the public temporarily as a result.

Travellers wearing protective mask walk along the transit area of Changi International Airport terminal on December 15, 2020 in Singapore.

Many of the infected were later found to have a highly contagious variant that first surfaced in India - known as B.1.617.

Singapore has now also announced that it would segregate flights and passengers from high-risk countries and regions from those arriving from lower-risk places. Staff will also be ring-fenced and segregated by zones.

Some online are asking why such measures were not taken earlier, noting potential loopholes were pointed out up to a month ago.

But one expert said he thinks it was "inevitable" that the new variant would have found its way into Singapore.

"I understand why people are feeling frustrated because the majority of Singaporeans have been extremely compliant," said Prof Teo Yik Ying, dean of the NUS School of Public Health.

"But we are not like China which can keep its borders completely shut. Our reputation as a country, our economy, is linked to our position as a trade hub.

"[Also] if we look at the US last year, its worst virus cases came in not from China, but from travellers that went to Europe. So how many countries can Singapore close its borders to? We have to understand it's never just closing off one country."

But Prof Cook says the country is still in a "very good position" to rein in its outbreak.

"I'm hesitant to say that 'things went wrong', since Singapore is still, despite the stepping up of measures, in a very good position," he said.

"If we compare it to the UK, the typical daily cases is around 10% of the UK's level after adjusting for population size. In other words, Singapore is tightening measures to pre-empt getting to a point where the virus can run amok."

A slow vaccination drive
There is one problem that's plaguing both Singapore and Taiwan: vaccines.

Many in Taiwan didn't want to take the vaccine when things were going well, with fears around the AstraZeneca vaccine - the main one Taiwan currently stocks - further adding to this hesitancy.

The current rise in cases however, means that people in Taiwan are now flocking to get the vaccine. The only problem is - there isn't enough to go around.

Taiwan has to date received just 300,000 vaccines - for a population of 24 million.


Many in Taiwan expressed hesitancy towards the AstraZeneca vaccine
"We have tried our best to purchase vaccines from international companies but we didn't get much. The only way to sustain our supply is to manufacture ourselves, this is very important for Taiwan," said Dr Chen.

Taiwan is currently working on producing two local vaccines, which could be available as quickly as the end of July.

It's a similar tale in Singapore.

Around 30% of people have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to Our World in Data, the highest vaccination rate in South East Asia. But the country is limited by its vaccine supply - though the government expects to vaccinate its entire population by the end of the year.

"Ultimately we are limited by the supply. In countries like the UK, US, China, they have the capabilities to produce their own vaccines," said Prof Teo.

"We anticipate that the need for vaccines is going to be long term, so that's why we are moving towards having our own manufacturing capabilities. Then we will no longer be reliant."

Prof Teo adds that the spike in both places is a lesson for countries that may now be seeing a dip in cases.

"When we see countries in Europe, or the US starting to relax measures, I think they should be very cautious and look around the world to see what is happening," he said.

"What's happened in Taiwan, Singapore - it's a sign that we should not let our guard down."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-57153195

[Mmoney607]

Singapore and Taiwan should've closed their borders especially to citizens. This is how we in t&t have kept out all variants

[Dohplaydat]

Btw this is the number of cases that are making Taiwan and Singapore panic......Again Habit7 you eh shame.

[redmanjp]

how much ppl got their 1st shot of sinopharm? like around 500? so we have to watch and see if any adverse events happen in the next few days/ which politicians got their sinopharm shot?

[Habit7]

Btw this is the number of cases that are making Taiwan and Singapore panic......Again Habit7 you eh shame.

CleanShot 2021-05-21 at 5.52.38@2x.png

Why would I be ashamed? We are currently several weeks into our spike. They are where we were in March 2021 but they are seeing a spike coming much greater than we had. For a man who likes to look at projections, I see you reverted to actual numbers, something you don't like me use.

Unless you think Taiwan and Singapore leaders are crazy and BBC is PNM, there is reason for their concern.

[BUG]

Yeah it's more the point I'm making is which of those two activities sounds like it has a higher risk of transmission and thus a continuance of the situation we find ourselves in now.

the issue of private gatherings should reaaly be addressed by road blocks and asking ppl where they off to and sending thrm back home- check and see if for instance they carrying drinks in d car or a bag of ice which would hint at some type of party.

You're forgetting that between 5am-9pm the restrictions specifically allow for anyone in this country to lime with 4 others indoors. You can set up all the roadblocks and conduct all the searches you want, but at the end of the day the lawmakers have specifically gone out of their way to allow liming to continue to be legal and no officer of the law can stop people exercising this privilege between the legally mandated hours.

That's why I keep mentioning it. I've been trying to figure out why they specifically wrote the restrictions to allow this because it makes absolutely no sense.

[redmanjp]

that's why i edited my post to suggest a complete ban on alcohol to discourage those limes. otherwise a specific law or SOE regulation has to be written to ban visits to your home

[MaxPower]

Imagine people who do their utmost best and take all the necessary precautions still getting Covid

Almost everyone who got Covid “always” took all the necessary precautions…..yeh OK.

Most are ashamed and embarrassed to say where they were and THEY are the ones we are seeing congregating, wearing masks improperly and either dont sanitize CORRECTLY or have attitude when asked to abide by the protocols.

Apart from this, i really feel it for the elderly that stay home and their reckless family members bring this upon them. These are the same people going to Zessers parties and coming home and LYING that they never went anywhere and they were OH so safe.

The number of cases we are seeing is pathetic and Trinis continue to prove to the world their boldface irresponsibility.

[BUG]

otherwise a specific law or SOE regulation has to be written to ban visits to your home

I'm genuinely trying to figure out why they avoided banning gatherings in homes when they came up with the stronger restrictions. It wasnt an oversight. No one writing up laws to implement a curfew to limit person to person contact would think it's a good idea at the same time to include a clause that allows intimate person to person contact outside of the curfew hours (workplace and public transport excepted).

It's like allowing public transport to operate at 50% while also allowing all public buses to operate at 100%. It's that nonsensical.

[BUG]

*Duplicate*

[Dohplaydat]

Btw this is the number of cases that are making Taiwan and Singapore panic......Again Habit7 you eh shame.

CleanShot 2021-05-21 at 5.52.38@2x.png

Why would I be ashamed? We are currently several weeks into our spike. They are where we were in March 2021 but they are seeing a spike coming much greater than we had. For a man who likes to look at projections, I see you reverted to actual numbers, something you don't like me use.

Unless you think Taiwan and Singapore leaders are crazy and BBC is PNM, there is reason for their concern.
coronavirus-data-explorer (4).png

Yes because they taking drastic action at the point where we were in late March. We waited till almost 2-3 weeks after to make a meaningful change while they did already.

Now time will tell if these early lockdowns will stem the spread, but in any case, it would slow down the spread, thus contributing to averting a crisis.

Unlike us...

[Habit7]

Btw this is the number of cases that are making Taiwan and Singapore panic......Again Habit7 you eh shame.

CleanShot 2021-05-21 at 5.52.38@2x.png

Why would I be ashamed? We are currently several weeks into our spike. They are where we were in March 2021 but they are seeing a spike coming much greater than we had. For a man who likes to look at projections, I see you reverted to actual numbers, something you don't like me use.

Unless you think Taiwan and Singapore leaders are crazy and BBC is PNM, there is reason for their concern.
coronavirus-data-explorer (4).png

Yes because they taking drastic action at the point where we were in late March. We waited till almost 2-3 weeks after to make a meaningful change while they did already.

Now time will tell if these early lockdowns will stem the spread, but in any case, it would slow down the spread, thus contributing to averting a crisis.

Unlike us...

Well they are now taking steps to reduce gatherings, online schooling, closing their border, making ppl work from home, stuff we have been doing and haven't stopped since last year.

This was all while ppl like yourself were calling for more freedoms and ppl were vex when they reduced sports. And the same way you are celebrating their new actions, which are old actions for us, their ppl too are complaining they are moved too late.

Some online are asking why such measures were not taken earlier, noting potential loopholes were pointed out up to a month ago.

But one expert said he thinks it was "inevitable" that the new variant would have found its way into Singapore.

"I understand why people are feeling frustrated because the majority of Singaporeans have been extremely compliant," said Prof Teo Yik Ying, dean of the NUS School of Public Health.

Everybody is an expertand critic when they can be held accountable for decisions to be made for everybody.

[Dohplaydat]

Btw this is the number of cases that are making Taiwan and Singapore panic......Again Habit7 you eh shame.

CleanShot 2021-05-21 at 5.52.38@2x.png

Why would I be ashamed? We are currently several weeks into our spike. They are where we were in March 2021 but they are seeing a spike coming much greater than we had. For a man who likes to look at projections, I see you reverted to actual numbers, something you don't like me use.

Unless you think Taiwan and Singapore leaders are crazy and BBC is PNM, there is reason for their concern.
coronavirus-data-explorer (4).png

Yes because they taking drastic action at the point where we were in late March. We waited till almost 2-3 weeks after to make a meaningful change while they did already.

Now time will tell if these early lockdowns will stem the spread, but in any case, it would slow down the spread, thus contributing to averting a crisis.

Unlike us...

Well they are now taking steps to reduce gatherings, online schooling, closing their border, making ppl work from home, stuff we have been doing and haven't stopped since last year.

This was all while ppl like yourself were calling for more freedoms and ppl were vex when they reduced sports. And the same way you are celebrating their new actions, which are old actions for us, their ppl too are complaining they are moved too late.

Some online are asking why such measures were not taken earlier, noting potential loopholes were pointed out up to a month ago.

But one expert said he thinks it was "inevitable" that the new variant would have found its way into Singapore.

"I understand why people are feeling frustrated because the majority of Singaporeans have been extremely compliant," said Prof Teo Yik Ying, dean of the NUS School of Public Health.

Everybody is an expertand critic when they can be held accountable for decisions to be made for everybody.

Habit7, let them complain. They enjoyed basically a free open life since the pandemic started. They are both tropical climates which helped for sure, but now that the indian strain is there, they will need to take drastic action.

Fact is, they are acting swiftly. UNLIKE us.

And yes many called for freedoms, for me that freedom was out pointless border closure, which you somehow think is working with the exception process yet I personally know quite a few who are still waiting.

[gastly369]

Would we expect a decrease by next week...

[Kenjo]

No, much worse to come especially deaths

[Dohplaydat]

Would we expect a decrease by next week...

Cases? Yea but small decrease, might even be roughly the same as this week.

Deaths, no, deaths will start increasing actually.

[matr1x]

The problem with using inactive viruses to train the body, sinofarm and sinovac, is if someone dotish and not careful could contaminate the batch.


Just like polio. Being paralyzed is worse that death

[Habit7]

CleanShot 2021-05-21 at 8.55.20.png

Well this stingency index show how fallible these external data aggregators are. It is basically saying that from Feb 2021 to now, no changes have been made to our stingency. If you prove that to be true then you can have lunch today at Texas de Brazil at my expense.

And you can't celebrate freedoms and lockdowns, pick a struggle. Either you want to give the people the freedom to earn their own money and reduce the cases themselves or we further lockdown, plunge into economic crisis and dole out tiny welfare handouts.

[daring dragoon]

I think we should be calling for the resignation of:
CMO
Maryam Richards
Trotman
Avery Hinds
Deyalsingh.
Tax payers dollars are being paid to them to prevent us from reaching a position like this yet we are here.
Someone has to accept responsibility for this atrocious state of affairs.

Don't even mention the massive loss of livelihood that we are currently experiencing.

not only resignation, they should be jailed for mass genocide of the population with they greed and stupidity. if kamla didnt build the parallel health system all of us would be dead by now and the population cut down by 2 thirds. the continue to be two steps behind in managing the covid situation and the entire population has to pay that price.

[Chimera]

What wudda really happen if we didn't have couva hospital tho...

[Gladiator]

Them playing politics with the numbers last year was thing to hang for. I remember somewhere in this thread saying that the day after election you would see just so 100 new cases in the front page and some PNM stooge say I mad. And just like that it happen.

They have been manipulating the statistics to suit their narritive all along.

The govt is to blame for the election spike, the Easter spike, the vaccine farce, the mismanagement of HSF money...and the list goes on.

But that's what the people vote for. So that is what they get

I think we should be calling for the resignation of:
CMO
Maryam Richards
Trotman
Avery Hinds
Deyalsingh.
Tax payers dollars are being paid to them to prevent us from reaching a position like this yet we are here.
Someone has to accept responsibility for this atrocious state of affairs.

Don't even mention the massive loss of livelihood that we are currently experiencing.

not only resignation, they should be jailed for mass genocide of the population with they greed and stupidity. if kamla didnt build the parallel health system all of us would be dead by now and the population cut down by 2 thirds. the continue to be two steps behind in managing the covid situation and the entire population has to pay that price.

[wing]

Them playing politics with the numbers last year was thing to hang for. I remember somewhere in this thread saying that the day after election you would see just so 100 new cases in the front page and some PNM stooge say I mad. And just like that it happen.

They have been manipulating the statistics to suit their narritive all along.

The govt is to blame for the election spike, the Easter spike, the vaccine farce, the mismanagement of HSF money...and the list goes on.

But that's what the people vote for. So that is what they get

I think we should be calling for the resignation of:
CMO
Maryam Richards
Trotman
Avery Hinds
Deyalsingh.
Tax payers dollars are being paid to them to prevent us from reaching a position like this yet we are here.
Someone has to accept responsibility for this atrocious state of affairs.

Don't even mention the massive loss of livelihood that we are currently experiencing.

not only resignation, they should be jailed for mass genocide of the population with they greed and stupidity. if kamla didnt build the parallel health system all of us would be dead by now and the population cut down by 2 thirds. the continue to be two steps behind in managing the covid situation and the entire population has to pay that price.

So after the resignation and conviction and execution of those involved, who would you prefer to be in authority and what should they do to eradicate the pandemic in the country. Please try to be as specific as possible.

[ScHoolboySoloQ]

What wudda really happen if we didn't have couva hospital tho...

Thank God that hospital was built by Kamla and left empty by Keith.

[shake d livin wake d dead]

What next?

[paid_influencer]

What next?

the regulations currently say KFC opening tomorrow?

i really doh know, because I was in the bunker and I turn off most news and fecesbook.

[ScHoolboySoloQ]

What next?

Make sure you get up early Monday morning to line up in KFC.