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

[Kenjo]

Just to calm down some of you, worst case situation in China is 1 in 10,000 people have it.

To put that in perspective, that's like if 150 trinis got it.

Over 1000 people get dengue annually here, Dengue has a mortality rate worse than Coronavirus (best case they're the same).

Very different type of diseases, but I hope these numbers can put things in perspective.

I must say, this complacent, laissez-faire attitude towards what is happening globally shows up our third world thinking and small island mentality. As a medical professional, rather than advising persons how to prep and what to expect etc. you keep downplaying the entire situation. Yes, it may never reach Trinidad, but if everyone thinks like you then we would all be extinct if it does reach here. Being reactive is the order of the day... just look at how the Govt runs the country.

Stop doing stupid things like comparing this to dengue which is a mosquito borne virus. The infection rate of this virus is phenomenal and what you think, them Chinese not taking precautions. But still 2000+ cases a day. And that's just what is reported

How is this for numbers:

Rising death toll: The number of reported deaths in China has been jumping rapidly. It topped 100 on January 28, passed 200 by January 31, overtook 300 on February 1, and exceeded 400 today.

2000+ new cases a day you are saying ?

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

Very informative

[redmanjp]

Just to calm down some of you, worst case situation in China is 1 in 10,000 people have it.

To put that in perspective, that's like if 150 trinis got it.

Over 1000 people get dengue annually here, Dengue has a mortality rate worse than Coronavirus (best case they're the same).

Very different type of diseases, but I hope these numbers can put things in perspective.

I must say, this complacent, laissez-faire attitude towards what is happening globally shows up our third world thinking and small island mentality. As a medical professional, rather than advising persons how to prep and what to expect etc. you keep downplaying the entire situation. Yes, it may never reach Trinidad, but if everyone thinks like you then we would all be extinct if it does reach here. Being reactive is the order of the day... just look at how the Govt runs the country.

Stop doing stupid things like comparing this to dengue which is a mosquito borne virus. The infection rate of this virus is phenomenal and what you think, them Chinese not taking precautions. But still 2000+ cases a day. And that's just what is reported

How is this for numbers:

Rising death toll: The number of reported deaths in China has been jumping rapidly. It topped 100 on January 28, passed 200 by January 31, overtook 300 on February 1, and exceeded 400 today.

yeah i doh trust communists to be honest- remember chernobyl?

[88sins]

Was talking to one of my suppliers in China this mrn. He say the media up there more or less blacking out information on how much it spreading. He ask if it's a big deal on our part of the world as he only hear it limited to wuhan.

& this is something ppl not paying attention to
thing is eh, when there were about 2000 cases, they started quarantining/sealing off the city dumping dirt & boulders on the roads, dispatching military personnel, etc.
take into consideration, there were approximately 11 million ppl living in wuhan city at that time. 2000 patients is roughly 0.018% of the population. You really think it made sense to build hospitals in a rush & quarantine a whole city of 11 million ppl because 0.018% of the population got sick?
I suspect the numbers are MUCH higher than the Chinese gov't are comfortable with declaring & that it's been that way from the start. Thus the need for media blackouts, can't have ppl outside knowing exactly and accurately what taking place inside when it could negatively impact your economy

[pugboy]

they tried to muzzle the doc who blow the whistle
poor fella himself get sick

[FrankChag]

Just to calm down some of you, worst case situation in China is 1 in 10,000 people have it.

To put that in perspective, that's like if 150 trinis got it.

Over 1000 people get dengue annually here, Dengue has a mortality rate worse than Coronavirus (best case they're the same).

Very different type of diseases, but I hope these numbers can put things in perspective.

I must say, this complacent, laissez-faire attitude towards what is happening globally shows up our third world thinking and small island mentality. As a medical professional, rather than advising persons how to prep and what to expect etc. you keep downplaying the entire situation. Yes, it may never reach Trinidad, but if everyone thinks like you then we would all be extinct if it does reach here. Being reactive is the order of the day... just look at how the Govt runs the country.

Stop doing stupid things like comparing this to dengue which is a mosquito borne virus. The infection rate of this virus is phenomenal and what you think, them Chinese not taking precautions. But still 2000+ cases a day. And that's just what is reported

How is this for numbers:

Rising death toll: The number of reported deaths in China has been jumping rapidly. It topped 100 on January 28, passed 200 by January 31, overtook 300 on February 1, and exceeded 400 today.

yeah i doh trust communists to be honest- remember chernobyl?

And the chinese/japs wear face masks as a norm.
I tried that in trinidad while driving, and got 'looks'.

the chemist i went to didn't even know where the box of masks were when i went to buy some.

very worrying.

[Gladiator]

Just to calm down some of you, worst case situation in China is 1 in 10,000 people have it.

To put that in perspective, that's like if 150 trinis got it.

Over 1000 people get dengue annually here, Dengue has a mortality rate worse than Coronavirus (best case they're the same).

Very different type of diseases, but I hope these numbers can put things in perspective.

I must say, this complacent, laissez-faire attitude towards what is happening globally shows up our third world thinking and small island mentality. As a medical professional, rather than advising persons how to prep and what to expect etc. you keep downplaying the entire situation. Yes, it may never reach Trinidad, but if everyone thinks like you then we would all be extinct if it does reach here. Being reactive is the order of the day... just look at how the Govt runs the country.

Stop doing stupid things like comparing this to dengue which is a mosquito borne virus. The infection rate of this virus is phenomenal and what you think, them Chinese not taking precautions. But still 2000+ cases a day. And that's just what is reported

How is this for numbers:

Rising death toll: The number of reported deaths in China has been jumping rapidly. It topped 100 on January 28, passed 200 by January 31, overtook 300 on February 1, and exceeded 400 today.

2000+ new cases a day you are saying ?

More like 2500+ for the past 5 days. Yesterday was 3237

https://wuflu.live/

[Gladiator]

Just to calm down some of you, worst case situation in China is 1 in 10,000 people have it.

To put that in perspective, that's like if 150 trinis got it.

Over 1000 people get dengue annually here, Dengue has a mortality rate worse than Coronavirus (best case they're the same).

Very different type of diseases, but I hope these numbers can put things in perspective.

I must say, this complacent, laissez-faire attitude towards what is happening globally shows up our third world thinking and small island mentality. As a medical professional, rather than advising persons how to prep and what to expect etc. you keep downplaying the entire situation. Yes, it may never reach Trinidad, but if everyone thinks like you then we would all be extinct if it does reach here. Being reactive is the order of the day... just look at how the Govt runs the country.

Stop doing stupid things like comparing this to dengue which is a mosquito borne virus. The infection rate of this virus is phenomenal and what you think, them Chinese not taking precautions. But still 2000+ cases a day. And that's just what is reported

How is this for numbers:

Rising death toll: The number of reported deaths in China has been jumping rapidly. It topped 100 on January 28, passed 200 by January 31, overtook 300 on February 1, and exceeded 400 today.

yeah i doh trust communists to be honest- remember chernobyl?

That was quoted from CNN live update website.... but you are correct, when commies say is 400 is really 4000

[88sins]

yuh mean 40000
Never trust any information coming from the officials of a country where media blackouts are a norm and government makes it a habit to control and restrict what information population can use the internet to send and receive.

[paid_influencer]

It has been suggested there is currently a capacity limit to the testing for coronavirus, which is why we are seeing nearly linear increases of 2000 cases/day instead of a exponential increases in China.

Also, NYC has no local ability to test for coronavirus. All cases have to be referred to the CDC with a 36-48 hour minimum wait time for results. That makes me believe China may also have some capacity limit to their testing.

Screening:
Testing which refers persons for further investigation. False positives are expected. This is Deyalsingh at the airport with a forehead thermometer.

Confirmation/ Ruling out:
Definitive test with very low chance of false negatives. CDC is using RT-PCR for testing.

[Dohplaydat]

yuh mean 40000
Never trust any information coming from the officials of a country where media blackouts are a norm and government makes it a habit to control and restrict what information population can use the internet to send and receive.

I don't trust China for sh*t.

I do think this virus is contagious enough that it will end up as common as the regular flu. We are lucky, flu-like virus don't spread as easily in warmer climates (i think).

[Gladiator]

yuh mean 40000
Never trust any information coming from the officials of a country where media blackouts are a norm and government makes it a habit to control and restrict what information population can use the internet to send and receive.

I don't trust China for sh*t.

I do think this virus is contagious enough that it will end up as common as the regular flu. We are lucky, flu-like virus don't spread as easily in warmer climates (i think).

Dread man... 3897 new cases with this virus from yesterday to today... I don't think the normal cold that vicious.

[pugboy]

Yeah, the steadily increasing figures becoming a bit alarming

[adnj]

I do think this virus is contagious enough that it will end up as common as the regular flu. We are lucky, flu-like virus don't spread as easily in warmer climates (i think).

Dread man... 3897 new cases with this virus from yesterday to today... I don't think the normal cold that vicious.

This virus currently appears to the CDC to not be more infectious than H1N1 but it has a mortality rate of about 2.0% which is 20 times that of H1N1 at about 0.1%.

Highly virulent viruses tend to not be wide spread because they kill their hosts too quickly for others to become infected.

Respiratory viruses live longer in cooler, drier air. So winter weather makes the transmission of colds and flu more common.

[pugboy]

The long incubation making it tricky too

[Redman]

The number of people recovered is now growing faster than the deaths. A great sign.
Deaths are tracking the 2-3% range.

[88sins]

The long incubation making it tricky too

Precisely, and the tricky thing is that it's transmissible during the asymptomatic "incubation" phase. So a person that looking healthy could be standing right next to you and you wouldn't have a clue that they are infected and contagious.

First case to land here, I telling allyuh as big man have every intention to stock up on food for 6 months and is quarantine home by me. Nobody in or out till either food done or infection contained.

[maj. tom]

Female passenger refused entry on travel restriction

A fe­male pas­sen­ger who ar­rived at Pi­ar­co In­ter­na­tion­al Air­port from Guyana on Mon­day night on a jour­ney that orig­i­nat­ed in Hong Kong was sent back to the port of em­barka­tion.

This was con­firmed by Chief Med­ical Of­fi­cer Dr Roshan Paras­ram who said the woman “did not have any symp­toms or any­thing that was sus­pi­cious but she was re­turned be­cause of the trav­el re­stric­tions from Chi­na.”

He told Guardian Me­dia: “I be­lieve she would have gone through oth­er ter­ri­to­ries, in­clud­ing Hong Kong, New York and Guyana and then to Trinidad. Based on our trav­el re­stric­tions for per­sons leav­ing Chi­na with­in 14 days of de­par­ture, she was re­turned to the last port of call based on the Cab­i­net note and the im­mi­gra­tion laws.

“I don’t know what flight she came in from but I on­ly know of that woman who came in from Guyana and she would have spent some time at our air­port wait­ing on de­par­ture back to the port of call.”

Com­ment­ing on the in­ci­dent dur­ing an in­ter­view of CNC3’s The Morn­ing Brew, Chief Im­mi­gra­tion Of­fi­cer Char­maine Gand­hi-An­drews said of­fi­cials at this coun­try’s ports of en­try are alert­ed right away—via ad­vance pas­sen­ger in­for­ma­tion from air­lines—when pas­sen­gers orig­i­nate from Chi­na.

How­ev­er, some per­sons have more com­pli­cat­ed trav­el itin­er­aries and im­mi­gra­tion of­fi­cials are on­ly able to de­duce their ori­gin dur­ing the in­ter­view and by look­ing at all their trav­el doc­u­ments and pass­ports. “We had one such case yes­ter­day and that pas­sen­ger was re­turned to their port of en­try,” she said.

“They were screened by port health; there was no is­sue. How­ev­er, be­cause of the trav­el ban, that per­son was re­turned to their port of em­barka­tion.”

Ghan­di-An­drews said cit­i­zens and per­ma­nent res­i­dents of this coun­try can­not be re­fused en­try. How­ev­er, they will be screened and pos­si­bly even quar­an­tined if they have re­turned from a coun­try of in­ter­est for the virus, and pose a po­ten­tial in­fec­tion risk.

The in­ci­dent caused some con­cern among air­port work­ers, in­clud­ing Im­mi­gra­tion and cus­toms of­fi­cers, who are call­ing for more strin­gent screen­ing process­es, in­clud­ing full-body sani­ti­sa­tion spray­ing for all ar­riv­ing pas­sen­gers as they dis­em­bark from the re­spec­tive air­craft.

One air­port work­er, speak­ing on con­di­tion of anonymi­ty, said: “We think that there should be more pre­cau­tion­ary mea­sures at the air­port... maybe have a sys­tem where all pas­sen­gers are screened and sani­tised by full-body spray­ing be­fore they en­ter the ter­mi­nal. The avail­abil­i­ty of more gloves, face masks and hand sani­tis­ers too.”

Ghan­di-An­drews said 1,000 masks were or­dered last week and it is be­com­ing “more im­per­a­tive that all of­fi­cers utilise it.”

With re­gards to the screen­ing process, she said an as­sis­tant chief and two Grade IV of­fi­cers have been as­signed to the air­port to over­see the coro­n­avirus screen­ing process. Dr Vish­wanath Par­taps­ingh, Prin­ci­pal Med­ical Of­fi­cer at the Health Min­istry, said risk of the nov­el coro­n­avirus nCoV-2019 spread­ing to T&T is rel­a­tive­ly low, com­pared with oth­er places. How­ev­er, while there is no need to pan­ic, the coun­try can­not af­ford to be com­pla­cent. Dr Par­taps­ingh says the screen­ing sys­tems are ex­treme­ly de­tailed to de­ter­mine trav­ellers’ pos­si­ble ex­po­sure to nCov-2019, once they are com­ing from coun­tries of in­ter­est.

“When you look at the ex­it screen­ing of those com­ing out of these ports, it is quite in­tense. There is a tem­per­a­ture scan­ning. There is al­so the ex­po­sure his­to­ry as­cer­tained: ‘Did you trav­el or go to a mar­ket with live an­i­mals? Did you have any live an­i­mals? Did you come in­to con­tact with any­one who dis­played any of the symp­toms?’ That is the base of the screen­ing,” he said.

“When you look at the cas­es in the oth­er coun­tries out­side of main­land Chi­na, the cas­es all had a di­rect ex­po­sure his­to­ry—ei­ther trav­el to or had a di­rect, close con­tact with some­one who was con­firmed with a case.”

Dr Par­taps­ingh said re­duc­ing risk ul­ti­mate­ly comes down to each per­son prac­tis­ing good hy­giene at all times, es­pe­cial­ly when cough­ing and sneez­ing, and most im­por­tant­ly—fre­quent­ly wash­ing one’s hands with soap and wa­ter.

He al­so warned about cross con­t­a­m­i­na­tion for those us­ing masks and gloves to pro­tect them­selves from pos­si­ble in­fec­tion.

“You have a mask on; you think all is well. You have gloves on; you think all is well. But then you’re on the phone. You have the pen. You touch the pass­port. You ad­just the mask. And so, you have the po­ten­tial to cross con­t­a­m­i­nate for any virus or any sort of pathogen that comes in.

“Hand wash­ing is key. Main­tain­ing a dis­tance with some­one who you know is sneez­ing and cough­ing is key.”

Last Thurs­day, Cab­i­net agreed to a trav­el re­stric­tion on any­one trav­el­ling from Chi­na to T&T, in light of the spread of the coro­n­avirus. Health Min­is­ter Ter­rance Deyals­in­gh an­nounced that “per­sons who are present­ly liv­ing in Chi­na or vis­it­ing Chi­na, re­gard­less of na­tion­al­i­ty, will not be al­lowed en­try in­to Trinidad and To­ba­go for 14 days af­ter leav­ing Chi­na.”
https://www.guardian.co.tt/news/female- ... 95c1b4eb17

[Ben_spanna]

Many of US whos parents are still alive are probably over the 60 tear mark, this age group seems to be the most vulnerable to this virus... how many fo you would like to have to go through your parents having to go through that? what about any iof you who may have family with diabetes or any other immune system issues... these are the supposed groupd that can most likely die from this....

[Gladiator]

The number of people recovered is now growing faster than the deaths. A great sign.
Deaths are tracking the 2-3% range.

There is also information that a person can still be contagious after recovery for a certain period of time. Still 60+ deaths a day is plenty.

BTW what is Govt's position? is it a wait and see approach or is anything being done proactively to prepare for an outbreak. We need someone on the inside to give us some assurance...

[pugboy]

the persons on that guyana flight should have been given a serious warning to be careful

[redmanjp]

On CNC3 news the Health Minister say it had a student who came from China and was under voluntary isolation at home left her home to do an interview on CNC3? What carelessness!

[Ben_spanna]

On CNC3 news the Health Minister say it had a student who came from China and was under voluntary isolation at home left her home to do an interview on CNC3? What carelessness!

wont even bother to state the obvious...

[meccalli]

On CNC3 news the Health Minister say it had a student who came from China and was under voluntary isolation at home left her home to do an interview on CNC3? What carelessness!

,
Place really full of jokers yes none of the authorities saw the information about asymptomatic transmission?

[redmanjp]

this is why we need mandatory quarantine - not no voluntary isolation because obviously that ain't working

[FrankChag]

Somebody asking if they could work from home bc they fraid corona........

[hydroep]

Coronavirus: LG pulls out of Mobile World Congress

LG has pulled out of one of the world's biggest tech shows citing fears over the spread of coronavirus.

The South Korean tech firm has cancelled its appearance at Mobile World Congress (MWC), which is held every year in Barcelona.

MWC opens on 24 Feb and is the world's largest mobile-focused tech expo.

China's ZTE has also dropped plans for a press conference at the event due to the illness, but it will still host a stand.

Separately, Sony has said coronavirus could negatively affect production in its factories, which make components for Apple and Huawei products.

Telecommunications trade body the GSMA, MWC's organisers, said of the virus yesterday: "There is minimal impact on the event thus far". However, within hours, LG announced it was pulling out.

"With the safety of its employees and general public foremost in mind, LG has decided to withdraw from exhibiting and participating in MWC 2020 later this month in Barcelona, Spain," LG said in a statement.

"This decision will prevent needlessly exposing hundreds of LG employees to international travel, which most health experts have advised."

The firm added that it would hold "separate events in the near future" instead.

"You have to say it's probably an entirely sensible response given the situation," said Simon Forrest, tech analyst at Futuresource.

To date, there has been just one confirmed case of coronavirus in Spain.

No handshakes

"We have spoken to LG and regret not seeing them at this year's MWC20 Barcelona," a spokeswoman for the GSMA said.

She added that MWC was still due to proceed as planned.

Previously, the GSMA organisation said it had taken extra precautions for this year's conference, including putting in place a "no-handshake policy", as well as increased cleaning and disinfection, and the provision of more sanitising materials for public use.

"They have to be taking this seriously," said Mr Forrest, who is currently planning to attend MWC himself.

There was confusion after multiple tech sites reported that Chinese tech firm ZTE had followed LG and also pulled out of MWC.

Spanish newspapers El Pais and La Vangardia said ZTE told them it would not host a press conference that had originally been scheduled for 25 February.

ZTE then published a statement saying that the firm's appearance at MWC would go ahead "as planned"

A spokeswoman told the BBC: "The handset launch event is cancelled - but the product will be demonstrated at the booth.

"There is no other change, no other cancellations."

A spokeswoman at the GSMA appeared to be unaware of ZTE's press conference decision, and denied that it had been cancelled.

There have been more than 24,000 cases of coronavirus in China to date but only a handful of cases - by comparison - elsewhere in the world. Globally, nearly 500 people have now died because of the virus.

The UK Foreign Office has advised all British citizens to leave China if they can.

Virus versus sales

Hon Hai, the Chinese manufacturer which produces iPhones for Apple, has cut its sales forecast for the year, thanks to the spread of coronavirus.

This is because the virus may affect supply chains in Asia, where factories make components and hardware for tech firms around the world.

Hon Hai's chairman told Bloomberg that he expected sales growth between 1% and 3%, rather than a previously projected 3-5%.

And Sony, which also produces components for Apple and other tech firms, including Huawei, told investors on an earnings call that coronavirus may also affect its production lines for image sensors.

Although the firm raised its overall revenue outlook for the year, chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki said: "We cannot deny that our production and sales supply chain for the image sensor and electronics business could be affected enormously."

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51384304

[screwbash]

On CNC3 news the Health Minister say it had a student who came from China and was under voluntary isolation at home left her home to do an interview on CNC3? What carelessness!

what about the rest of the passengers on the plane ? they cud be infected by just sitting with an infected person for so many hours.

[Gladiator]

CNC3 now report that A woman come straight from China through New York in the middle of the epidemic and was allowed to enter with no screening. She came for a court case that the judge cancel it when he hear she come straight from China. And the Ministry idiots now saying that she is not the only one.... and nobody know where Mrs. Wong is at the moment

72 people died today and 3921 new cases worldwide (29 of the new cases outside of China).

565 is the total death toll and there are 28,233 cases worldwide

[pugboy]

They would not have known that she was just in China, as to local immigration it looks like she was in usa