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

[Gladiator]

Nobody wants to be held and locked up inside a room for suspect covid...so if they have Covid19 they will hide it and stay home unless they ready to dead and need medical care...

Earlier we had many people wanting to be tested that were outside the too strict CARPHA criteria. Tests were refused or denied, even after samples were taken and delivered to CARPHA. Now we have the opposite problem - people are not coming in to be tested.

the reasons why they are not coming in is a good question. It could be the population is healthier in general. Maybe they are scared of exposure to COVID at the hospitals, and thus do not go to hospitals. Maybe they are scared of being quarantined or getting stigmatized. Maybe they don't like the tests.

Case #115 and #116 are local spread. so far nobody knows who or where they got it from. So there is probably COVID out there somewhere.

[Dohplaydat]

Nobody wants to be held and locked up inside a room for suspect covid...so if they have Covid19 they will hide it and stay home unless they ready to dead and need medical care...

Earlier we had many people wanting to be tested that were outside the too strict CARPHA criteria. Tests were refused or denied, even after samples were taken and delivered to CARPHA. Now we have the opposite problem - people are not coming in to be tested.

the reasons why they are not coming in is a good question. It could be the population is healthier in general. Maybe they are scared of exposure to COVID at the hospitals, and thus do not go to hospitals. Maybe they are scared of being quarantined or getting stigmatized. Maybe they don't like the tests.

Case #115 and #116 are local spread. so far nobody knows who or where they got it from. So there is probably COVID out there somewhere.

After seeing the conditions and mandatory quarantines I myself will ride it out self isolating in home, and I know many are/will do the same.

[sMASH]

^^ if they get a positive and dont comply, they can be charged 50k.
right now i getting some sniffles, could be sahara dust, but is normal for me to get sumting for a day or two, this time of year.
u tink i want to go tru what ian gone tru? nah.

[paid_influencer]

^^ if they get a positive and dont comply, they can be charged 50k.
right now i getting some sniffles, could be sahara dust, but is normal for me to get sumting for a day or two, this time of year.
u tink i want to go tru what ian gone tru? nah.

Ian was publicaly chided for seeking testing. The MoH did the exact opposite of using him as a public face to encourage testing.

[sMASH]

^^ if they get a positive and dont comply, they can be charged 50k.
right now i getting some sniffles, could be sahara dust, but is normal for me to get sumting for a day or two, this time of year.
u tink i want to go tru what ian gone tru? nah.

Ian was publicaly chided for seeking testing. The MoH did the exact opposite of using him as a public face to encourage testing.

i want to give ur comment a heart emoji.

but they more focused on the politics, cause bad treatment of ian will show they dealing with unc. as well as they know how to have a stern hand. despite slavery being in trinidad only for about 80 years, a hundred and fifty years ago, most pnm supporters still have those slavery mentality, all they recognize is strength and retribution. they not appealed by common sense.

[j.o.e]

Ian can’t be used as a public face to encourage testing when he was irresponsible in every other way. Let’s be honest

-Travel that was not necessary
- did not self quarantine on return
- documented on video of coughing and poor hygiene publicly
- continued exposure after positive test
- increased fear in population by crying like a b!tch thus making people afraid of testing/quarantine

[hydroep]

Utter madness in the Groceries today. Expect more of the same this weekend.

Surprisingly, FCB on High Street San'do was empty. In and out in 15 minutes...

[pugboy]

ppl fed up
want to get out
plus it’s end of month

Utter madness in the Groceries today. Expect more of the same this weekend.

Surprisingly, FCB on High Street San'do was empty. In and out in 15 minutes...

[adnj]

..........

[MaxPower]

Gosh im really loving the social distancing especially away from groups of Trinis.

[assassin]

Plenty ppl got paid yest and today

Utter madness in the Groceries today. Expect more of the same this weekend.

Surprisingly, FCB on High Street San'do was empty. In and out in 15 minutes...

[toyolink]

Human nature is real and is starting to kick in.
6 weeks and counting does take a toll, self discipline and commitment to the cause becomes extremely necessary.
What starts to happen are feelings of a false sense of security, worry about money problems, and a stronger urge to question the directives of those who control ones destiny.
When there is no end to target things become more difficult to accommodate emotionally.
The powers that be need to recognize what behavioral phase we are entering into and adjust the conversation with the public to sustain popular support for the cause.
The next 2 weeks can actually get crazy.
This is going to be a real rolla-coaster for us all and for quite awhile to come.

[adnj]

The good and bad news about asymptomatic coronavirus cases


Caitlin Owens


We don’t yet know what proportion of people infected with the coronavirus are asymptomatic, but it’s becoming clear that there’s a large number of them.

Why it matters: The more people that have been asymptomatic carriers of the coronavirus, the lower its fatality rate. But asymptomatic carriers also present unique problems for stopping the virus’s spread, as they likely don't know they have it.

The big picture: Until we can do widespread, reliable antibody testing to determine how many people have had the virus, the best data we have to go off of are one-off studies — which have suggested widely varying rates of asymptomatic carriers.

A study earlier this month found that 13.9% of 3,000 New Yorkers tested had signs of the coronavirus, suggesting that about 10 times the number of people who have officially tested positive have had it, per Bloomberg. That means a lot of people either couldn’t get tested, or never knew anything was wrong.

Around half of the soldiers on the Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier who tested positive for the coronavirus were asymptomatic, per the LA Times. Another study found that about 18% of positive cases on the Diamond Princess cruise ship were asymptomatic.

“We don’t know the definitive answer, but it probably is a substantial proportion,” infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci told me. “That is a non-scientifically based estimate, based on these dribs and drabs of information that we get.”

Between the lines: If asymptomatic cases are common, that mathematically increases the likelihood (age and pre-existing conditions aside) that you or I could catch the virus and be completely fine.

It also means that a lower percentage of people who get the coronavirus will need hospitalization, which is good news for the health care system.

In the darkest of plausible scenarios, where we fail to contain the virus and it spreads relatively unencumbered throughout the U.S., a high asymptomatic rate would translate into a lower death rate — a small comfort.

Yes, but: It also is hugely problematic for efforts to keep the coronavirus from spreading.

It could then spread undetected, and if there's already a high number of asymptomatic cases, that means the virus may be more widespread than we thought.

It also makes the virus hard to track. “If you have so many asymptomatic people around, it’s going to be much more difficult to get your arms around contact tracing, because you’re going to have so many people who get exposed to someone who is asymptomatic,” Fauci said. That puts extra emphasis on the need to do surveillance testing even among healthy-seeming populations, particularly in places like prisons and nursing homes.

The bottom line: A low number of asymptomatic cases would mean the virus is deadlier than we'd like it to be, while a high number of such cases means it most likely has been more widely transmitted. The uncertainty around that complicates how to manage its spread.

https://www.axios.com/asymptomatic-carr ... 89cb7.html

[Dohplaydat]

Human nature is real and is starting to kick in.
6 weeks and counting does take a toll, self discipline and commitment to the cause becomes extremely necessary.
What starts to happen are feelings of a false sense of security, worry about money problems, and a stronger urge to question the directives of those who control ones destiny.
When there is no end to target things become more difficult to accommodate emotionally.
The powers that be need to recognize what behavioral phase we are entering into and adjust the conversation with the public to sustain popular support for the cause.
The next 2 weeks can actually get crazy.
This is going to be a real rolla-coaster for us all and for quite awhile to come.

This is the only reason I was harshly criticizing the government measures, we should have not been so strict, allow some spread, build some herd immunity slowly.

Because come summer and we hit a real first wave, and we have to lockdown hard and long again, the economic effects will be disastrous and people may not even be willing to lockdown so hard without the forcing of a SoE.

Sweden and the countries where Covid ran through quickly might be the ones coming out of this pandemic successfully and with headstarts on the economic front.

[Redress10]

Stop comparing places such as NY etc to TnT.

The first world nations were always "chasing" this disease but we had the luxury of sitting back and waiting for our first case so prevention was always better than cure for us hence the lockdown. The USA etc will never know what their true number is because they were immediately affected. Remember those countries are heavily visited by people from all over the world. Millions of ppl go to those countries daily.

All this talk about herd immunity is madness. Yuh not going to get herd immunity without a lot of deaths. Even Italy etc prob hasnt accomplished herd immunity as yet. Our best chance at coming out of this is phased opening with only essential ppl going out and abt. So companies that cud continue to facilitate work from home should do that indefinitely and ppl who don't need to be on the road shouldn't be. Gov't should only encourage the sale of essentials for now(bread, flour, sugar, eggs, vegetables) etc to encourage less foot traffic and rebalance any import imbalance with regard to forex. Bars etc need to remain closed for forseeable future. Bar owners etc should consider changing to "mart" type licenses to survive. Every bar becoming a grocery etc lowers the unnecessary foot traffick at major supermarkets.

Remember we are not aiming for herd immunity. We are trying to hold on long enough for a vaccine to become available. The curve needs to remain manageable for a long period of time so instead of plenty ppl dying in a short space of time, you have plenty ppl dying over a longer period of time. Herd immunity is last resort and even still we haven't had our first "wave" as yet. We never experienced an "outbreak". Our response hasn't even been tested as yet. What we experienced was a couple of isolated cases that had minimal spread.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

[paid_influencer]

we don't know if herd immunity is even possible with COVID19. Most other coronavirus only have detectable antibodies for 3 months to a year after infection.

[paid_influencer]

also, we are #1 in being ready to re-open.

Trinidad and Tobago is now listed at number one in an updated covid19 lockdown rollback checklist compiled by Oxford University researchers.

https://newsday.co.tt/2020/05/01/trinid ... 9-tracker/

The longer this shut down goes on, the harder it will be to keep the population under control. The best course of action right now is to allow some businesses to re-open (release the steam valve) and be ready to respond in the event of a second wave. We may need successive lock downs, but if we blunder on this first one by extending it beyond necessary, it will hurt later down the line with compliance.

[MaxPower]

Stop comparing places such as NY etc to TnT.

The first world nations were always "chasing" this disease but we had the luxury of sitting back and waiting for our first case so prevention was always better than cure for us hence the lockdown. The USA etc will never know what their true number is because they were immediately affected. Remember those countries are heavily visited by people from all over the world. Millions of ppl go to those countries daily.

All this talk about herd immunity is madness. Yuh not going to get herd immunity without a lot of deaths. Even Italy etc prob hasnt accomplished herd immunity as yet. Our best chance at coming out of this is phased opening with only essential ppl going out and abt. So companies that cud continue to facilitate work from home should do that indefinitely and ppl who don't need to be on the road shouldn't be. Gov't should only encourage the sale of essentials for now(bread, flour, sugar, eggs, vegetables) etc to encourage less foot traffic and rebalance any import imbalance with regard to forex. Bars etc need to remain closed for forseeable future. Bar owners etc should consider changing to "mart" type licenses to survive. Every bar becoming a grocery etc lowers the unnecessary foot traffick at major supermarkets.

Remember we are not aiming for herd immunity. We are trying to hold on long enough for a vaccine to become available. The curve needs to remain manageable for a long period of time so instead of plenty ppl dying in a short space of time, you have plenty ppl dying over a longer period of time. Herd immunity is last resort and even still we haven't had our first "wave" as yet. We never experienced an "outbreak". Our response hasn't even been tested as yet. What we experienced was a couple of isolated cases that had minimal spread.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Hello Redress10,

Good write up.

But look around bro, we are already ahead of ourselves. The population is clearly in a comfortable state, ready to restart their daily commuting. Remember Trinis will practice social distancing and hygiene etiquettes only for pandemics, it’s just a matter of time to fully relax and “dress back”.

But i say open back the country now. USE the population that disregards SD as guinea pigs to see if the virus still lingers around.

[Redress10]

Max

There is no restarting anytime soon. Any thing that causes crowds will still need to be prevented. This is a long term problem we are dealing with. Technically, people should only be allowed to go to essential services for the forseeable future. These being, work, supermarket, and home. Obviously, doctor office and other supplies such as hardware would be considered but dining in at restaurants is a no no as that is unnecessary contact. Remember we are trying to avoid contact and certain contact you can't avoid such as supermarket line, bank line or transportation but lining up for a gyro or doubles should be a no no.

Why would you risk getting ill just to have a doubles or eat out. Reason I am singling out doubles is because doubles is hardly ever prepared on the spot and there is a constant interaction between the doubles man and his food basket. Plenty opportunity for cross contamination. Imagine getting the last bara at the bottom of the basket after the doublesman leaning over that basket for the past few hours. Same applies for things such as corn soup etc.

[MaxPower]

Max

There is no restarting anytime soon. Any thing that causes crowds will still need to be prevented. This is a long term problem we are dealing with. Technically, people should only be allowed to go to essential services for the forseeable future. These being, work, supermarket, and home. Obviously, doctor office and other supplies such as hardware would be considered but dining in at restaurants is a no no as that is unnecessary contact. Remember we are trying to avoid contact and certain contact you can't avoid such as supermarket line, bank line or transportation but lining up for a gyro or doubles should be a no no.

Why would you risk getting ill just to have a doubles or eat out. Reason I am singling out doubles is because doubles is hardly ever prepared on the spot and there is a constant interaction between the doubles man and his food basket. Plenty opportunity for cross contamination. Imagine getting the last bara at the bottom of the basket after the doublesman leaning over that basket for the past few hours. Same applies for things such as corn soup etc.

Would you say the majority of the population is cooperating?

I am still seeing too many crowds around. The banks and groceries are ok inside the establishment, but outside is a hot mess. Alot of places have chairs etc for outside but chairs are magnets for germs especially around the arm rests.

The Govt has a big part to play in this.

No one seems to care.

[Redress10]

I stopped thinking these people are capable of cooperating when they were willing to risk life and limbs for a 2 piece and fries.

The reality is that there is now a new normal and places that NEED to open need to implement new work protocols. So if half the staff can work from home and the other half be in the office then this should be done. Things are not going to be normal for a long while.

[Dohplaydat]

Max and Red,

We cannot go back to normal fully until a vaccine is deployed to those most at risk.

Also, just to clarify my statement on herd immunity. I don't mean achieve full herd immunity, that isn't possible even in the worst affected places. I meant allow the virus to propagate in a controlled manner like Sweden and South Korea, thus preventing a huge spike all at once. This is actually flattening the curve,
not hiding from it. Especiallyy for trinis, because we don't have discipline to maintain lockdowns fully.

We are falling into a false sense of security, at least Deylalsingh has been saying we haven't eradicated the disease. It's foolish for anyone to think that.

What I fear, and I can be wrong as no one knows how this will play out, is that we did all of this for nothing.

Of course the government measures look good and worked.r. We locked down fast and hard before the disease got a hold, many nations did such without severe lockdowns. We were lucky. I was pro carnival 2k20, but if Carnival was a week or two later we would have been going through a huge wave right now.

There is inevitably going to be a mini out break when lockdowns are eased. What do we do? Lockdown again? We can only put off opening back up for song long.

And the biggest spread of this disease isn't malls, restaurants or fast food. It's house limes, workplace and public transport. Things we need to put back in place soon.

In retrospect the government acted appropriately except with closing off fast food and outdoor exercising. Those would have been warranted if exponential rise was being seen. Not a huge mistake but it makes me wonder what will be the actions taken in future if a lot of cases are being found.

To add to that, mandatory quarentines have turned away many people from seeking testing

The mistake we made was making testing too unattainable in the begining and not making quarentine facilities more accommodating. Now we have a population that wants to avoid testing.

[Ted_v2]

But what will happen to your savings after, I sure you was saving for something, you forced to use it.

I know ppl who not making enough to save normally, but luckily they still have work running so salary still running, then it have others who giving up some of their vacation and in return getting most of their normal salary.

But for the others, what them will really do, govt not helping, is citizens/businesses who helping, just like when it had the floods

Yep, since i started work i built a decent enough savings and i really tried my best to never let it drop below a certain figure, once it reach there, i selling from a side and going into piper mode.

I have plenty projects on the burners but all come to a slow halt, i have a project car that didnt see the road for this year as yet and may not till after christmas, i could finish it with my savings no question ask, but realistically, that doing anything for me? i Hope some people understand this, i saw rell people who i know in the car scene spending and spending in this hard time.

[Gladiator]

It seems that 99% of the population thought that by hiding inside for 8 weeks the virus would magically disappear. I also think that people not realizing that the flattening of the curve does not mean that people won't catch the virus at all, it would just mean that they get it at a slower rate to allow the hospitals to treat and try to save the infected.

Now I have doubt that even the authorities planned this out correctly, if the intention was to flatten the curve then persons had to be able to get the virus in a controlled manner and recover to build up immunity. There is no other way without a vaccine. Then why do a total lockdown and have everybody hiding inside.

Being ranked 1st to reopen with surveillance testing of only 0.1% of the population when 99% of people was hiding inside for the past 2 months is a questionable ranking. One infected person can easily result in a cluster and that's it, we have an outbreak.

People have to get it, they have to recover and unfortunately some have to die... we can't hide from it forever and can't remain home and die of starvation.

Once businesses reopen, social distancing would be out the door.

[Redress10]

Funny how everybody complaining now but had people followed the rules from the beginning and were discipline we probably could have had phased reopening by now. But unfortunately we saw ppl still leaving their homes unnecessarily for things such as snacks and fast food. We had lawyers being mischievous and encouraging ppl such as doubles vendors. Had we buckled down just for 2 weeks and everybody play their part then we would have been better off today.

[Gladiator]

Funny how everybody complaining now but had people followed the rules from the beginning and were discipline we probably could have had phased reopening by now. But unfortunately we saw ppl still leaving their homes unnecessarily for things such as snacks and fast food. We had lawyers being mischievous and encouraging ppl such as doubles vendors. Had we buckled down just for 2 weeks and everybody play their part then we would have been better off today.

Please elaborate further...

[sMASH]

our economy will grind to a halt long before any real vaccine is developed. the earliest u can hope for is a year.

one month in, PoS had gangs of people trying to collect hampers, so much so police had to stop it. the people who didnt get, still didnt get, where they getting from? how we going to be next week? next month? next 4 months?

those measly lil business u suggest to reopen, aint gonna cut it for gdp, for social programs, for govt funding, for minister salaries, etc

u all focusing on the virus. that time has passed, we now have to focus on the economy.
the only means we have to mitigate both, is herd immunity.

[sMASH]

but then again, the govt still havent produced figures to show that it is the population. 115 adn 116 were local spread, so the sources were identified as a source they had already identified.

[No_Name]

It seems that 99% of the population thought that by hiding inside for 8 weeks the virus would magically disappear. I also think that people not realizing that the flattening of the curve does not mean that people won't catch the virus at all, it would just mean that they get it at a slower rate to allow the hospitals to treat and try to save the infected.

Now I have doubt that even the authorities planned this out correctly, if the intention was to flatten the curve then persons had to be able to get the virus in a controlled manner and recover to build up immunity. There is no other way without a vaccine. Then why do a total lockdown and have everybody hiding inside.

Being ranked 1st to reopen with surveillance testing of only 0.1% of the population when 99% of people was hiding inside for the past 2 months is a questionable ranking. One infected person can easily result in a cluster and that's it, we have an outbreak.

People have to get it, they have to recover and unfortunately some have to die... we can't hide from it forever and can't remain home and die of starvation.

Once businesses reopen, social distancing would be out the door.

This...

Would be good to email the link of this thread in particular to Oxford...
Let em peruse and see the real issues addressed by Citizens...
Let em read and understand the LIES portrayed by the Govt to look good...

[Dohplaydat]

but then again, the govt still havent produced figures to show that it is the population. 115 adn 116 were local spread, so the sources were identified as a source they had already identified.

And now we can't assess because most people unless close to being hospitalised, won't go in for testing. The MoH knows this and the blame has to be on them for making something like going for a test seem like a prison sentence. Also all the talking down to the population and Akash when everyone wanted to be tested has left a bad taste in our mouths.

It seems that 99% of the population thought that by hiding inside for 8 weeks the virus would magically disappear. I also think that people not realizing that the flattening of the curve does not mean that people won't catch the virus at all, it would just mean that they get it at a slower rate to allow the hospitals to treat and try to save the infected.

Now I have doubt that even the authorities planned this out correctly, if the intention was to flatten the curve then persons had to be able to get the virus in a controlled manner and recover to build up immunity. There is no other way without a vaccine. Then why do a total lockdown and have everybody hiding inside.

Being ranked 1st to reopen with surveillance testing of only 0.1% of the population when 99% of people was hiding inside for the past 2 months is a questionable ranking. One infected person can easily result in a cluster and that's it, we have an outbreak.

People have to get it, they have to recover and unfortunately some have to die... we can't hide from it forever and can't remain home and die of starvation.

Once businesses reopen, social distancing would be out the door.

This...

Would be good to email the link of this thread in particular to Oxford...
Let em peruse and see the real issues addressed by Citizens...
Let em read and understand the LIES portrayed by the Govt to look good...

Oxford based their ranking purely on reported stats and measures taken. It is flawed to use this to make decisions and they even state so themselves. I love what they're doing but their top 20 countries listing has counties with widely varying health care and testing protocols. We cannot use this as any guage yet.