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

[De Dragon]

Minister War on Salt isn't serious. First you're wearing an N95 mask that we all were told should be left for frontline workers. Secondly, wtf you feel 3M make the mask with TWO straps for? They had extra elastic ? Thirdly, calling for constituents to gather to hear about flood and crime plans is encouraging crowds to gather. This last point was from his Twitter feed btw.

[Dohplaydat]

Who was the UNC parliamentarian who said wearing a mask is foolish?

[K74T]

REOPENING SUMMARY

PM Rowley: Phase 3, which was originally slated to begin on Jun 5, will now be moved to Jun 1.

- Come this Monday, the public service will be reopened. But in a manner that will allow for social distancing and rotating of schedules.

- Public servants at a managerial position will be expected to be in office daily. Other staff, every other day.

- Malls and retail establishments will also be allowed to reopen for business. They must be closed by 6PM.

- Specialized medical and dental services, as well as professional services (eg accounting) will be reopened.

- Public transport will also be expected to maintain 50% occupancy.

- Gatherings must be kept to a maximum of FIVE persons.

- More seats will be made available on the air and sea bridge to and from Tobago.

- All establishments must observe the public health restrictions on numbers, distancing, hand washing, sanitizing etc.

- Bookshops are open again for business.

- All restaurants, including the ones in the malls, are still subject to restrictions on in-house dining.

- Hotels with outdoor facilities will be allowed to provide some degree of in-house service.

- No contact / group Sports.

* Phase 4 will now begin on June 8. That means one more week before hair stylists, barbers, spas etc. are reopened.

- Casino, bar and cinema operators have been asked to submit plans to the CMO that outline health protocols they can adopt before they will be allowed to reopen.

- Restrictions on Houses of Worship will remain in place for a little while longer.

* Phase 5 will now begin on June 22. And even that may be advanced based on the results.

- All these plans are predicated on the presumption that our numbers remain unchanged.

- The rate at which citizens are returned will also be accelerated in the coming weeks. All must be quarantined by the state.

[K74T]

NLCB operations resume on Monday June 1st as well.

[aaron17]

I think I heard physical therapy opening too.

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

Monday: Retail businesses reopen, Public servants called to work, Lotto is back

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley announced this afternoon that Phase 3 of easing of the Covid-19 restrictions will see the reopening of all retail businesses from Monday.

Public servants are also expected to report for work from Monday on a rotational basis.

Caribbean Airlines will expand its service on the airbridge and provide more flights to and from Tobago.

There will also be an expanded ferry service between the islands.

The Lotto outlets will reopen.

"No-mask no-service" guidelines remain in effect.

Dining at hotels to its residents will be permitted.

Bookshops will be opened.

Restrictions on gatherings will remain at five people.

The exception would be that at funerals, people would be allowed to congregate in groups of ten.

The eating places at malls will remain closed, but you can buy and take away.

Also staying closed will be casinos, bars, and cinema.

Horse racing will not be allowed yet.

And places of worship will stay closed, along with beaches, rivers and other outdoor activities.

Business owners will be asked to insist that customers wear masks, and to provide a sink and hand sanitiser.

Businesses were reminded that the police and public health inspectors had the authority to shut down the place on the basis that it was facilitating congregations of more than five.

The businesses will be required to close by 6p.m.

During Phase 4, which is now expected to begin on June 8, the full public service should be out on a rotational business.

Hair dresser, barbers, and domestic workers, will likely be allowed to do their jobs from that day – June 8.

The reason for this, said CMO Dr Roshan Parasram, was how close these people would have to be to their customers, and the fear of the “super spreader”.

Rowley said that there were significant job loses to those at casinos and cinemas. He said there would be an outreach to these businesses for proposals and protocols for workplace safety to consider the reopening of these establishments.

Phase 5, he said, was planned for July 5, but it will now be June 22.

“By the third week of June, we should get back to loud praises at out cathedrals and other places...” he said.

He said that when the beaches and others such places reopened, there will social distancing enforced.

He said there was a stream of people waiting to come back to Trinidad and Tobago, and government wanted to move more aggressively to get them back home.

The biggest threat, he reminded, was this influx of people who may bring in the virus.

He said there were about 275 students expected to come in under the State-funded mandatory quarantine.

For people who could fund themselves to come in quicker, they would be accommodated, based on the rooms available, said the Prime Minister.

Rowley said the country will be eternally grateful to the health care professionals at every level for the way they went about managing the response to the pandemic.

He said that the vast majority of the people of Trinidad and Tobago followed the advice and if the country was recognised as number one in the world in how it went about responding to the virus, it was not the climate or weather but the actions of the professionals and the Government.

He said there would be some disappointment for those whose category was not called, it was meant to save lives.

“Dead people can’t go to work” he said.

Rowley, Parasram, National Security Minister Stuart Young and Health Ministry Terrence Deyalsingh spoke at a press conference held at the Diplomatic Centre, Port of Spain this afternoon.

There was also concern raised that mask compliance had fallen in the past few weeks.

https://trinidadexpress.com/newsextra/m ... 8ed66.html

[death365]

Wha mark go be the 1st mark?

Like 8

[fokhan_96]

19 ....duhhhh

Wha mark go be the 1st mark?

Like 8

[shaneelal]

The minister of health indicated a few minutes ago that we have one COVID-19 positive patient who is currently in quarantine, this is an imported case. This doesn't affect the planned phased opening on Monday.

[K74T]

Trinidad and Tobago has one new case of COVID-19.
Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh said that the new case came from a member of a family that was recently allowed to return to the country.
The new case takes the total confirmed cases in T&T to 117.
This is the first new case in more than a month.


https://www.cnc3.co.tt/new-covid-19-cas ... -imported/

[goalpost]

Jusso?

But I thought people who were brought back were immediately quarantined? And if d family member test positive then that person is also positive. If not, it's not imported.

[pugboy]

maybe the quarantine needs to be more than 14days

[paid_influencer]

Jusso?

But I thought people who were brought back were immediately quarantined? And if d family member test positive then that person is also positive. If not, it's not imported.

well it says the person is a member of:

"a family that was recently allowed to return to the country.,"

meaning the whole family returned, and one so far tested positive.

CMO on CNC3 says the family called for an ambulance in transit to Trinidad and then went straight to the Home of Football.

[paid_influencer]

CMO: There is a 'great risk' of anyone returning being positive.

Why the hell are we allowing so many people to return?

[pugboy]

maybe stuey right about making folks wait a while

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

Trinidad and Tobago has one new case of COVID-19.
Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh said that the new case came from a member of a family that was recently allowed to return to the country.
The new case takes the total confirmed cases in T&T to 117.
This is the first new case in more than a month.


https://www.cnc3.co.tt/new-covid-19-cas ... -imported/

[shake d livin wake d dead]

CMO: There is a 'great risk' of anyone returning being positive.

Why the hell are we allowing so many people to return?

Stuarty bowing to pressure from the outside and well internally from lawyers

[pugboy]

them 200 cruise ship workers gonna suck salt now

[Gem_in_i]

The family of 3 came from the UK? So 1/3 positive so far
They knew one was sick in transit.

[dean_spleen09]

back to phase 0 stuarty/keet/terry.
salt for anybody who wanna come back now.

[MaxPower]

I hope the Govt thanks the Venezuelans community after all this for their outstanding performance in this pandemic with zero cases so far.

[pugboy]

they surely must be hide the fact one was sick because i doubt stuey would let them in knowing that

[Gladiator]

I know Roshan is a smart guy... But wouldn't it have made more sense to bring back all the outside people during the last couple months when everybody was still locked down

This would have ensured that there was less interaction between the public and any returning travellers released from quarantine who may still be infected etc

Instead you let out hundreds of thousands of public servants and other workers and bringing back persons from foreign at the same time...

I dunno??? Oh ...forget Deyalsingh is the brain behind the operation... My bad.

[dean_spleen09]

I know Roshan is a smart guy... But wouldn't it have made more sense to bring back all the outside people during the last couple months when everybody was still locked down

you have to be a special kinda dunce to believe EVERYBODY was in lockdown for the last couple of months.

[Dohplaydat]

CMO: There is a 'great risk' of anyone returning being positive.

Why the hell are we allowing so many people to return?

Stuarty bowing to pressure from the outside and well internally from lawyers

We should have been allowing RESIDENTS of Trinidad and Tobago to return all this time with mandatory 14 day quarentines. This would have avoided a huge backlog which is just building right now.

Utilize as much facilities to quarentine them and test them upon leaving. It's not rocket science.

You gonna keep people who live here out of the country till when?

[Ben_spanna]

So was is only 3 people on the entire plane ? What about the crew? The airport staff who may have come into contact with him? This is the perfect reason why our borders should remain closed for months to come... let no one in...

[Dohplaydat]

So was is only 3 people on the entire plane ? What about the crew? The airport staff who may have come into contact with him? This is the perfect reason why our borders should remain closed for months to come... let no one in...

yea bro you don't think proper PPE was regular testing isn't being done right now? You do realize that everyone on the plane is also in quarantine too right?

FFS you can not lock ppl out of their home country for so long, it's a violation of human rights. Bring them back in but carefully using quarantine facilities.

Rowley and the CMO are only planning to have open borders when a vaccine is out and that's going to be September for the latest.

[K74T]

[paid_influencer]

this is a dotish question, but why are they allowing people from the UK to return in the first place?

Maybe the border control part of the portfolio needs to be removed from Stuart Young, given all the issues he is having.

[paid_influencer]

In times of crisis, when life or death is at stake, believers turn to their religion to understand the situation they are experiencing. This is why in Muslim societies, where the scourge of COVID-19 is rampant, we often hear the words of the Prophet Mohammed quoted: "If the plague breaks out in a region do not go there, but if you are already there, do not come out of it."

https://news.Colombia.edu/news/islam-le ... ith-plague