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

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23andMe Provides More Evidence That Blood Type Plays Role in Virus


Research from genetic-testing giant 23andMe Inc. found differences in a gene that influences a person’s blood type can affect a person’s susceptibility to Covid-19.

Scientists have been looking at genetic factors to try to determine why some people who contract the new coronavirus experience no symptoms, while others become gravely ill. In April, 23andMe launched a study that sought to use the millions of profiles in its DNA database to shed light on the role genetics play in the disease.

Preliminary results from more than 750,000 participants suggests type O blood is especially protective against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, the company said on Monday. The findings echo other research that has indicated a link between variations in the ABO gene and Covid-19. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... e-in-virus

[bluefete]

SEA - August 20th ??

Back to school for Std. 5 - July 20th?

Let's see what the press conference says.

[bluefete]

Minister of Education says:

SEA exam will be held on Thursday 20th August 2020.

LOL.

[bluefete]

Students will attend school from Monday 20th July 2020.

My sources were bang on (this time).

[Blaze d Chalice]

Stupes.

Have those places EVER been essential?
Shudda remain closed indefinitely.

u know non essential businesses have reopened right? anyone forcing u to attend?

and it's not back to normal - social distancing will be in effect so only a portion of ppl can attend and they must wear masks

besides we have a Constitution in this country

I didn't mean 'essential' in the Covid sense of essential businesses.

I mean those places never serve any real purpose at any point in time, whether pre/post-covid, except scamming naive people into believing all kinda tripe while parting with their money. All these weeks when those type of places were closed, people were able to manage without it. Whoever could not survive without it used zoom or other online platform, which was more convenient.

If a vaccine eventually come out, first thing them will say is "Tank god"

But sure, if people willingly want to support those type of business, that is their right.

[toyolink]

T&T seems to have dealt with the covid19 in a very effective manner thus far and with no one infected presently the 're-opening' activities are in full swing.
The real hard questions are now;
-Can we truly recover from the financial damage sustained.
-Given the global statistics at present which suggest that the pandemic is building
momentum again and in countries we have close ties with....isn't the probability
of infections in T&T going to be quite high if borders are opened (even if partially)?
-With the real possibility that businesses may not be able to return to pre-shut down
employment numbers ....How are citizens going to cope with prolonged hardship?
The simple truth seems to be, the uncertainties at this time are so significant that unless
the whole society isn't mobilised quickly behind a set of national imperatives, we are going
to enter a period of chaos unlike any we have experienced before.

[carluva]

True indeed toyolink. And chaos can only grow give that 2020 is supposed to be an election year in Trinidad.

[paid_influencer]

T&T seems to have dealt with the covid19 in a very effective manner thus far and with no one infected presently the 're-opening' activities are in full swing.
The real hard questions are now;
-Can we truly recover from the financial damage sustained.
-Given the global statistics at present which suggest that the pandemic is building
momentum again and in countries we have close ties with....isn't the probability
of infections in T&T going to be quite high if borders are opened (even if partially)?
-With the real possibility that businesses may not be able to return to pre-shut down
employment numbers ....How are citizens going to cope with prolonged hardship?
The simple truth seems to be, the uncertainties at this time are so significant that unless
the whole society isn't mobilised quickly behind a set of national imperatives, we are going
to enter a period of chaos unlike any we have experienced before.

there is a very real possibility we could fall back to the government-controlled model out of the pandemic. In the PNM administration for 2015 - 2020, the following have been in every budget: (1) Increases in taxes across the board (2) Special tax relief and grants to government-selected industries, and (3) Cuts in forex access for persons outside selected industries. No access to forex necessarily means no hard-currency capital for small and micro-enterprises.

The government wants to control the economy. The pandemic is a perfect excuse for them to go whole hog.

[Ben_spanna]

Why was there a Cruise Ship at the port of Port of Spain this afternoon?
Was it given permission to dock ? Why?

[K74T]

Returning crew members and passengers. Probably docked for medical personnel to embark and then the ship will remain out at sea for the quarantine period before it docks again and all persons finally disembark, once all goes well.

[K74T]

Trini woman with Covid-19 coming from Venezuela

A 63-year-old Trinidad and Tobago national tested positive for Covid-19 virus prior to boarding the aircraft in Venezuela to return home.

The Express learnt the woman and two family members had shared a room in Margarita but the other relatives tested negative.

The woman is in the high-risk category as she suffers with hypertension and diabetes.

Relatives worried

Immediately after the woman was tested positive she was removed from the group and placed in an isolated area.

She was then put in full personal protective equipment (PPE) and seated at the rear of the aircraft.

All 29 people from the Trinidad and Tobago contingent were tested by Venezuelan authorities before the aircraft departed Margarita.

The exercise took a few hours and wrapped up by 1.30 p.m.

Sources told the Express the woman and her relatives were in a panic anticipating she would not have been allowed to return to Trinidad as there was no way she could remain in Venezuela by herself with no support.

There was relief, however, when she was allowed to board the aircraft.

The aircraft then departed Margarita island for Caracas, where it was scheduled to pick up five Trinidad and Tobago nationals.

The aircraft would stay one hour in Caracas before departing for Trinidad with an expected arrival time of 7.30 p.m.

The group will immediately be taken to the Sangre Grande step-down facility, where they will be quarantined for 14 days and tested again for Covid-19.

The woman will likely be taken to the Couva Hospital.

The aircraft was privately chartered by the Trinidad and Tobago nationals.

The plane will not leave Trinidad empty as some 115 Venezuelan nationals, organised by the Venezuelan Embassy in Trinidad, will return to their homeland.

https://trinidadexpress.com/news/local/trini-woman-with-covid-19-coming-from-venezuela/article_6023c060-ad12-11ea-aa76-bbd90f0e7382.html

[K74T]

[maj. tom]

You know, i used to donate blood twice a year here for many years, and i have a very rare blood type.

But the system it's just a pain in the ass at Mt. Hope and i stopped a few years ago. I'm sure they would get more people easily at a steady rate if they organize themselves better and model the blood donation drive like in other countries with more public info and opportunities, ads, mobile units etc. Mobile units are very successful and is the only way to reach the majority of the population who will never go to a hospital to donate. Waste people time 2 times there and they'll never attempt it again.

A model that works very well that they can look at is https://www.blood.ca/en (Toronto) always has endless ads on the radio, a mobile app and mobile units every weekend at various malls and public libraries. So i hope there is a change like that here.


And Jehovah Witnesses are idiots.

[shake d livin wake d dead]

118!!!!

[K74T]

See the article I posted yesterday.

[Country_Bookie]

You know, i used to donate blood twice a year here for many years, and i have a very rare blood type.

But the system it's just a pain in the ass at Mt. Hope and i stopped a few years ago. I'm sure they would get more people easily at a steady rate if they organize themselves better and model the blood donation drive like in other countries with more public info and opportunities, ads, mobile units etc. Mobile units are very successful and is the only way to reach the majority of the population who will never go to a hospital to donate. Waste people time 2 times there and they'll never attempt it again.

A model that works very well that they can look at is https://www.blood.ca/en (Toronto) always has endless ads on the radio, a mobile app and mobile units every weekend at various malls and public libraries. So i hope there is a change like that here.


And Jehovah Witnesses are idiots.

Don't try going to pos blood bank after 12 noon, as they'll tell u they done work for the day. Some of these nurses act like they doing u a favour by allowing u to donate blood.

[maj. tom]

It's the same with Mt. Hope. Last time i tried i went at lunch time. Nurse tell me they close off 11am and not taking anymore for the day. The waiting room was empty. So i thinking well maybe they finish all the booked appointments for the day. Appointment system? LOL

WHY?!!! So what they ass they plan to do the rest of the day? And not to mention some of the wild hog breed nurses that you get at Mt. Hope behind the desk.


So Deyalsingh, don't blame the public for the blood shortage. Look into this problem. You feel everybody in Trinidad selfish or something? Anytime they need blood people will come and line up. And waste their time.

[paid_influencer]

118!!!!

This is because we air-lifted a known COVID19 case.

It's amazing how we went from not letting anybody in, now matter how low-risk, to bringing in known positive patients on humanitarian grounds.

[MaxPower]

Only Venes getting my blood.

I mean that.

[paid_influencer]

See the article I posted yesterday.

wait I re-read the press release. It seems this patient was from the Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship cohort, from the 300+ that offloaded on Friday. It is not the lady from the plane.

So that 118 more than likely going to go up.

weee

[Dohplaydat]

See the article I posted yesterday.

wait I re-read the press release. It seems this patient was from the Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship cohort, from the 300+ that offloaded on Friday. It is not the lady from the plane.

So that 118 more than likely going to go up.

weee

But aside from infecting those on the cruise ship (possibly unlikely if they wore masks) where else would they have spread this infection too?

Also, they all had to go into quarentine after leaving the cruiser so no risk of local spread.

[paid_influencer]

This article didn't age well. From yesterday:

https://newsday.co.tt/2020/06/13/covid1 ... uarantine/

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said, “We will not be able to accommodate big groups and let us hope that no one presents with positive tests because if we get any positive tests it means that a facility cannot be turned around in two weeks. It will take longer, whichever facility it is that, unfortunately a positive test should turn up in. That facility, by protocol, would have to undergo it’s own quarantine, its own air-out period, for a period of about two weeks.”

During the ministry's virtual press conference on Saturday, he said there were plans to use the Arima Hospital for covid19 patients but that was under review since there were no patients in either Couva or Caura hospitals.

Both Caura (Royal Caribbean cohort) and Couva (Vene lady) are now active. And we have positive patients in the quarantine facility.

[I spann]

123 cases now

[paid_influencer]

weeee.

- FIVE (5) ADDITIONAL PERSONS TESTED POSITIVE FOR COVID-19
- TOTAL OF SIX (6) PERSONS FROM THE CRUISE SHIP TESTED POSITIVE

[greggle71]

Here we go again, another cycle of positive case management, the hope is that we continue to limit any discoveries to imported cases only and all infected persons can make a full recovery. This should calm any noise about reopening borders, managed re-entry for the foreseeable future

[shake d livin wake d dead]

Airport opening to international flights next year

[pugboy]

Didn’t this same ship drop off a bunch in st Vincent who also got a fair amount of positives there?

[maj. tom]

2nd wave starting? I sincerely hope not.

[pugboy]

Unlikely as they are physically isolated on the ship
Tbh we never really got a first wave either.

[Gem_in_i]

So how long they were in the ship before reaching here?