CMO pleads for vigilance and adherence to protocols as Barbados hits a third wave of COVID-19

Expressing grave concern, the island’s chief medical officer has revealed that Barbados is in a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic with the highly-transmissible Omicron variant gradually taking over the nation.

Painting a grim picture of the unfolding situation, Dr The Most Honourable Kenneth George took the opportunity on Wednesday to warn residents to exercise extra care and follow all the health protocols, particularly during this general election season.

“The cases have been increasing over the last two weeks. The Ministry of Health remains very concerned. Based on the information we have, the patterns of disease spread and the level of infectivity, we are obviously in an Omicron-type mode. Based on the level of spread and the rapidly increasing numbers, both with respect to the positivity rate, the cummulative cases per 100,000, both the seven-day and 14-day average and the R-effective number are all trending upwards at this time, Barbados is in its third wave which is well-established,” Dr George told Barbados TODAY.

“The clinical behaviour of patients is one in which there are high infection rates. We are not seeing as many sick individuals, we are not seeing as many deaths, but we are still worried that those numbers can go up, simply because of the numbers of persons who can potentially be infected,” he stated.

The Government’s main advisor on medical issues said that while the number of people who are infected by the Omicron variant at this time may experience less severe illness, Barbadians still must not let down their guard on the campaign trail or on the January 19 polling day.

“We are asking Barbadians, particularly around this time of elections to follow the protocols which have been established. Once we get confirmation with respect to any further results regarding the Omicron, we will share them with the public,” the Chief Medical Officer said.

Dr George said while he could not provide any firm data for the number of Omicron cases in the island, he recalled informing the public on a previous occasion that the ministry had done some preliminary testing which indicated the existence of the new variant on the island.

“And based on that preliminary testing, the preliminary testing is suggesting that there is Omicron in Barbados. The majority of those tests, around 80 to 85 per cent are coming back with the S gene dropout, which may be a pointer to having Omicron in our midst,” he pointed out.

On Tuesday, the country recorded 516 new COVID-19 cases from 2,403 tests carried out by the Best dos Santos Laboratory.

Eighty-seven of those cases were children under the age of 18. An 81-year-old fully vaccinated man died onTuesday and today a 52-year-old passed away from the viral illness at the Harrison’s Point Isolation Facility. He was unvaccinated. Total deaths now stand at 268.

Some 106 people are in isolation facilities and 3,775 in home isolation.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb