Two hospitalized with COVID-19

1. As they have for months because the Americans called them out?

   Now start testing tourists and people in the community

   • Let me low Dr. Lester Simon to respond to your absurdity:
     “Lester Simon
     COVID-19 TEST MATCH
     I cannot sleep at night. I do not sleep at day. I dare not sleep at work. I will not sleep at play. I have not done anybody anything wrong; of that I am almost certain. Jumbie is not following me; of that I may be mistaken, but the last time I checked, I did not see any. I did not hear any. I did not touch any. Have I lost my sense of smell and taste? Do I have a fever? Am I out of breath? Do I have a cough? Am I suffering from listening to too much talk about Covid-19 on the radio? Yes!
     There is this constant demand to test people without symptoms of Covid. We are doing this. We have been doing this from the second or third person we tested. We are following the PAHO/WHO guidelines of testing people with symptoms and tracing as many of their contacts as we possibly can and testing them too.
     The overwhelming majority of the contacts are people without symptoms. We have been testing asymptomatic people. From day one.
     When the call is put out for testing more people without symptoms, what precisely are we calling for? If the call is for the need for finding more contacts and testing them; yes, that makes sense. But I suspect the call is for widespread seemingly random testing. This is not what is recommended by PAHO/WHO.
     However, there is a point of near conjunction between these two calls.
     Take the situation is Cayman Islands, which is constantly talked about by regarding the figures but disregarding the underlying circumstance. Their index case was an Italian man on a cruise ship who had an emergency heart condition. He was taken to hospital. It was only about 10 or more days after hospitalization that they realized it was more than a heart condition, and that he had Covid-19.
     By that time, you can imagine the primary and secondary and tertiary and exponential contacts derived from that one case, starting with cruise ship workers. immigration workers, customs officers, health personnel, etc. This meant that contact tracing morphed into widespread testing of groups of workers and their contacts and so on and so on. But even that was not random testing like a truly, statistically randomized survey of the entire population.
     You cannot compare that situation in Cayman Islands with what obtained in Antigua and Barbuda regarding our index case. The nearest we came to this comparison was when we imported 39 cases one hapless day in June. Luckily these persons came in on two flights, around the same time, and the locations of the persons were relatively easily identified, and the matter addressed. Did we reach all the contacts? Maybe not. I do not know, and those who know can answer.
     I can only tell you that we are still getting contact traced cases to test and the number of symptomatic cases has dropped off to be conspicuously few and far between to rare to absent. And by the way, people from contact tracing, who, again, are mostly without symptoms, do not pay for the test. So arguing that the cost of the test is prohibitive to people who want to be tested is incorrect as far as the contact traced people are concerned.
     What some persons seems to be calling for is random, walk off the street and come and get tested, and get tested in such cases, for free. This type of random testing is contrary to the WHO/PAHO guidelines. Why?
     The effort should be on those who have symptoms and their contacts. Those with symptoms are much more likely than those without symptoms to infect others. Also, random testing can provide a false sense of security in which the balance between testing on one hand and carrying out the “condoms of Covid” preventative measures is disregarded. The danger here is obvious.
     No matter how many tests you do, you cannot drop your guard. Ask New Zealand.
     When you regard countries with very few cases and relatively high numbers of tests, you are forced to ask this: Did their few cases run riot throughout the country or were they left unattended leading to widespread testing like Cayman Islands? Or were they disregarding the PAHO/WHO guidelines and sending samples to CARPHA listing them as symptomatic cases to meet the guidelines when in fact, they were falsifying the request data? Or were they testing for some local, political or marketing reasons?
     What to do in addition to testing according to WHO/PAHO guidelines?
     Follow the other guidelines with social and collective responsibility.
     Of the three preventative measures each person can undertake to prevent Covid, try to follow all three at all times. If you must compromise on one of the three, ensure the other two are strictly adhered two. At home, in your proven environment, never give up on the hygiene, especially when entering your family circle from places and people unknown and uncertain.
     And then go to sleep.”

     • Too bad it’s a lovely work of fiction

       You report how many tests have been done we can verify what you’re saying.

       Last I checked, less than 3.7% of the population had been tested, which is abysmally low.

       When we consider many of those tests were repeat tests done on the same person over and over again and other tests done not on the population but on visitors, the numbers are even more embarrassingly inadequate.

       We all have also heard over and over again that sick people call and are told they probably have the flu or dengue or a cold and told to stay home and are NOT tested.

       So you’re not even testing most symptomatic people.

       There was no big uptick of tests following the Venezuelan exposing a bunch of people so you’re not even tested people exposed to known COVID cases.

       So you’re not testing exposed and contact traced persons

       Failure all the way around.

       And now everyone sees it.

       You’d think a majority Black Country would take seriously a deadly disease disproportionately harming and killing black people. You’d think!

       Lives are at stake. Do better.

       • Every disease that comes along, black people are always accused of higher rates than anybody else. Think of one AIDS. How come there is never any pandemic that affects white people more than black people? Stop buying into the propaganda. Black people are not getting Covid more than any other group. To the extent that a disproportionate number of blacks, who become infected die, could it be that they are not being effectively treated? They are using this narrative to say that black people, especially black men, should be one of the first group to be vaccinated. Given the past history of vaccines in Africa, why would black people trust these people and their narrative?

     • Dr. Lester Simon: “And so, regardless of your negative PCR test on arrival, particularly from a place with a high infection rate, quarantine is absolutely necessary.”

       So why is Antigua not quarantining tourists or residence with UK/US passports or workers given “special dispensations”??????????

       Clowns.

   • @ So they’ve decided to stop hiding as much info..Are you willing to be tested tomorrow if it become mandatory?

     • Why would anyone be afraid of getting tested?

       I’ve gotten tested multiple times already. It’s not a big deal.

       As for testing people in the community, they have to do that now since the geniuses running the country decided to let in thousands of tourists from high COVID areas for months without testing or quarantining them.

       So now they need to sample the community to get an idea of how much COVID is out there.

       And they need to stop lying about testing all symptomatic people. We’ve heard over and over again of people with symptoms told to quarantine at home with no testing like that police officer from a few months ago.

       Also start testing tourists.

       And we don’t want to hear the excuses from the incompetent and dishonest doctors and politicians who have failed at this for months.

       Just do better. Do the right thing

       • If I am not being too nosey, what were the circumstances for your multiple tests?
         Were you tested multiple times here or overseas?

         • But there are people and organizations on island testing people regularly. None of those numbers are included in the official report, which is different than how things are handled in other countries.

           Other countries individual doctors report their numbers to the health department and they get included in the countrywide numbers.

           It’s not scary to be tested. I don’t know why that guy keeps posing a question like everyone would be reluctant to have a simple and quick tests.

   • Tourist need a negative covid test to enter the country dummy … are u going to test them every day they are here too.. then let’s test everyone, every day… 🙄 covidiot

     • And then maybe once more like Barbados and other sane countries are doing

       Testing a week before travel especially when certificates can be faked or people can be exposed after test or already exposed but too early for positive or false negative result

       Letting anyone into the country without testing them is what’s dumb

2. Can they please revert to giving some human information as well?

   At least say if the “new laboratory confirmed case” is a man/woman/child/dog. Give age/age range, any travel history and if having symptoms.

   St Lucia also does a graphic that shows the way new cases are spread.

   Caution fatigue is real and the more information they hide, the more people do not connect with the releases and do not care.

   Don’t wait until people die. Remind us that yes it could be you, someone in your age range, neighborhood etc.

   The Ministry is actually compounding the issue of desensitization with the sparse info.

   Stop making infected and affected humans just another number in a column on the dashboard.

   • Looking at the info that every other country gives, it’s obvious Antigua is engaged in obfuscation

     It’s embarrassing and harmful to our lives

     Like someone said the other day, the response to the pandemic involves the most important decisions these folks will make in their lives

     Rise to the occasion.

     Stop hiding information.

     Stop lying.

     Stop playing games with our lives.

     And just do your jobs competently to the best of your abilities or step down.

3. Yes we need more testing, and an explanation of why and who gets tested now.
   It seems if you’re a regular citizen, staying home a lot and not traveling, you just sit and wait……

   • Are you willing to be tested tomorrow if it become mandatory?

     • No one rational is trying to avoid being tested.

       Being tested is simple and easy.

       It’s going to be fine.

       Stop repeating this .

       • Are you a cyber bully?

         • Progress

4. I thought there was only one local death from Covid-19 in Antigua and Barbuda.The second death was the Venezuelan(imported) who died over a week ago.I did not realize there were 3 local deaths.Where and when did the additional deaths occurred, locally.

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