The people have been told by PM Dr. Keith Rowley that at this time, no new limitations on the populace would be imposed, and none of the ones that have already been in place will be reinstated. Carnival, he assured us, will go as scheduled.
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In the early hours of Thursday at the Diplomatic Center in St. Ann’s, he was addressing a news conference.
Dr. Rowley announced this news conference on Thursday, stating that it will be about the government’s response to COVID-19, which caused some people to wonder if any modifications would be made to the 2023 Carnival celebrations.
“The country’s open but there’s COVID out there. Take personal cover, you know what you can do, the list of things that you can do. Do those things that you can do,” Rowley urged at a press conference with health officials on Thursday morning to update the country on the COVID-19 situation in the twin-island republic.
Health authorities said during a news briefing that between January 2 and January 9, there were 406 new cases and eight fatalities.
Christine Carrington, a professor of molecular genetics and virology at UWI, also stated that the Omicron XBB 1.5 variation, the most contagious COVID-19 variant to date, has been found in four cases in the nation.
Rowley asserted that the issue could be resolved, though, by vaccination and individuals acting responsibly to stop the virus’s spread.
“The situation in Trinidad and Tobago at this time does not warrant an intervention outside of those basic provisions…. We are facing the prospect of increases in terms of infection levels, and you would have heard from Dr. Carrington that we do have in Trinidad and Tobago, as usual, everything that exists outside in the wider world. We are, therefore, not approaching this phase of existence by trying to shut out that which is already with us.
“We in Trinidad and Tobago have discovered in our population all the variants of concern to us and, of course, the one that is causing the most of the problems in the United States is already here with us. So when people ask you to close the border, that is not a necessary response at this time. Our response has to be to suppress the spread of what we have amongst us,” he noted.
The Prime Minister responded to the inquiry about the approaching carnival by stating:The nature of carnival is meeting and mixing. We do not believe that the situation warrants us to not have carnival, but we believe that it warrants us taking personal decisions about your exposure to minimize instances of requirements for healthcare delivery to you.”
Dr. Maryam Abdool-Richards, the principal medical officer, also urged carnival attendees to be “personally responsible” and take the greatest precautions for their own safety.
She mentioned during her presentation that since last month, there had been an upsurge in COVID-19 patients who needed hospitalization, noting that 90% of them lacked the necessary vaccinations and had serious co-morbidities.
There were 71 people in the parallel healthcare system as of Thursday morning, including two pediatric cases and five individuals who needed critical care.
“Just for a matter of context, in November of this year, the average number of patients COVID-19 patients per day was 20. So you can well appreciate that the numbers are increasing, but I would like to reassure the public that the capacity is there within the parallel healthcare system and now within the hybrid system and that we are monitoring trends in terms of occupancy in terms of the clinical nature and clinical status of these patients on a daily basis to ensure that the relevant reallocation of resources or expansion of services can occur, and this is done proactively,” Abdool-Richards noted.
Dr. Terrence Deyalsingh, the minister of health, emphasized that although there was still space in the alternative healthcare system, authorities did not want it to be completely utilized.
He emphasized the value of vaccination and said that the government will keep up its campaign to encourage people to receive all recommended vaccinations.
