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COVID-19 and NCDs

Submitted by Caleb Pilgrim Personally, I would rather deal with systemic issues, despite obvious limitations of time and space. In this vein, you may wish to have Dr. Doughlin and/or others opine on the substance of the PAHO/WHO 2018-2024 report attached. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/272851/ccs-brb-2018-2024- The Coronavirus is no doubt a game changer.  Policy wise, the question remains…

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Submitted by Caleb Pilgrim

Personally, I would rather deal with systemic issues, despite obvious limitations of time and space. In this vein, you may wish to have Dr. Doughlin and/or others opine on the substance of the PAHO/WHO 2018-2024 report attached.

https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/272851/ccs-brb-2018-2024-

The Coronavirus is no doubt a game changer.  Policy wise, the question remains what exactly is to be done?  Or, in sum, despite bluffing, are we, in the Caribbean, in a situation analogous to the man who puts on a condom well after he has been severely infected?

Arguably, the risks increase drastically if “43%” of the QEH patients suffer from diabetes or diabetic complications.  Ditto other Caribbean islands.

Similarly, data coming out of China/Wuhan indicates that 50% of the fatalities there are for patients suffering from high blood pressure.  Ditto Barbados and the other Caribbean islands. Ditto, heart disease patient(s).  Ditto various cancers as well, not uncommon in Barbados.  In fact, all of the foregoing diseases are already commonplace in B’dos.

Finally, if we must – re the debate on the “social gospel”, perhaps, it was not by accident that we used to meet in John Moore’s Bar/“Rum shop”, where Dr. Doughlin (an Adventist) addressed us before we all drifted off in different directions.

I believe that, based on our reading of the Canon, a reasonable interpretation is that Jesus’s radical gospel absolutely frightened the Establishment of his day.   Thus, his 26 or more healing miracles would have frightened the crap out of the doctors (see for instance Mark’s treatment of the woman with the “issue of blood”, versus Dr. Luke’s treatment of the same issue.   Per Luke, the poor woman had spent all that she had …).

Similarly, the merchants who lost their income, when he fed the thousands, including turning water into wine.  Imagine if you owned a Package Store or an Off License.  The merchants become apoplectic.

Similarly, when he taught a totally contrarian doctrine in the synagogues, the Scribes (the lawyers), Pharisees and Sadducees would have feared losing respect and money, (or vice versa).

I don’t know that we can never escape the relevance of the “social gospel”, so long as the poor, the sick, the infirm and those who suffer remain with us.

132 responses to “COVID-19 and NCDs”

  1. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @Mariposa

    The Barbadian authorities would have received the manifest before the plane left the UK, and it would have indicated that some passengers were intransit. As a humanitarian act, it was nice, but there was no legal obligation. The attorney general’s intervention and explanation was bogus.
    If Trinidad indicated they could not land, which was illegal, then they should have been returned to the UK. Sentiment does not come in to it.

  2. David Avatar
    David

    What about Barbadians stranded overseas? Government is on record trying to get them home. Some of you are entitled to disagree with the decision but the prime minister made a judgement call. Next!

  3. robert lucas Avatar
    robert lucas

    @ Hal March 24, 2020 9:29 AM

    The United Nations and it allied organization are toothless entities. When countries decide to act the UN treaties aren’t worth the price of the paper the treaties are printed on. You should know that.

  4. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    @ David BU

    I’m sure you’ll agree it was illegal for the Trinidadian authorities to have refused entry to the 35 Trinidadians.

    Although the Barbadian authorities may have received the manifest before the plane left the UK, unless they have the ability to read minds, how would they have known T&T would deny their intransit citizens entry into that island?

    Similarly to how Barbados did not have any legal obligation to accommodate, but perhaps did so because T&T is a CARICOM member state, does the UK have any legal obligation to accept them, if they were returned there?

  5. David Avatar
    David

    @Artax

    Do not agree with the decision by the TT government. However the Barbados government made a judgement call, some will agree, some will disagree. You are aware leaders make unpopular decisions from time to time. It comes with the job.

  6. cpilgrimeaqaolcom Avatar
    cpilgrimeaqaolcom

    Two points, Blogmaster:

    (1) The United Nations is only as strong or as powerful as its member states allow. Like any club and its articles of association/charter agreement, the members determine …

    (2) Dr. Rowley and T & T ought to have allowed entry to its nationals. The 32 Trinidadian nationals ought to have already filed their complaint against the Trinidad Government, with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

    Re the CCJ: The Former C.J DelaBastide once alerted me to the fact that the CCJ is “not a Human Rights Court”. It might therefore be futile to apply to the CCJ to enjoin the Trinidad Government from denying entry to their own nationals. But, it might still be worth a shot, if only in the faint hope that wisdom, justice and understanding might somehow prevail.

  7. cpilgrimeaqaolcom Avatar
    cpilgrimeaqaolcom

    I would not rule out consideration of these Trinidadian Plaintiffs/Petitioners filing a complaint with the United Nations Human Rights Council? A little embarrassment at the international level might help to reverse a stupid and unnecessary decision by T & T Immigration.

  8. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    Where is CARICOM in all this? The regional body is a tiger without teeth. Remember the noise it shouted about Venezuela? Remember the president’s noise at the UN about Cuba? Whatever happened about the Bahamas? As to China, out of 15 member states, five recognise Taiwan. We are a bad joke.

  9. cpilgrimeaqaolcom Avatar
    cpilgrimeaqaolcom

    Some agencies even allow emergency hearings, given extraordinary circumstances.

  10. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    “The Ministry of Health and Wellness has reported only one new case of COVID-19 in Barbados, after 16 suspected cases were tested by the Best-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory yesterday”

    https://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/244595/covid-19-barbados

    SIXTEEN TEST YESTERDAY ?

  11. John Avatar
    John

    What are the possible relations between tobacco use and the COVID19 epidemic?

    Any kind of tobacco smoking is harmful to the bodily systems, including the cardiovascular and respiratory systems [1] [2]. COVID-19 can also harm these systems. Information from China, where COVID-19 originated, shows that people who have cardiovascular and respiratory conditions caused by tobacco use, or otherwise, are at higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 symptoms [3]. Research on 55,924 laboratory confirmed cases in China shows that the crude fatality ratio for COVID-19 patients is much higher among those with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, chronic respiratory disease or cancer than those with no pre-existing chronic medical conditions [4]. This demonstrates that these pre-existing conditions may contribute to increasing the susceptibility of such individuals to Covid-19.

    Tobacco has a huge impact on respiratory health. The link between tobacco use and lung cancer is well-established, with tobacco use being the most common cause of lung cancer [5]. It also substantially increases the risk of tuberculosis infection [6]. Further, tobacco use is also the most important risk-factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), causing the swelling and rupturing of the air sacs in the lungs, which reduces the lung’s capacity to take in oxygen and expel carbon dioxide, and the build-up of mucus, which results in painful coughing and breathing difficulties [7] [8] [9]. This may have implications for smokers, given that smoking is considered to be a risk factor for any lower respiratory tract infection [10] and the virus that causes COVID-19 primarily affects the respiratory system, often causing mild to severe respiratory damage [4]. However, given that COVID-19 is a newly identified disease, the link between tobacco smoking and the disease has yet to be established.

    http://www.emro.who.int/tfi/know-the-truth/tobacco-and-waterpipe-users-are-at-increased-risk-of-covid-19-infection.html

    Did you know tobacco smoking can cause type 2 diabetes?

    https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/50th-anniversary/pdfs/fs_smoking_diabetes_508.pdf

  12. John Avatar
    John

    This is the simple point.

    Everyone of the “pre-existing conditions” cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, chronic respiratory disease or cancer, ca have one thing in common, tobacco!!

  13. John Avatar
    John

  14. cpilgrimeaqaolcom Avatar
    cpilgrimeaqaolcom

    Blogmaster:

    I was pressing a specific issue, earlier. Once more, the issue:

    how many coronavirus tests, how many masks, how many gowns, how many gloves, how many PPE, how many ventilators, respirators, etc? What is the actual state of play?

    You see, Blogmaster, in a time of national and international crisis, time is of essence. Such questions go directly to issues of readiness, adequacy of preparation, and overall capacity to deal with the crisis at hand.

    I believe that P. L. Thompson had wisely suggested “mass testing”. Hal A grappled with the politics of the situation. How can you make serious policy decisions without adequate facts and data? How can you have appropriate “mass testing” without the necessary equipment and accurate knowledge of the resources you possess?

    Instead, while WURA’s heart is often in the right place, we somehow rambled off, diverted into a mind numbing charade as to the relative merits or demerits of Rihanna’s Barbadian donation of US $750,000 (which merits stand unimpeached – God bless her, especially if the US tax regime also offers her the greater tax advantages) versus her US $5 m to charities in the US and elsewhere.

    Also, I think I fully understand the arguments about “colonial” administrations, (some of us would say, “NEO-COLONIAL” regimes, often the later products of the standard slave/plantation society. (See The unfortunate “Barbados Model”). But, while we must always consider the historical landscape such as it is, rather than wallow around in such misery, we must still move forward.

    Based on your recent Estimates, and in a period of austerity, are any funds allocated by the GOB to respond to the corona crisis, adequate?

    Even Trump, a man untethered to facts and as brilliant as the underbelly of a rock, comes now on national TV on a daily basis, lying about a public/private partnership and the availability of resources. The Governor of New York, for his part, paints a far more bleak picture. “We are approaching the breaking point”. It will be, if it is not already, simply a question of choosing who lives versus who dies.

    I recently saw a video of Bajans milling around the Q.E.H Main Entrance, seemingly unconcerned and in splendid isolation.

    But, I do not want to digress too much. What does Lt. Col. Bostic, Minister of Health and Wellness, presumably a serious and disciplined man, tell you in terms of relevant hard data, as above?

    And as to matching contributions by local grandees and related interests?

    [ ]

  15. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ John March 24, 2020 6:51 PM
    “This is the simple point.
    Everyone of the “pre-existing conditions” cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, chronic respiratory disease or cancer, ca have one thing in common, tobacco!!”
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Yet the same tobacco remains a legally traded and consumed substance in Barbados; a country well known for its high ratings on the index measuring the ravages of NCDs.

    How come you, Sir John, are not calling for the ‘banning’ of this dangerous toxin but remain as silent as a church mouse when it comes to the call to put it on the same legal footing as marijuana (the weed of choice among the youth)?

    Is it because you have depended on the proceeds from the heavy duties and taxes imposed on the smoky poison to fund your lifelong education including your ‘prized’ scholarship(s)?

  16. John Avatar
    John

    Miller
    March 24, 2020 9:05 PM

    @ John March 24, 2020 6:51 PM
    “This is the simple point.
    Everyone of the “pre-existing conditions” cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, chronic respiratory disease or cancer, ca have one thing in common, tobacco!!”
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Yet the same tobacco remains a legally traded and consumed substance in Barbados; a country well known for its high ratings on the index measuring the ravages of NCDs.
    How come you, Sir John, are not calling for the ‘banning’ of this dangerous toxin but remain as silent as a church mouse when it comes to the call to put it on the same legal footing as marijuana (the weed of choice among the youth)?
    Is it because you have depended on the proceeds from the heavy duties and taxes imposed on the smoky poison to fund your lifelong education including your ‘prized’ scholarship(s)?

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++

    People are free to do what they want to do … and suffer the consequences.

    Read the Bible!!

  17. John Avatar
    John

    Again, Trump way ahead.

    Stable genius!!

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/id-love-to-have-it-open-by-easter-trump-says-he-wants-to-restart-economy-by-mid-april/ar-BB11EcSR?ocid=spartandhp

    Might not happen but everybody needs to get back in the saddle.

  18. John Avatar
    John

    The Democrats are left to try this crap!!

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/elections-2020/priorities-usa-begins-dollar6-million-blitz-of-anti-trump-coronavirus-ads/ar-BB11DSGs?ocid=spartandhp

  19. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @CalebP

    It will be, if it is not already, simply a question of choosing who lives versus who dies.
    ++++++++++++++++
    Oh irony of ironies, remember when the Alaskan beauty queen she of the “lipstick on a pig” fame was moved to comment on the Affordable Care Act forever known as Obamacare, she kept reminding us that “death panels” was going to be a feature of that legislation. Now these few years hence “death panels” are staring us in the face in a Republican Administration no less. Not that the occupant of the WH gives a damn anyhow as long as he gets to boast about Wall Street and the sterling economy.

    As the Gov.of NY pleaded “you pick the 26,000 who are going to die”

    Sorry for that minor digression

  20. John Avatar
    John

    So who in charge in New York let this happen in February?

    https://abc7ny.com/5898745/

  21. John Avatar
    John

    Check temperatures in Seoul South Korea in February and march at this site.

    https://www.accuweather.com/en/kr/seoul/226081/february-weather/226081?year=2020

    Lowest temperature -5 degrees C.

    Now look at March.

    Lowest temperature +5 degrees C.

    Typically in the teens as high as +18 degrees C.

    https://www.accuweather.com/en/kr/seoul/226081/march-weather/226081?year=2020.

    Spring is here, temperatures are rising and not only will the virus be affected, so too will the human immune system, it will get stronger, google and see

    As time goes on more people will also develop resistance and the number of homes for the virus falls.

    The press in days to come will suddenly realise that Trump is right!!

    Not only that, he will probably be getting the benefits of rising temperatures of spring, compliments of God!!

    Then again, if you are into negativity, he will not and things will descend to chaos!!

    I like the God part, so much more refreshing!

    Trump has good odds of being right but the press is filled with people who can’t think on his level and never learn.

    They have all sorts of university degrees but absolutely no common sense!!

  22. John Avatar
    John

    John
    March 24, 2020 10:04 PM

    So who in charge in New York let this happen in February?
    https://abc7ny.com/5898745/

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    New York today may be the Philadelphia of the 1918 Spanish Flu.

    Some idiot insisted on having a parade!!

  23. Silly Woman Avatar
    Silly Woman

    @Hal Austin March 23, 2020 6:21 AM “…now grown men urinate in the open in back alleys off Broad Street, our main thoroughfare.”

    Even while there should be more clean public toilets in Bridgetown, has anybody ever wondered how come little girls, pregnant women, other women, including old, old women do not urinate in back alleys off Broad Street?

    Maybe it is not the lack of public toilets, maybe it is the lack of discipline on the part of the grossly entitled the Bajan male, those who live here, and those who visit?

  24. Silly Woman Avatar
    Silly Woman

    @Miller March 23, 2020 9:17 AM “…the use of another plant as a member of the pantheon of natural healers provided by God by way of the natural pharmacist called Mother Nature.What about using the now highly promoted properties of medicinal marijuana.”

    Take it easy Miller. Ontario, Canada is on lockdown, however businesses which provide essential supplies are exempt and can remain open.

    You will be pleased to note that MARIJUANA stores, liquor stores, supermarkets, hardware stores and pharmacies are among the essential services permitted to remain open.

    Don’t thank me.

    Thank Ontario’s Premier Ford.

  25. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @SS
    actually the ‘definition’ of essential is such that most stores can remain open.
    https://www.ontario.ca/page/list-essential-workplaces

    meanwhile in Ottawa, the Government of the day attempts to sneak through legislation along with the emergency funding which would give them broad powers over taxes (revenue) and expenses for 21 months!!! When a minority government tries to gain majority power via means other than the electorate. The Bill remains in limbo.

  26. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “how many coronavirus tests, how many masks, how many gowns, how many gloves, how many PPE, how many ventilators, respirators, etc? What is the actual state of play?

    You see, Blogmaster, in a time of national and international crisis, time is of essence. Such questions go directly to issues of readiness, adequacy of preparation, and overall capacity to deal with the crisis at hand.”

    If Ms. Fighting Imperialism’s heart was in the “right place”, she would have FIRED all those multimillion dollar consultants since January when she heard from doctors and SCIENTISTS that a pandemic was imminent and used all those millions TO PURCHASE SUPPLIES to fight the virus and keep everyone safe; it would then be an “all hands on deck, making work light or some such nonsense she keeps spouting”…instead of running around the place begging so she can boast how proud it is to be a begging Bajan, and displaying to the world that is all they have achieved in over 50 years is a nation of dependent begging Bajans filled with false pride while the leaders robbed the damn place with their friends….she still has all these gaggle of consultants sucking taxpayers like true vampires and the island is still going nowhere.

    That Justin Robinson should be on Robbens’ island in South Africa breaking rocks, he deserves no less….just imagine taxpayers had to educate that fool…all of them should be serving hard labor somewhere….they are not fit for purpose as the populi is clearly seeing and understanding now.

  27. TheoGazerts Avatar
    TheoGazerts

    https://barbadostoday.bb/2020/03/25/from-the-editors-desk/

    Appears there are a number of fake stories making the rounds.

  28. John Avatar
    John

    The New York authorities are real dumb!!

    Fancy holding a parade in these times.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/as-new-york-faces-coronavirus-bullet-train-experts-warn-of-challenges-ahead/ar-BB11Eu8z?ocid=spartandhp

    No dumber I guess than the authorities in Vancouver etc etc etc.

    https://globalnews.ca/news/6464857/vancouver-lunar-new-year-parade-coronavirus/

    Was there a parade in Ontario as well?

    The spread in North America may be directly attributable to the authorities whose responsibility it is to stop it.

    That’s the embarrassing thing!!

  29. John Avatar
    John

    meanwhile in Ottawa, the Government of the day attempts to sneak through legislation along with the emergency funding which would give them broad powers over taxes (revenue) and expenses for 21 months!!! When a minority government tries to gain majority power via means other than the electorate. The Bill remains in limbo.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Ottawa had a ball!!

    https://www.google.com/search?q=ottawa+chinese+lunar+parade&sxsrf=ALeKk00OE1odpmvHdmEz88FdOKE4G9XIpQ:1585137970005&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=inn2P_aY4mEoM%253A%252CLsvoaxnlpGR6IM%252C&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kT-72ai1iqwLN5R3Msm5MWkuBCurg&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjk0PyMy7XoAhXnUd8KHXH9A5MQ9QEwBHoECAoQEA#imgrc=_inn2P_aY4mEoM:

    Old Spanish Proverb … “Take what you want and pay for it”!!

    “There’s a Spanish proverb,” he said, “that’s always fascinated me. “Take what you want and pay for it, says God.’” “I don’t believe in God,” Daniel said, “but that principle seems, to me, to have a divinity of its own; a kind of blazing purity. What could be simpler, or more crucial? You can have anything you want, as long as you accept that there is a price and that you will have to pay it.”

    Sometimes as adults, we just get what we need!!

  30. John Avatar
    John

    While in Los Angeles …

    http://www.lagoldendragonparade.com/

  31. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Small island nations wouldn’t be caught up in the vice grip of calling for mass testing if they had done the right thing and closed their borders
    For the love of money is the root of all money
    So yes small island nations in as much as they hate the west are as greedy as the west
    Couldn’t miss a beat in doing their best to support the wealth of the mighty and powerful while their people swallow the bitterness of Corona
    It will repeat my message because these low life leaders can be accused of mass genocide trying to protect the riches of the wealth
    I am not a scientist hence i speak by observation as to what i see happening around me and other parts of the world

  32. robert lucas Avatar
    robert lucas

    This maybe of some interest.

    Why you need to leave your shoes OUTSIDE your house: Infectious disease specialists warn COVID-19 can survive on soles for up to five days – and reveal how to clean them properly
    Georgine Nanos is a general practitioner from San Diego, California
    She said shoes are potential carriers of coronavirus and should be left outside
    The sole of a shoe is the main breeding ground for bacteria, fungi and viruses
    Her claims have been backed by infectious disease specialist Mary E. Schmidt
    Dr Schmidt warns COVID-19 can live on shoes and synthetic fabrics for five days
    Shoes worn in supermarkets and on public transport are most likely to carry it
    Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
    By ALICE MURPHY FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

    PUBLISHED: 01:52 GMT, 26 March 2020 | UPDATED: 06:07 GMT, 26 March 2020

    Note: I do not take off my shoes when enter the house and will keep on doing so Remember, just living is full of risks.

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