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The COVID 19 pandemic continues to be a challenge for many countries across the globe including Barbados. To shutdown or not is the question being asked by Barbadians. This evening’s briefing by the government will provide the answer.

Latest numbers presented by BU’s Lyall Small posted to COVID 19 Update page

Community spread has now been officially declared in Barbados and the testing backlog has been fixed. Attached are current charts up to 22nd Jan. We should now get a clearer picture of the dynamics of the virus in Barbados and the other 4 Caribbean countries we have been tracking. Panic now seems to be the general reaction here so far but I think that is unwarranted. I think that in about 3 weeks we should have a clearer picture of how the outbreak will likely progress here. In the meantime be very careful Lyall Small

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588 responses to “COVID 19 Update – 25.01.2021”


  1. Cuhdear bajan; re your 1:55 pm post

    Generally No! but I do’nt know what level of complexity the algorithms in the contact tracing apps that are probably being used in Barbados can unravel

    It ‘ent easy.


  2. LOL cuhdear whats it like when you are not under lockdown?


  3. @Hal Austin January 30, 2021 6:13 AM “We were told to use sanitisers because the alcohol kills the virus. So, in theory, we can use rum or whisky to wash our hands. But they also told us to wash our hands with soap, so presumably the soap contains alcohol.”

    Nobody is going to use good rum or whisky for hand washing when soap and water are cheap and readily available.

    No scientist suggested that soap contains alcohol. We were told that the hand rubbing and the chemicals in soap breaks open the envelope [the skin] of the virus and the water washes it away.


  4. @ Lyall

    The new coronavirus has proven deadly, but it can also be defeated with something as simple as soap suds. In this animation, Health Matters explains how handwashing with soap kills the coronavirus and why it’s the best defense against the spread of COVID-19.
    “Soap molecules disrupt the fatty layer or coat surrounding the virus, ” says Dr. David Goldberg, an internist and infectious disease specialist at NewYork-Presbyterian Medical Group Westchester and an assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. “Once the viral coat is broken down, the virus is no longer able to function.”
    The best way to protect yourself from the coronavirus remains avoiding exposure — and helping to prevent its spread. That’s why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention encourages social distancing, wearing a face mask in public places, and, of course, handwashing with soap. “Contaminated hands are one of the most important means of spread,” says Dr. Goldberg. “If you get the virus on your hands and touch your face, you can become infected. Also, if you touch someone else or some object which is then touched by someone else, the hands of that person can become contaminated, leading to further spread.”
    In addition to soap and water, there’s one more thing to consider: time. That’s why the 20 seconds of handwashing with soap is so important. You work up a good lather, allowing the soap to do its magic. “The soap molecules need some time to react with the viral coat and break it up,” says Dr. Goldberg. “The process is reasonably fast, but it’s not instantaneous.”…..(Quote)

    I am not a rum drinker normally, but here is one of my favourites: River Antoine Royale Grenadian Rum is 90 per cent alcohol. Mount Gay averages 43 per cent.
    So, according to the experts, some brands of rum can presumably be used in place of a sanitiser.

    This is what I said in part originally “We were told to use sanitisers because the alcohol kills the virus. So, in theory, we can use rum or whisky to wash our hands. But they also told us to wash our hands with soap, so presumably the soap contains alcohol.”


  5. @Lawson January 30, 2021 2:18 PM “LOL cuhdear whats it like when you are not under lockdown?”

    Just a fictional scenario lawson. Do NOT let your imagination run away with you.


  6. you got my attention sorry ….at


  7. @Hal Austin January 30, 2021 6:21 AM “Is this doctor still practising? Would you have confidence in the medical profession? A French doctor…”

    France 75,620 Covid19 deaths. 3,130 France people in serious or critical condition. 1,157 deaths per million population.

    Much more to come.


  8. So what’s the latest with this??? maybe the fowls know…still waiting for the mental enslavement and colonization of black minds to be reversed so i can brag and boast about it…that will be cause for celebration and the first step to removing that curse in Black lives.

    “that on December 2, 2020, the Professor and an international panel held a virtual meeting with the European Parliament. Beckles informed them that the Caribbean is one of the few regions where colonization still exists and that Europe should end it right away. Mind you, the EU is not innocent in any of this, but are also not in charge of Barbados’s legislature or the lawmakers who draft legislation and make constitutional amendments; and whose job descriptions dictate, if they ever bothered to read the Constitution, that all offending slave laws and slave codes that they voluntarily keep on statute books decades after independence, longer than they should have, including the racism and apartheid, they proudly keep alive in people’s lives, be removed.” Copyright ⓒ 2021.


  9. Giving Mia all the rope she needs to do right by the African population in Barbados…but just as the longest day has an end, so too does rope. It’s only time that is longer than twine.


  10. @Critical Analyzer January 30, 2021 6:35 AM “The world’s biggest problem right now is that we have treated our doctors and scientists like gods and most of them actually believe what they know is correct and tend to ignore any evidence that threatens the veracity of their long held true facts. They are not accustomed to researching and managing risk…”

    Dear Critical Analyser if as you write “…doctors and scientists…are not accustomed to researching and managing” can you please tell us simpletons who exactly it is who does scientific and medical research? And please don’t tell me that scientific and medical research is done by fellas who failed high school biology.


  11. Is this doctor still practising? Would you have confidence in the medical profession?…..(Quote)

    ????????

  12. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @Cuhdear Bajan January 30, 2021 1:55 PM

    I have not been contact traced nor have I asked the one or two people I know that have been tested since they were really stressed about the whole testing and the whole feeling fine but not knowing while waiting for results experience.

    Using your example, if you were positive, you primary contacts based on level of interaction would need to get tested and would most likely be your close work colleagues, brother, parents, outside man, girls from work and any of their husbands or boyfriends at the dinner you attempted to make your second outside man.

    Now if from that list, let’s say your outside man, parents and one of the boyfriends you chat up at dinner tested positive, they can note in their statistics case transmission counts as 2 home transmission cases for your parents, 1 intimate transmission case for your outside man and 1 restaurant transmission case for your girl’s boyfriend.

    If that is gathered for every known transmission case and they should already have that from contact tracing, they should be able to give us an solid idea where and how transmissions are occurring in our country and update recommendations accordingly.

  13. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @Cuhdear Bajan January 30, 2021 2:35 PM

    The medical field is broken down into two areas where doctors either focus solely on research to develop new drugs or practicing where they use the drugs following the drug datasheets.

    Very few doctors are actively involved in both research and practicing. That changed after the commercialization of medicine. I bet Dr. Fauci has not seen or treated any COVID patients.

    P.S. I did not fail Biology, I never selected it as one of my options.


  14. CA

    How do we know when the virus is transmit from person to person ? Or where

    Example
    From my workmate when we were in the parking lot
    Or when we were in the ac office -same workmate


  15. @John
    In other words, 50% of the “cases” were false positives or asymptomatic
    +++++++
    I’m astounded by your logic, asymptomatic means that you are not displaying the symptoms of the virus it doesn’t mean that one doesn’t have it or is unable to transmit the virus.


  16. @Critical Analyzer January 30, 2021 2:55 PM “P.S. I did not fail Biology, I never selected it as one of my options.”

    You should have selected biology.


  17. Indeed the logic and pronouncements are amazing.

    “The medical field is broken down into two areas where doctors either focus solely on research to develop new drugs or practicing where they use the drugs following the drug datasheets.”

    Where do you place those who dedicate their life to teaching?

  18. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @John2 January 30, 2021 3:14 PM
    We don’t need to know the exact place and time of transmission. We are simply categorizing the types of interactions each case of known person to person transmission had.

    A way your example can be classified as is workplace as primary transmission category (e.g. work, home, visited family, visited friends, recreation, shopping, unknown) with both AC building and parking lot noted as two locations under a secondary category (e.g. AC room, Natural Airflow room, beach, outdoors, etc.)

    If that data is there for every transmission, we will quickly see where transmission is likely occurring and how it changes over time as measures are introduced even if we have some anomalies from lies told to the contact tracers.

    It does not need to be perfect to stop transmission trends.

  19. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @TheOGazerts January 30, 2021 4:50 PM

    The teaching doctors can fall into either category since they will tend to be involved in either research or practicing as their teaching can be full or part-time. Any doctor teacher that wants to be taken seriously, especially at the university level, must also engage in either research or practicing.


  20. My interest lie in the fact that the Cuban doctors attending COVID patients cannot speak English

  21. Disgusting Lies & Propaganda TV Avatar
    Disgusting Lies & Propaganda TV

    Actually Donna, soap and water by comparison does a better job of killing viruses, but PROPER sanitizers get the job done and is the more “portable” solution (usable in more situations). Soap water leaves a residue that then requires even more water to remove leading to why alcohol based sanitizers exist in the first place.
    My guess as to why it is not “advocated” more is that hand washing with soap and water is part of usual hygiene practices. Soap and water is used when we bathe, wash hair, wash dishes, go to the bathrooms, wash our cars. Businesses sensitive to hand cleanliness usually and already have easy access to soap and water or alcohol / alcohol based sanitizers as an alternative. These usual hygiene practices is more that a good supplement to the increased use of alcohol sanitizers nowadays.


  22. “…still waiting for the mental enslavement and colonization of black minds to be reversed so i can brag and boast about it…that will be cause for celebration and the first step to removing that curse in Black lives…”

    Relatively speaking.. Life is better than when your great great grandfather and great great grandmother were slaves

    Familyman’s Skank


  23. This news release from the FDA re hand sanitizers from Mexico came out a few days ago….
    +++++++++++

    As part of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s continuing efforts to protect consumers from potentially dangerous or subpotent hand sanitizers, the agency has placed all alcohol-based hand sanitizers from Mexico on a countrywide import alert to help stop products that appear to be in violation from entering the U.S. until the agency is able to review the products’ safety. Over the course of the ongoing pandemic, the agency has seen a sharp increase in hand sanitizer products from Mexico that were labeled to contain ethanol (also known as ethyl alcohol) but tested positive for methanol contamination. Methanol, or wood alcohol, is a substance that can be toxic when absorbed through the skin and life-threatening when ingested. Methanol is not an acceptable ingredient in hand sanitizer or other drugs.

    https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-takes-action-place-all-alcohol-based-hand-sanitizers-mexico-import


  24. Another way of looking at the stats is to look at what percentage of COVID cases end up in death.

    In Barbados, there have been 12 deaths attributed to COVID and we have so far identified 1,523 cases from the 102,163 tests we have done.

    So we would expect, all other things being equal, that in other countries, about 0.1 % of COVID cases would result in death.

    But that’s not true!!

    The country with the most deaths in the COVID cases identified is Mexico at 8.5%, almost 100 times higher than Barbados.

    Are Mexico’s COVID deaths inflated or is their testing catching 100 times fewer cases?

    Is there some other issue affecting outcomes?

    The UK is at 2.8%, more than 20 times higher than Barbados.

    The US is at 1.7%.

    Of the 20 countries with the highest chance of death from COVID once tested positive, the lowest is Turkey at 1%, 10 times higher than Barbados.

    There are obviously other factors involved.

    It makes more sense to discover what they are than to run around fearfully like Chicken Little or the resident life expectancy expert on BU, dreading each day because the sky is falling.

    Governments may be letting flawed data gathering dictate their decisions.

    The media is making it worser because it is populated by peoples who don’t have a clue about science!!

    In other words, all the science in the world is a waste of time if the underlying data is flawed and no one goes and looks at why!!

    https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality


  25. Why must all countries have the same rate?
    Same health system?
    Same level of healthcare?
    Same response to the infection?
    Same protocols?


  26. TheOGazertsJanuary 30, 2021 11:06 PM

    Why must all countries have the same rate?
    Same health system?
    Same level of healthcare?
    Same response to the infection?
    Same protocols?

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

    If you are diagnosed with flu, what chance is there that you will die?


  27. Maybe this has something to do with Mexico’s problem.

    https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/mexicos-role-the-deadly-rise-fentanyl


  28. That link by John at 11:14pm tell the number of positive cases and deaths in Mexico

    No wonder lying baje don’t ever tell the numbers when someone ask him


  29. Our understanding of covoid-19 is quite different from that of the flu.
    The behavior of covid-19 is different from that of the flu.


  30. What we know about COVID is that if you have certain comorbidities, you die.


  31. John,

    I am sure that you know that the Mexican population generally is extremely poor. Compared to Barbados even, very much so. That is why they desperately try to get to the US, for a better life.

    That poverty means that they do not eat properly, their immune systems are down, their access to medical care non existent for many.

    In Barbados anyone with the virus will be sent to medical care and receive very good care, with good Barbadian doctors and especially with assistance from the wonderful Cuban doctors and nurses and their pharmaceuticals.

    Huge difference.

    A better comparison is the havoc that the virus is having on the healthcare systems of the developed world. Some argue that it is because the developed world has more aged population and that was the explanation for Italy.

    Yes, aged are usually more vulnerable, but that is not the only reason. Japan has an aged population and yet their experience has not been as bad.

    What the media is not putting enough emphasis on, is that may younger people are becoming seriously ill and dying too.

    Obviously the concern of the government is that the UK variant has / will spread just as it has done in every other country and send a lot more people to the Covid unit.

    A reasonable concern.


  32. SargeantJanuary 30, 2021 9:44 PM Part of the toxicity of methanol is that it will send a person blind.


  33. Critical AnalyzerJanuary 30, 2021 6:47 AM @Hal Austin January 30, 2021 6:21 AM Somebody needs to tell him Africa mostly has low incidences of it because the popular of use of hydroxychloroquine due to malaria as well as environmental factors.

    Hydrox? Utter nonsense.

    https://time.com/5919241/africa-covid-19-outbreak/


  34. Countries on the African continent are now seeing a sharp rise in cases and deaths. This is despite their generally younger population.

    This virus is brekking up very country it gets into. Even Japan is now being impacted.

    New Zealand and Australia simply said that they are not playing this game and shut their borders.


  35. Barbados recorded 25 new positive cases of COVID-19 on Friday, January 29, out of 488 tests conducted by the Best-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory.

    Sixteen people recovered from the viral illness and were discharged from isolation. There are now 372 active cases.


  36. JohnJanuary 31, 2021 12:01 AM What we know about COVID is that if you have certain comorbidities, you die.

    Not necessarily. Many younger people with no comorbidities have died. A better statement is that the probability of severe illness and death increase if you have comorbidities.

    How about smokers who are asymptomatic? This virus is not predictable.

  37. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @Crusoe January 31, 2021 4:14 AM
    Don’t believe the propaganda used to hide results of cheap successful drugs working to protect the flu and COVID vaccine business. South Africa has banned it.

    If the news about hydroxychloroquine & zinc or ivermectin working gets out there and use becomes widespread, the COVID vaccine industry and probably also the flu vaccine industry as well will be finished when people realise they can just take one or two simple cheap drugs when they have flu-like symptoms.

    Don’t take my word for it, look at the research studies on this site https://c19study.com/


  38. In every end is a new beginning.

    Today’s practice is an acknowledgment that the breath is always there for you.

    If you are ever unsure of how to begin again, may this practice remind you to start with a new breath.

    On this final day of the journey I take my mic off and practice with you, alongside you. This is a tradition I have incorporated since my very first 30 Day Yoga offering, and to me this journey would not be complete without this ending and this invitation.

    Don’t panic. You have the vocabulary, you have the connection. You have it all.

    Allow one breath to lead you to the next. One present moment to the next. As your guide, as your friend, I will still be here with you. You may always use me as a guide. Trust your vocabulary, trust the integrity that you have been bringing into this practice.

    If all you do is lie down on your mat and breathe for the duration of this practice, I think that is great.

    But I think that you will find that you have the curiosity, the energy, the interest, and the trust in yourself to Find What Feels Good and to create and embody your practice.

    It is the final day of the journey but in every end is a new beginning.

    And we can always start with the breath.

    May you open your heart and mind to having a deeper connection with your breath on and off the mat.

    May your heart and mind be open to believing in yourself and the power we receive when we take a breath and begin again.

    I hope that this journey has served you and continues to serve you in the form of regular practice, holding you and celebrating you, for many more days to come.

    May you be inspired well beyond today to keep returning to your practice, returning to your breath, returning to your self.

    We shall not cease from exploration

    And the end of all our exploring

    Will be to arrive where we started

    And know the place for the first time.

    Through the unknown, remembered gate

    When the last of earth left to discover

    Is that which was the beginning;

    At the source of the longest river

    The voice of the hidden waterfall

    And the children in the apple-tree

    Not known, because not looked for

    But heard, half-heard, in the stillness

    Between two waves of the sea.

    T.S. ELIOT, Four Quartets


  39. Don’t let politicians with small power force anything on you.
    COUNCIL OF EUROPE PASSES RESOLUTION BANNING MANDATORY VACCINATIONS IN MEMBER STATES AND DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THOSE NOT VACCINATED REGARDLESS OF REASON GIVEN

    Yesterday the Council of Europe which is the governing body of the European Court of Human Rights passed a resolution that prohibits member states from making vaccination against the coronavirus mandatory or that it can be used to discriminate against workers or anyone who does not get vaccinated.

    UK is a member state of the COE. UK is in fact a founding member of the COE.

    Here is the text extracted at specific points and the full resolution in link below:

    7.1.5 put in place independent vaccine compensation programmes to ensure compensation for undue damage and harm resulting from vaccination;

    7.3 with respect to ensuring high vaccine uptake:

    7.3.1 ensure that citizens
    are informed that the vaccination is NOT mandatory and that no one is politically, socially, or otherwise PRESSURED to get themselves vaccinated, if they do not wish to do so themselves;

    7.3.2 ensure that no one is DISCRIMINATED against for not having been vaccinated, due to possible health risks or NOT WANTING TO BE VACCINATED;

    7.3.3 take early effective measures to counter misinformation, disinformation and hesitancy regarding Covid-19 vaccines;

    7.3.4 distribute transparent information on the safety and possible side effects of vaccines, working with and regulating social media platforms to prevent the spread of misinformation;

    7.3.5 communicate transparently the contents of contracts with vaccine producers and make them publicly available for parliamentary and public scrutiny;

    https://pace.coe.int/en/files/29004/html


  40. HantsJanuary 31, 2021 4:17 AM

    Barbados recorded 25 new positive cases of COVID-19 on Friday, January 29, out of 488 tests conducted by the Best-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory.

    Sixteen people recovered from the viral illness and were discharged from isolation. There are now 372 active cases.

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

    … less than a 1/4 of the cases, 1572!!

    Deaths, not cases count.

    … except classification can skew deaths.

    Take the data with a pinch of salt ….. a tablespoon!!


  41. CrusoeJanuary 31, 2021 4:16 AM

    Countries on the African continent are now seeing a sharp rise in cases and deaths. This is despite their generally younger population.

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

    Besides South Africa, which African countries have more than 5,000 deaths from COVID?

    Which actually have large scale testing?

    Western Sahara has 1 death, Burundi has 2 deaths, Eritrea has 7 deaths, Tanzania has 21 deaths, Guinea-Bissau has 45 deaths, Benin has 48 deaths, Djibouti has 62 deaths, South Sudan 64 deaths, Gabon 68, Sierra Leone 79 deaths, etc, etc etc.

    Most African countries have less than 1000 deaths.

    Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Kenya, Sudan, Libya, Ethiopia, and Algeria have between 1,000 and 5,000 deaths.

    Tunisia and Morocco have between 5,000 and 10,000 deaths.

    South Africa has 43,951 deaths!!!!!!!!

    There are countries around the world which have zero deaths from COVID …. example St. Kitts Nevis, Dominica to mention a few.

    Their cases to date are 37 in St. Kitts Nevis from 7,203 tests and 117 in Dominica from 388 from 8,740 cases.

    We have done more than 10 times the testing than St. Kitts Nevis and Dominica.


  42. Morocco has had 8,259 deaths from 470,691 cases.

    Mortality = 8,259/470,691 ~ 8/500 ~ 1.6%

    Tunisia, 6,680 deaths out of 207,468 cases ~ 3%

    South Africa, 43,951 deaths out of 1,449,239 cases ~ 40/1500 ~ 2.5%


  43. In 2019, 6 countries accounted for approximately half of all malaria deaths worldwide: Nigeria (23%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (11%), United Republic of Tanzania (5%), Burkina Faso (4%), Mozambique (4%) and Niger (4% each).

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

    Nigeria
    Democratic Republic of Congo
    Tanzania
    Burkina Faso
    Mozambique
    Niger

    COVID Deaths
    1,578
    117
    21
    120
    363
    159

    QED!!

    Countries worst affected by malaria least affected by COVID.

    Hydroxy works.

    Tell Ms. Mockley try and get some here!!


  44. JohnJanuary 31, 2021 8:36 AM

    CrusoeJanuary 31, 2021 4:16 AM

    Countries on the African continent are now seeing a sharp rise in cases and deaths. This is despite their generally younger population.

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

    Total BS!!


  45. John is overreaching again with his Trump logic proving the axiom a cunt is a cunt true.
    Information warfare teams are on the watch for spread of nonsense disinformation.


  46. CA

    The flu and Covid vaccines are free to the public in the USA

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