Tag Archives: COVID 19

Covid’s Ugly Reach

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Submitted by Steven Kaszab
Nearly 1 in 20 people who were infected by COVID have not completely recovered. That is a 6 to18 month corridor from time of infection. 42% claim to have only partially recovered from the infection. Most people recover fully from the infection, but some people develop a wide variety of long-term problems. The government needed to understand Long COVID as an essential to forming health and social care policy and supports.
The University of Glasgow carried out this prescribed effort. These scientists found the various symptoms to have one central focus, that Long Term Covid has an impact upon all aspects of daily life and reduces people’s overall quality of life. The most common reported symptoms were breathlessness, chest pain, palpitations and brain fog. Who was most likely to be infected with this type of COVID? Older individuals, women, those from deprived communities and people with pre-existing physical or mental problems. The study is important because it attempted to understand Long Covid within the general population, comparing symptoms with those uninfected, thereby distinguishing between health problems caused by COVID and health problems that would happen anyways. Analyzing 33,000 laboratory confirmed COVID cases and matching them to 63,000 never infected people from the general population. Both groups were followed over a 6,12 and 18 month period. About 13% of people in the study reported improvements in their health over time, while 11% reported some deterioration.
The study found those who had asymptomatic infections and those who had been vaccinated before their infections were fully or partially protected from COVID. The study showed that COVID is truly a multi-system disorder, not only in the brain, not only in the heart, but all organs can be attacked by this infection.
This winter will challenge our community and its healthcare systems. The data has shown us that the death and serious illnesses among the unvaccinated due to COVID, versus vaccinated and boosted will increase continually this winter. The level of vaccinated vs unvaccinated tells the tale. At the height of the pandemic 40% of Americans were untruthful about whether they had the virus or were ignoring safety precautions. While @68% of Americans have received their 1st vaccination, most have not received their second one, or boosters. The pandemic is still filling our hospitals with infected patients, and while most 1st nations offer free vaccinations and booster, only 7.6 million Americans have received their updated booster dose.
This winter as many as 90,000 Americans will die from COVID. The University of Southern California along with The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have placed the populations lack of urgency to be vaccinated as the factor causing these deaths. According to CNN, more than 400 people die of COVID daily in America.
Citizens have a responsibility to protect their families, neighbors and themselves. Get your vaccination and do it now. While many administrations go out of their way trying to propagate an illusion of societies return to normalcy, COVID-!9 has mutated and will continue to do so for the conceivable future.  Children are returning to classes, and with winter upon us, their schooling will likely be indoors. The only way we can reach a level of normalcy is by investing our time and efforts in health safety procedures.
Vaccinate Your Future Success.

Is There a Link Between Covid 19 and Excess Deaths in Barbados?

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For some time anyone who dared to question the possibility of excess Covid 19 deaths were ridiculed by establishment opinion. However, there are a number of analyses being shared to encourage questions about higher than normal death rates because of Covid 19 in working age people.

In Barbados there is definitely a worry of elderly people dying reportedly because of contracting Covid 19. Unfortunately exhaustive Covid 19 related data is not made public by local public health authorities to support rigorous independent analysis. However, more and more questions are being asked of the local public health authority in some quarters about excess deaths linked to the Covid 19 pandemic.

A non traditional publication by the name of The Conservative Woman questioned last week if the Germans have raised a plausible link between individuals injected with the Covid vaccine and excess deaths. The blogmaster in the public interest thought it important to share different opinions flowing in the news feed. Local government departments feeding the skepticism of the public is a well known fact as it relates to accurately aggregating data. Several times we have witnessed Covid 19 statistics adjusted with a one line explanation. The question some continue to ask of the local public health authority is – how robust is the criteria used to parse Covid 19 data in Barbados?

It is a preprint research paper by Christof Kuhbandner (a psychologist at Regensburg) and Matthias Reitzner (a statistician at Osnabrück) who have applied sophisticated actuarial analysis to the publicly available all-cause mortality data provided by the German government. Eugyppius comments: ‘When you account for historical mortality trends, the virus no longer looks so dangerous and the vaccines no longer look so great.’ 

TCW

As a matter of urgency to ensure confidence in maintained in the public health authority, independent agencies including the UWI, Cave Hill should be allowed to perform a deep dive of the criteria used to collect and analyze Covid 19 data. The pandemic has exposed globally there is growing cynicism and distrust by the public regarding how public health officials rolled out the Covid 19 vaccination project.

This is a call for greater transparency in Barbados to provide clarity about possible excess deaths. It should not be difficult to collate a minimum of 5 years of data between 2017 and current to eliminate questions being asked about excess deaths.

See the writing posted by The Conservative Woman publication – Have the Germans proved the link between Covid vaccination and excess deaths? – Credit TB.

Have the Germans proved the link between Covid vaccination and excess deaths?

See study – Exhaustive study of German mortality data finds excess deaths tightly correlated with mass vaccination by Eugyppius

BU Covid Dash – Monkeypox is Here

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Barbados is a tourism dependent economy, first COVID 19 shut down the country and the world for a time, now there is the emergence of Monkeypox along with a resurgence of another hyper Covid 19 variant. Health concerns combined with ongoing Russia and Ukraine conflict continues to stoke feeds uncertainty across the globe whether travel or trade.

Raw numbers still elevated and climbing but perhaps not alarmingly so. Daily official isolations dropping.  Ro reproductive rate numbers fluctuating near and sub 1. Vigilance is necessary given that the new Omicron variant is increasing rapidly in our major trading partner countries amid increasing cropover travel – Source: Lyall Small

Health Ministry confirms first case of Monkeypox in Barbados

https://barbadostoday.bb/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Minister-Ian-Gooding-Edghill-760×475-1-730×456.jpeg
Minister of Health Ian Gooding-Edghill

Article by
Barbados Today

Published on
July 16, 2022

Barbados has confirmed the first case of Monkeypox on the island.

The confirmation came by way of a statement from Minister of Health Ian Gooding-Edghill.

The full statement is below:

Good morning.

You will recall that yesterday, I informed the Barbadian public that there was a suspected case of Monkeypox in the island. In keeping with my Ministry’s commitment to transparency and full disclosure, I’m here to inform you that Barbados has recorded its first confirmed case of Monkeypox.

This case is a Barbadian male in his thirties, who attended the Winston Scott Polyclinic with symptoms of a progressive rash, body pains and fever. He sought medical attention at the Polyclinic within hours of his arrival in Barbados.

The patient was seen and assessed based on a history of recent travel and clinical manifestations. The patient was swabbed and the samples were sent to the Best-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory for testing where results revealed a positive case of Monkeypox.

These results of the locally done test were obtained within 24 hours as against the days awaiting results when the tests were done in Trinidad by CARPHA.

The patient remains in isolation and is under the direct care and medical supervision of our Medical Officer of Health. In the interest of patient confidentiality, no personal details will be disclosed.

I am confident that the Ministry’s speedy announcement of this case will, as has occurred with our response to Covid-19, get from the Barbadian public the same level of cooperation in our ongoing management of the Monkeypox health issue. The Ministry of Health and Wellness has commenced contact tracing as a responsible
public health measure.

Let me assure the public that the Ministry is fully prepared to handle any cases of Monkeypox in our nation. I wish to thank the Ministry’s public health team for their continued dedication and commitment as we continue to manage public health in Barbados.

Thank you.

BU COVID 19 Dash – Numbers Rising

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Attached are charts for the week ending 1st April. All  the charts indicate a distinct upswing in the epidemic reminiscent of the changes around the period when Omicron was taking over from the Delta strain.  I suspect we are now in a similar phase when the new variant Omicron BA-2 might be taking over from Omicron.

Source: Lyall Small

BU Covid Dash – Getting Back to Normal

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Attached are charts up to the week ending 11th March 2022. The numbers are generally trending in the right direction but they seem to be slowly levelling off at relatively high levels. The R0 reproductive number needs to be closely monitored even though it is below the 1.0 target – Source: Lyall Small – See BU Covid 19 Updates page

BU COVID Dash – Living with the Virus

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Please see uploads for the week ending 25th February 2022. Barbados is now at a new “living with Covid” stage. The various ministries announced significant changes in their management of Covid this afternoon. As such, I am suggesting that I would submit only the enclosed graphs on a weekly basis, initially, but subject to modification if new substantive changes in the pandemic occur. All the indicators are trending in the right direction and we should all hope that they continue to do so – Source: Lyall Small

BU Covid Dash – Getting Back to Normal

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Enclosed are the updated charts for the week ending 18th February. All the charts, except Daily deaths, are moving strongly in the right direction but have not yet reached a level where victory can be claimed. Government is initiating a new phase in the epidemic from next week but there is a new Omicron based variant that needs to be watched closely to ensure that we can quickly pivot and institute any new or modified measures necessary. Government should also look closely at the efficacy of the Vaccination options being used. (Source: Lyall Small)

 

 

BU Covid Dash – Back to School II

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The blogmaster is pleased to hear more urgent discussions taking place about agreeing to protocols and logistics to have face to face classes resume between stakeholders. From anecdotal chatter the majority of parents seem supportive of the effort to restart. The one group offering some resistance seems to be the teacher’s unions.

A word to the teachers. This is a risk reward kind of situation. This is a cost benefit kind of situation. There will be a price to pay if the current way of teaching our children continues. There will be a social cost. If the class size is to large, split is and teach each group on alternate days BUT do some rh thing. The virus from all accounts will be with us for the foreseeable future, let us agree (without the long talk) how the physical plant will be changed to mitigate the risks at play.

Time to get on with it!

BU Covid Dash – Back to School Time

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If we are to judge from recent events like cricket at Kensington Oval and political campaigning – supported by utterances from the Chief Medial Officer and Minister Kerri Symmonds –  the government is about to switch to a getting ‘back to normal’ mode. We must do all that is possible to address educating our children. Crop Over will fall in line.

Attached are charts for the week ending 4th Feb 2022.  The major takeaways may be that the R0 chart is continuing to trend downward, as is the daily cases chart and that the Death’s and total isolations charts are continuing to trend upwards.  These changes need to be monitored over the next couple of weeks to determine any changing or continuing trends. I’ve reposted the positivity chart as there seems to have been some recent interest in that statistic – Source: Lyall Small (Click image to see BU COVID 19 Updates page)

BU Covid Dash – No Need for Panic

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Attached are updated charts for the week ending 28th January.  We saw a record number of daily cases (923) on 25th January.  This was followed over the last 3 days with daily cases in the 700’s.  The reproductive R0 numbers increased slowly to just 1.18; Deaths and Daily Official isolations also remained at relatively low levels while Home isolations rose precipitately. If these dynamics are maintained there will be no need to panic and fear that the dread worse case prediction of 3,500 peak cases per day is heading our way.  The data also indicates that the Covid-19 team and the Barbados populace in general are continuing to do a good job – Source: Lyall Small

BU COVID Dash – General Election Watch

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The just concluded 2022 General Election is feared by many to be a ‘super spreader’. The country is on watch for COVID 19 cases to spike given the frolicking witnessed on last campaign night, especially at Bay Street.

Enclosed are Charts for the week ending 21st January 2022.  The daily cases are rising but with a relatively low reproductive number of 1.08.  Daily official isolations have flattened out.  Total isolations (Official + Home) are however increasing quite steeply fueled by the increasing home isolations indicating that Omicron, at this stage, is milder than the Delta variant.  So far so good.  The effects on daily cases by Election activities is not yet evident – Source: Lyall Small
See BU Covid Updates Page

BU Covid Dash – Fighting the Numbers

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Enclosed are the charts for the week ending 14th Jan 2022.  I’ve omitted the Vaccinations chart and added a reproductive number chart which gives some idea about the rate of reproduction of the virus and a daily official isolations chart to get some indication of the position re. incidence of persons sickened by the Virus.  Total isolations are increasing gradually but Official Isolations are going down slowly and the Reproductive rates are actually decreasing at this stage.  Deaths are still relatively low.  The charts seem to be indicating that we might yet escape the dire UWI model predictions.  So far, so good.

Lyall Small

BU Covid Dash – Is Omicron Here?

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David;  Attached are the charts for the week ending 24th December 2021. The cases and positivity charts are showing slight upticks, perhaps presaging a possible Omicron upsurge in the coming weeks. The vaccination charts are continuing to show the slow growth in vaccine uptake.  The Worldometer charts show a declining trend in deaths.  Reports on Omicron suggest that it aggressively outcompetes the other existing variants and that its effects are relatively mild thereby offering a small ray of hope for the future containment of the epidemic.

Source: Lyall Small

 

All-out Support for Striking Nurses

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Nurses defend their strike action against attacks from the government, employers and BLP aligned trade union leaders

Submitted by Tee White

On Wednesday 16 December after a meeting of the Social Partnership which brings together the government, employers and trade unions, Prime Minister Mia Mottley hosted a press conference in which she unleashed a scathing attack on the striking nurses and, in particular, Caswell Franklyn, the opposition senator who is also the leader of the Unity Workers Union (UWU) which represents the striking nurses. Prime Minister Mottley accused the nurses of prematurely initiating strike action without following the accepted procedures and accused their leader of using the strike action to further his own political ambitions. She further denounced the UWU leader for encouraging its members to abandon patients and declared that since the nurses were on strike, the government would dock their pay.

The Prime Minister’s attack on the striking nurses was, not surprisingly, fully supported by the Barbados Private Sector Association but, more surprisingly, also backed by the leaders of various trade unions including the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP), the Barbados Nurses Association (BNA), the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW), the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) and the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados (CTUSAB). Openly violating the basic principles of working class solidarity, which as leaders of workers’ organisations they are supposed to uphold, these trade union leaders distanced themselves from the striking nurses and made common cause with the government and employers in their attacks on the nurses. The members of these unions will need to hold these leaders to account for their betrayal of basic trade union principles.

In the face of the onslaught from the government and the forces it had mobilised against them, the nurses have held their ground and more nurses are joining them in the strike action in defence of their rights. The trigger for the dispute was a botched attempt by the government to introduce its mandatory Covid 19 vaccination policy under the guise of ‘safe zones’ at the geriatric hospital. The management of this institution put up a notice at work identifying unvaccinated nurses who would have to undergo weekly PCR tests. The UWU had previously made it clear to the management that any attempt to impose the mandatory vaccination policy, without consultation with the union, would be met with strike action. Although the Ministry of Health backed down and stated that the management of the geriatric hospital had acted prematurely since the mandatory vaccination rollout had not yet been approved, this action nevertheless triggered the nurses to take a stand on a number of other issues which had remained unresolved for years. These included better pay, better working conditions, health insurance, continuous training and better nurse to patient ratios. These are issues which the nurses have been raising for years and which successive governments, including the current one, have failed to address. Therefore, any claim that the nurses initiated strike action prematurely is clearly false. In fact, the nurses have put up with unacceptable conditions for too long and it is the government who is in the dock on this issue. Speaking about her lived reality in the Barbados health care system, one nurse declared, “We are standing in solidarity with our colleagues against the authorities trying to implement safe zones without consultation with us. We also have our own grievances at Edgar Cochrane, such as not having enough resources – gloves, blood collection bottles, gauze.

Enough is enough. Imagine having to tell a patient they have to buy their own catheter bag; some of our patients can barely afford the bus fare to get to us”. Another nurse complained that nurse to patient ratios could sometimes reach 1 to 32 patients to nurse per day while the suggested ratio is 1 to 6. Directly addressing the despicable claim by the Prime Minister that the union had encouraged the nurses to abandon their patients, Kathy Ann Holder, a registered nurse of 12 years declared, “The whole entire time, never have we abandoned or left our patients for the last two years, with or without pay, with or without the testing, with or without the vaccine when there was none”. In fact, another nurse made the point that the nurses’ struggle is actually aimed to benefit the patients, when she stated, “We are not only standing up for ourselves, but for the patients too”.

In the face of the just cause of the nurses, the government has initiated extreme measures to suppress their’ struggle. On the 18 December, the UWU claimed that the government had put a freeze on some striking nurses’ bank accounts to prevent them accessing some of their money in addition to not paying them their December salary. Director of Finance, Ian Carrington denounced the claims as “total and complete foolishness and utter rubbish”. However, a recording of a nurse speaking to her bank and asking why a portion of her bank balance was unavailable has been circulating on social media. In the recording, the bank’s customer service representative explains to the nurse that her money has been frozen because the government of Barbados had placed a hold on a portion of the money in her account. In the lead up to the holiday period, the oppressive measures of the government against the nurses must be condemned and they give the lie to the Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s claim that she would not “unfair workers”.

The attack on the striking nurses by the current BLP government reflects the fundamental anti-working class nature of this government and is consistent with its attacks on the hotel workers when they were protesting to get their severance payments. While praising the working class activism of Clement Payne and the martyrs of 1937, the government is hell bent on crushing the struggle of the workers for their rights in 2021. Although they claim that it is the leader of the UWU that is using the nurses’ strike for political ends, they are actually the ones who have called on all the political parties in the country to condemn the nurses.

The cause of the nurses is just and the efforts of the government to suppress them are unjust. All out to support the nurses in their struggle!!