Barbados up to 33 cases

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Barbados now stands at 33. With the last count being given as 28 late in the week, the development was made public during yesterday’s edition of Down to Brass Tacks as Attorney General Dale Marshall, Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anton Best and COVID-19 Czar Richard Carter made up the panel on the popular day-time radio talk show.

With the island coming out of its first night of the mandated curfew which makes up part of the Stage 3 response to the global pandemic, Dr. Best had the ears of thousands as he updated the nation on Day 13 of the local situation.

“As of yesterday, we have 33 cases of COVID-19 in Barbados. At this current point in time, 16 of those are male and 17 of those are female. The majority of cases that we have are imported, and 19 cases of those 33 are imported. Eleven have been identified through contact tracing and we’re still investigating two of those cases. And that’s out of a total of 287 lab tests that we’ve conducted over the last three to four weeks.”

Noting that the first local case was confirmed in the late hours of March 16, Dr. Best said that although Stage 3 of the National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan entailed community spread and that it was already implemented, there were no cases of community spread detected as yet.

“What we don’t have is evidence of community spread at this point. We do not have any numbers or any indication that it is happening. We do believe that it is happening or that it could be happening and that is why we are looking for it. So from a surveillance standpoint, we are constantly reviewing our criteria for testing because we want to find as many people as possible and this is public health at its finest. The earlier we find cases, the sooner we can contain the spread by isolating those persons who are diagnosed with COVID-19,” he said.

With Stage 3 being triggered before the island had reached it by definition, COVID Czar Carter said that it was all in a bid to stay ahead of the game.

“We have seen very clear evidence of what has happened to those countries that waited. We have seen clear evidence of countries with healthcare systems much more extensive than ours to the point of being overwhelmed. We have seen an explosion of cases in many places where the number of cases have doubled and tripled over the course of 24 or 48 hours. So in a sense, we triggered Stage 3 before we got to the point where we had reached 25 cases because we wanted to keep ahead of the epidemic,” he said.

With respect to testing, Dr. Best said that the island was doing its best to stay on the forefront now that we are in Stage 3, and asked for other doctors to join the charge.

“We have ramped up testing. We’re now testing in excess of 20 tests a day, we know we need to do more. We are looking to identify an additional centre. We do need other doctors to either be trained in how to do the nasal swab or, if they know how to do it and they have been fitted for the N95 mask, which is a very important aspect of PPE, which is personal protective equipment, to come forward so we can add them to the roster so we can swab as many people as possible.”

Going on to say that the island was currently in possession of a few thousand tests with an eye to increase dramatically to 50 000 and then 100 000 in the coming weeks, Dr. Best said that the way forward was clear.

“One of the lessons that we are learning from other countries is test, test, test. We have to put strategies in place to identify as many cases as possible. The earlier you identify a case, the sooner you can render that person not capable of passing on the coronavirus because you can isolate them. So that’s a key strategy that we are in the process of implementing,” he said. (MP)