By Sue-Ann Wayow
COVID-19 numbers are decreasing but Trinidad and Tobago is still experiencing the third wave of the pandemic.
This was stated by epidemiologist Dr Avery Hinds on Wednesday during the Ministry of Health’s Covid-19 update.
Speaking about the current third wave, he said, “The introduction of a second variant on top of the exiting variant that was responsible for the start of this wave, Delta started the wave and Omicron superimposed upon it. Yes, we are still in that wave although the numbers are going down.”
On November 21, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said Trinidad and Tobago were “in the grips” of the third wave of the pandemic which saw an increasing number of daily deaths, daily positive cases and increased hospitalisation.
Dr Hinds further said that while there was a downward trend, any projection of when the transition to endemic stage would take place would be dangerous as there were many variables involved.
He said, “While we are happy if this continued, it is difficult to project for the simple reason that we know there is always the possibility of another variant on the horizon. There are reports of mixings of reported variants etcetera that we do need to keep an eye on, so projecting will be a little bit dangerous at this point.”
With reference to the number of positive cases being reported, Dr Hinds said because of the nature of Omicron variant and less severity of symptoms, some were not getting ill enough to need official medical care.
“Because Omicron itself is a little bit stealthy, we do know that there is going to be a lot of what we call subclinical cases, lots of people who are still currently getting ill and they are not ill enough that they need to present themselves to the healthcare facilities,” Dr Hinds said.
The severity of that illness going downwards is reflected in the decrease in hospital numbers, he said.
The epidemiologist also said in March right after the Carnival celebrations there was a bit of a peak in Covid-19 cases, a week after the official Carnival weekend and about two weeks after actual festivities.
However, he said, “ While we did see that upward peak, that uptick, it was not something that caused enough significant severe illness to burden the health care system.”
Dr Hinds said it was not that data was missing, it was that the impact was mitigated by the severity of illness and the protocols in place to reduce risk.
To date, on March 5, the Ministry of Health reported the highest number of Covid-19 positive cases for this month with 642 cases, March 7 had the lowest number reported with 132 cases.
And Dr Hinds continue to advocate for vaccination and adherence to all health protocols as the Ministry of Health gets prepared to enter the endemic stages of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram agreed with Dr Hinds that proposed projections to the pandemic’s end cannot yet be made and explained what the population can experience in an endemic.
He said, “When it is no longer a major threat to the healthcare services of the country, we can begin to feel a bit of comfort that this thing is not going to spike on us all of a sudden and create an overwhelming situation in terms of the capacity of the healthcare system to cope with a surge.”
