‘Alarming’ spike in COVID cases

The Bahamas recorded 330 cases of COVID-19 on Christmas Day — the most cases confirmed on any single day since the start of the pandemic in 2020, health officials reported.

However, not all samples were taken on that day.

Between Thursday and Saturday, 580 cases were confirmed, more than the total recorded in the entire month of November. 

Ninety-one cases were recorded on December 24, and 159 on December 23.

The drastic uptick followed weeks of low numbers.

Dr. Nikkiah Forbes, director of the National HIV/AIDS and Infectious Diseases Programme, said the spike seen in the past week has been alarming, and the country is officially seeing its fourth wave of COVID-19. 

Referring to last week, Forbes said, “What is telling is the weekly average for that week, week 51, was a very high spike — about 889 cases, which is a record for that week.

“…We do recognize that this is outside of what has been seen thus far and that it would imply that Omicron is here, given what we understand about the doubling of cases and what we see in Omicron.

“Now, as it relates to that day, when 330 [cases were confirmed], those cases, when we went back and looked at when the samples were taken, they indeed weren’t all taken on that day. They were spread out over the two days before.

“But I don’t want us to lose focus. It’s still concerning that there’s a sudden spike in cases for the last epidemiological week and, with this sustained trend now, that would imply that we are now in a fourth wave.”

Of the weekend cases, 541 were on New Providence, 11 on Grand Bahama, eight on Bimini, four on Exuma, three on Eleuthera, two on Abaco and one on Andros, as well as 10 with locations still pending.

In response to the surge in cases, the Ministry of Health announced on Sunday that approvals will not be given for large events, and all events that have already been approved will not be allowed to move forward.

The Omicron variant, which was discovered last month in South Africa, prompted a new wave of concern over COVID as it quickly spread across the globe. 

However, some countries have been reporting that preliminary data shows the variant appears to be milder than others seen before it.

As of Saturday, 19 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in the country. 

Of them, seven were on Grand Bahama and the remainder on New Providence. One person was in intensive care.

Forbes noted the hospitalizations are still largely of unvaccinated individuals.

“There has been a slight increase in hospitalizations,” she said.

“What we’re seeing is that people are admitted for some other reasons like trauma or other medical problems and they’re also testing positive for COVID.

“Now, not all of those persons presenting to our hospital system are symptomatic for COVID in the traditional respiratory sense. And so, as of today, for example, we saw that there were 16 patients in the hospital at Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) this morning.

“And less than half of them were there for COVID pneumonia. They were there because of other problems and they also incidentally had COVID.

“And so…it’s still early and we’re going to have to monitor, and hospitalizations can lag behind new cases by about a week or two but, at this time, we’re not yet under a tremendous surge as it relates to hospitalizations with people presenting in respiratory distress.

“And so, we’re hopeful that because Omicron has been described as milder, we are hoping that the hospital system will not be overwhelmed and above capacity.

“But we have to continue to watch and see and, of course, we do our due diligence and continue our preparations.”

Forbes urged members of the public to avoid large gatherings, practice social distancing, wash and sanitize their hands, wear masks – preferably medical ones — and get vaccinated.

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source https://thenassauguardian.com/alarming-spike-in-covid-cases/