- Minister of Health, Terrence Deyalsingh gave an update on the status of Covid-19 facilities in T&T.
He said that to date, there are 560 persons quarantined in total and proceeded to give a breakdown of the individual facilities:
- UWI Debe/Penal Campus – 32 persons
This number includes 5 people that were taken off of the Enchantment of the Seas cruise ship and Minister Deyalsingh emphasized that they are NOT Covid-19 Positive but simply required health care on land.- Chancellor Facility – 14 persons
- Tacarigua Facility – 29 persons
- NAPA Facility – 12 Health Care Workers
- Home of Football – 8 persons
- Sangre Grande Facility – 24 persons
- Enchantment of the Seas Cruise Ship – 295 persons
- UWI Canada Hall – 100 Students from Jamaica, all of whom tested Negative for Covid-19
- UWI Freedom Hall – 46 students from Barbados who were swabbed yesterday
- The Minister said that 17 people are expected today from a Norwegian Cruise Line and they will be quarantined at the Debe/Penal UWI Campus. He also indicated that 49 workers will be housed at Kapok for quarantine, which is being paid for by their employer.
- Technical Advisor of Hospital Services in the Office of the CMO, Dr. Antony Parkinson, spoke on the breakthrough of steroid use in the treatment of Covid-19. According to Dr. Parkinson if the steroid, Dexamethasone is used in serious Covid-19 cases it can reduce the mortality of the virus. In fact, the Doctor indicated that a 30% reduction in mortality rate for patients on ventilators was observed in England.
- Minister Deyalsingh emphatically stated that Dexamethasone is NOT to be used as a preventative drug for Covid-19, it is reserved for use in Hospital settings only when needed.
Dr. Parkinson weighed in on this topic and indicated that the use of Dexamethasone outside of the ICU or HDU is very dangerous and carries a high risk of death.
- The Health Minister confirmed that masks will not be enforced for students sitting SEA exams on August 20th. Social distancing will however be enforced at this time.
