President Irfaan Ali on Monday night announced fatter pay-packets for 5,000 healthcare workers ranging from GY$100,000 at the lowest rung to GY$450,000,  saying it was an effort to ensure they “enjoy a good salary and a better standard of living” while at the same time delivering quality services to the nation’s sick and injured. “We ...

The Public Works Ministry on Monday issued a final warning to vendors on New Market Street opposite Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) to remove their stalls or they will be demolished and taken away. “A final notice is hereby given to vendors who are occupying spaces along New Market Street, between Thomas and East Streets, to ...

Dr. Anthony Fauci acknowledged Friday that there is a "fatigue" about COVID-19 mandates as respiratory viruses surge across the U.S. 

In an interview with Fox 5 New York, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert said that while he believes future decisions about implementing restrictions should be left up to the discretion of local health authorities, he knows that people "don't like being told what to do." 

"I mean, obviously, you would like people to use good judgment to protect themselves and their family in that community without necessarily having to mandate anything, because, you know, there is a fatigue about being mandated. People don't like to be told what to do," he told "Good Day New York."

"But you really want to very strongly encourage people that when you're having a rather strong uptick in infections, which is followed by an uptick in hospitalizations, you want to make sure you do something to mitigate against that," Fauci noted.

NEW YORK CITY 'STRONGLY' URGES MASKS AMID 'HIGH LEVELS' OF COVID, FLU, RSV

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director also told the station that he was concerned about what he called "not a very vigorous uptake" of the omicron-specific booster.

"We're doing much, much lower from a percentage point that we shouldn't be doing you know, in some respects, that may be understandable, because people want to be done with COVID," he said. "We've all been exhausted over the last three years. But there still is a lot to do to protect yourself and your family and, ultimately, your community."

Health officials in cities nationwide are encouraging residents to embrace mitigation measures – strongly recommending masking in New York and Los Angeles. 

Phoenix authorities are encouraging vaccinations as reports of illnesses in Maricopa County are on the rise, including influenza and the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). 

LOS ANGELES COVID CASES SURGE, BUT COUNTY HOLDS OFF ON MASK MANDATE

"At this level of transmission, the CDC recommends wearing a mask indoors in public, which includes during travel and in other public settings. RSV cases are more than two times higher than during the average peak," the Maricopa County Department of Public Health said in a news release.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week that the U.S. is seeing elevated levels of the viruses – especially for RSV and flu. 

"Levels of flu-like illness, which includes people going to the doctor with a fever and a cough or sore throat are at either high or very high levels in 47 jurisdictions, and that is up from 36 jurisdictions just last week. CDC estimates that since Oct. 1, there have already been at least 8.7 million illnesses, 78,000 hospitalizations and 4,500 deaths from flu," Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a Monday telebriefing. "Flu hospital admissions reported through HHS’s hospital surveillance system, which were already high for this time of year, have nearly doubled during the last reporting period. Compared to the week prior, hospitalizations for flu continue to be the highest we have seen at this time of year in a decade, demonstrating the significantly earlier flu season we are experiencing."

She encouraged people to get vaccinated for COVID-19 and influenza and to take preventative actions, like wearing a high-quality, well-fitting mask to prevent the spread of illness. 

Santo Domingo, DR
Brigades from the Mayor’s Office of the National District (ADN), in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health and other institutions, carried out a cleaning operation yesterday in which solid waste was fumigated and collected in the La Zurza sector of the capital, where two cases of cholera were recently detected.

“Today we are here with the city council cleaning the entire riverbank, giving attention to the families, bringing them supplies such as masks, gel, so that they can sanitize the whole area since we had two positive cases of cholera, which are already stable,” said Damian Almonte, coordinator of the Program for the Reduction of Traffic Accidents (Premat).

He assured me that the patients affected by cholera had already been treated and discharged. “We are finishing the sanitation of all the parts so that we can have a clear idea of where the cholera cases came from or if they were imported or if they were referrals from this same episode,” added Almonte.

Regarding the drinking water, he assured that it has already been treated by the Santo Domingo Aqueduct and Sewage Corporation (CAASD), and they are waiting for the results to be able to notice any abnormality in the liquid.

She also affirmed that there is no landfill in the community; instead, there is a “transfer” for solid waste, where the neighbors deposit the debris and collect it three times a week. Furthermore, the Vice Minister of Social Assistance, Raiza Bello Arias, declared that support and follow-up had been given to the community since the rains of last November 4, which caused havoc in Greater Santo Domingo, leaving irreparable human and material losses.

He expressed that “when these landslides occur, one is ready for epidemics to come, diseases such as dengue fever, in view of this we have followed up.”

The mother of Edwin Alexander Cedano, a 25-year-old young man who was crushed to death by a wall in this sector on the day of the torrential rains, considers that this action by the authorities is something beneficial for the whole community and explained that after the fateful day of her son’s accident, the authorities have been keeping an eye on the area.

Dr. Richard Amenyah Public policies, programmes and laws are meant to protect everyone equally. However, this does not hold true when there is disconnect between human rights norms and public health interventions. Thus, making vulnerable and marginalized people more at risk of contracting HIV. More than four decades into the HIV pandemic, the world is […]

331 residents will benefit from ...

Add to that the limited cholera control resources and the constant migratory flow to the Dominican Republic, which reported two new cases of the disease yesterday. PAHO defines cholera as an acute diarrheal infection caused by the ingestion of contaminated food or water containing the Vibrio cholera bacterium.

Although it is a treatable disease, the World Health Organization warned that if treatment is not administered promptly, it can quickly lead to severe dehydration and death.

This is stated by virology specialist and Dominican researcher Robert Paulino, who stated that it has been demonstrated that the zero Covid or closure policy is not the solution because it maintains a very strong social pressure on the countries and advises that the country resume mass case tracking at this time.

To reduce the impact, the specialist understands that measures must focus on capturing and isolating cases, cutting off the transmission, wearing a mask in closed spaces and health centers, and practicing good hygiene. According to Paulino, countries should consider maintaining the availability of tests and treatment, which is a challenge with the new variants because those previously used do not work, so they must continue to invest in research.

Paulino stated that, at this time, when the virus is becoming more prevalent, it is critical to resume massive tests to track cases, which would allow the health system to guarantee access to the population and have more complete surveillance statistics. He emphasized that tracking cases allow them to identify hot spots for virus spread and take appropriate action. “The use of a mask must begin to be reinforced, particularly in medical care spaces, because there is no better place to become infected than health centers, where the first line of response is exposed and also serves as a transmission vehicle,” Dr. Paulino said.

View the full post Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Report for Eastern Caribbean on NOW Grenada.

The Dominican expert recognizes that by relaxing preventive measures such as mask use, low demand for diagnostic tests, crowding, and fatigue, among others, the true state of the virus in the countries will not be reflected.

As a result, he stressed the importance of countries working on SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequencing, noting that in the Dominican Republic, the sequencing indicates that omicron is the most common variant this year and that vaccines are effective against this variant. Concerning the three circulating respiratory viruses, such as influenza, Covid-19, and respiratory syncytial, the specialist stated that seasonal flu cases in the region are increasing after two years of below-average activity.

He noted that the Dominican Republic also experienced below-average activity during the pandemic’s peak years, owing to the impact of all isolation and distancing measures, which contributed to low circulation, but that the country will resume its normal autumn and winter pattern in 2022.