Dr. Nadia Astwood:  October 15 Update from TCI’s Chief Medical Officer

#TurksandCaicos, October 22, 2021 – The TCI is currently in a better position in relation to the pandemic than the previous time we met. As it stands, we currently have 53 active cases with 46 in Providenciales and 7 in Grand Turk with 1 hospital admission which Dr Braithwaite Tennant will expound on later.

An additional 10 (revised to 12) new cases will be reflected on today’s dashboard.

Total number of cases of COVID 19 since the onset of the epidemic: 2,910; of these 2,824 Recovered 23 persons have unfortunately passed away.  53 Active; eight individuals have died abroad; one Repatriated ; one died from other cause.  Of the active cases = three reside in GT and 50 reside in Provo.

NEW SURGE IN CASES Since July 7th 2021, we have detected a total of 485 new cases

Description: 235 or 49% are male

AGE GROUP                        CASES

0 – 9 years                           44

10 – 19                                 63

20 – 29                                 83

30 – 39                                 99

40 – 49                                 97

50 – 59                                 69

60 – 69                                 17

70 – 79                                 11

80+                                        2

Total                                      485

Three hundred and fifty-nine (359) of the cases or (74%) are residents.  Initially more tourists or visitors were testing positive, however more recently most new cases are in residents.

We can attribute this change to the roll out of the vaccinated visitors only policy which came into effect on 1st September 2021.

Three-hundred and three (303), (62%) of the cases since 7th July 2021 have been symptomatic.

This time around, we have noted that we have been seeing more symptomatic persons. 110 or (23%) are listed as contacts of other positive cases; 168 or (35%) are linked to international travel.

And 207 (43%) unlinked. The number of unlinked cases speaks to ongoing community spread of COVID19.

Breakthrough Cases

Breakthrough cases, which are defined as cases occurring in persons who have been fully vaccinated- have been documented in 106 persons since the beginning of the vaccination programme.

Of note, this number includes data collected on visitors who would have been vaccinated. Breakthrough infections are expected. Based on available evidence, vaccination may make illness less severe for those who are vaccinated and still get sick.

The risk of infection, hospitalization, and death are all much lower in vaccinated people compared to unvaccinated and so the message from the Ministry of Health remains the same-we encourage all eligible persons to become vaccinated.

Of these cases described earlier, only 2 have been hospitalized and there have been no deaths in vaccinated individuals.