Health Minister says “not out of the woods” though COVID cases drop

By Deandrea Hamilton

Editor

#TurksandCaicos, February 9, 2022 – “Cases are receding but we are not out of the woods yet.”

This is according to Health Minister Jamell Robinson in response to the slowly declining covid19 numbers in the TCI, as reported by Magnetic Media on Thursday February 3. Case numbers, at the time, were receding with 60 new cases caught between January 27 and February 2 and 219 actives up to Saturday.

It got way too close to 1000 active cases early in January, residents were horrified by the figures and the omicron-driven surge did not escape Turks and Caicos; and 11 more lives were lost as omicron pushed the death toll as well.

As of now, 35 people in total have been lost to the virus in country, with 31 per cent of those deaths or 11 happening over December and January.

February is showing a significant downward trend with only four islands having active cases of the virus; North Caicos has seven cases, South Caicos has one active on the Ministry of Health dashboard. While Providenciales and Grand Turk are showing no new cases, not unusual as testing for Covid-19 slows on the weekends.

Magnetic Media reached out to Minister of Health Jamell Robinson, early last week and he agreed: “Cases are receding but we are not out of the woods yet. All measures are in place until February 28. Some of those measures include significant reductions in capacity and negative test mandates for the unvaccinated in order to attend church, funerals, weddings, or enter a bar, disco, lounge, or restaurant. Education authorized an expanded in-person learning phase, with more schools allowed to have children back in the classrooms… so far, so good.”

Minister Robinson informed that regulations to manage public health in this ongoing pandemic are always under review to determine effectiveness. Cabinet is where the situation is weighed and Cabinet reconvenes this Wednesday, he did not promise any changes to the current restrictions though.