Deyalsingh: I fear for the health care system

THE day after police ordered many drivers to return home by police as they tried to go out on non-essential business, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh, in an emotional appeal, begged the population to stay home.

Deyalsingh, who usually begins his daily media briefings with international and local statistics on covid19, on Saturday read headlines from the three daily newspapers appealing to citizens not to make a bad situation worse by flouting stay-at-home guidelines.​

The minister said he was worried for his children and their spouses, three of whom are doctors, and other health care professionals who could be infected by other people’s carelessness.​

He said he worried for their safety, which was threatened not by sick people, but “by people who continue to flout the regulation to stay home.

“We are all worried. If we continue with that type of behaviour, I fear for what will happen with the health care system.

“I urge all citizens, regardless of socio-economic class, political affiliation, race or colour – stay home, and we will get through this, together.”​

On Friday thousands of people – essential and non-essential workers alike – were caught in traffic gridlock for hours as police staged roadblocks aimed at getting non-essential drivers and their passengers off the roads.​

This came as both Deyalsingh and Police Commissioner Gary Griffith noted, separately, an increase in the volume of traffic during the past week, during a period when there were no new reported covid19 cases in TT.

From 6 am on Friday, there were traffic jams on many major roads, including highways: the Churchill Roosevelt, Beetham, Audrey Jeffers, Uriah Butler and Solomon Hochoy. There were also roadblocks on the Eastern Main Road and the PBR.

In Tobago, police had to send 415 people back home as they mounted roadblocks in several villages. Sgt Alicia Piggott said 75 people from Crown Point and another 75 from Scarborough were ordered back home. In the villages of Les Coteaux, Providence another 50 were stopped and ordered back home while 215 were stopped in Roxborough.

Speaking at the daily media briefing on Saturday, Deyalsingh noted that one excuse some drivers gave for leaving their homes was to meet their significant other, and one person was going to sell a dog.​

“Selling a dog or meeting your boyfriend is not essential,” he pointed out. “This is contrary to saving lives and staying home.

“Ladies and gentlemen, if you have to breeze out, breeze out home. Let us save lives by staying home.”​

He described a private school’s plan to restart classes this month as “wanton carelessness,” since the public health regulations have ordered schools shut until April 30.​

Deyalsingh said these are not “usual times,” and the world has changed more in the last four months than it had in the past 400 years.​

Echoing the Prime Minister’s plea to the nation to stay inside unless absolutely necessary, Deyalsingh said the fate of the country lay in adherence to two words: “Stay home.”​

Every measure taken by the government and health officials, he said, has been to save lives.​

“We have won nothing,” he repeated, saying the virus was “lurking, probing our defences.”

He painted a grim picture of countries thought to have been on the verge of “victory” but now seeing a resurgence of the virus.​

“Countries once considered gold standard previously in the fight against covid19 have now regressed to ground zero with new infections.

“We must learn from the errors of others.

“We have won nothing. Do not misinterpret the data to mean that we are in the clear.”​

TT’s figures stood on Saturday at 114 cases and eight deaths. The last time the ministry announced a new covid19 case was April 15, and the last report of a death due to the virus was on April 6.​

Deyalsingh said health care staff in some countries are reusing N95 masks and replacing protective gowns with garbage bags because their health care systems have collapsed under the weight of covid19.​

TT is not there yet, he said, as the parallel health care system is managing. But he warned that if his pleas are not heard, TT will face a similar if not worse situation. ​

Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram, who was also at the media briefing, said of the 60 patients still in hospital, 50 were at Couva, with one person in the high dependency ward. The others are at Caura Hospital. There are 15 patients at step-down facilities. ​ The most recent discharge came on Friday night.

Up to 4 pm on Saturday the Health Ministry said in its media release that between Friday night and Saturday afternoon only ten new samples had been sent to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) for testing. ​

According to Associated Press reports, in some states in the US, on Saturday protesters demanded that restrictions should be lifted. Florida reopened its beaches.

All international studies have shown that relaxing social distancing restrictions has had a negative effect on covid10 suppression and on health care systems. ​

TT’s stay-at-home restrictions are carded to end on April 30, but that deadline is expected to be extended as health officials brace for possible second and third waves of the virus.​

Parasram said while steps are in place to increase testing for covid19 through private labs, the country will not begin testing for antibodies. Such tests should show whether people have had the virus without knowing, or without its being reported to the Health Ministry. ​

Asked about antibody testing by other countries, Parasram said he recently had a discussion with officials at the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) in which doubts were raised about these tests.

“We have seen worldwide that antibody tests are not at a good standard, but we will continue to take a very close look at it. But for now we are sticking with the PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test, which is the gold standard,” Parasram said.

He said some countries that had begun antibody testing had to throw away millions of test kits, as the tests were deemed ineffective.