Health officials: Don't slack off on covid rules

DON’T SLACK OFF in following the covid19 regulations.

This was the advice given by public health officials at the Ministry of Health’s virtual press briefing as questions were posed to them on Wednesday.

Officials advised against the use of gloves, reminded people to wear masks while on the beaches and addressed concerns over what seems to be a relaxing of adherence to public health regulations.

Epidemiologist Dr Avery Hinds said although there has been a drop in daily cases and a steadying in the death toll, now was not the time for complacency.

“We as a nation and as individuals each need to recognise that this is not the time to slack off. This is a time for greater adherence to all the public health regulations, for the simple reason that this is the time at which we have begun to increase movement and interactions, and therefore we have begun to increase some level of risk.”

This was not the first time that the Ministry of Health has warned of the need for caution as covid19 cases decrease.

In May, while TT was recovering from the first outbreak of cases, Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh warned that “the fires of covid19 are still around us.”

At that time TT was in phase 2 of the outbreak, where sporadic cases of the virus cropped up across the country. Several secret covid19 parties and an election later and TT has now had 111 deaths, and 5,880 infections
.

Chief among the advice was not to wear gloves while interacting with the public, as it could have the opposite effect to limiting the spread of covid19.

Hinds said glove-wearing tends to give a feeling of complacency, but it doesn’t mean that those same gloves aren’t spreading germs.

“The gloves aren’t inherently germicidal, meaning that there is nothing in the gloves that kills germs. So you take the glove and touch something that is dirty; then, thinking that your hands are clean, you move from one dirty thing to either picking up food – which I’ve seen people do – opening doors, touching your face.

"All these things actually promote the spread of disease and germs, as opposed to following the hand-sanitisation recommendations. So hand sanitisation over wearing gloves, any day, all day, every day.”

Communications officer Candace Alcantara in her opening statements at the press briefing, read from a Ministry of Health press release which strongly advised people to wear their masks at the beach, to continue enjoying the loosening of restrictions.

Alcantara said although it is expected that people would take their masks off while going into the water, it had been noted that those on the shore were not wearing masks either.

“Current public health guidelines mandate the wearing of masks, face shields or coverings in public spaces, including beaches. The government of TT is seeking to ensure that we do not erode recent gains in the management of the covid19 pandemic and the health and safety of the public is maintained."

Alcantara said the government is depending on the public’s co-operation so the recent relaxation of regulations will not have to be reconsidered.

Hinds also said there is a board at each county connected to the Ministry of Health that has the ability to review the operations of businesses, in the event that there are complaints of not following covid19 rules.

“If there are areas of concern, we have a review programme, we have a mechanism at each county for reviewing businesses,” Hinds said.

He also encouraged further adherence to the public health regulations by saying they have had the desired effect.

He spoke on conditions such as alcohol myopia – a cognitive-psychological theory on alcohol use – which doctors believe would work against some of the observation and judgement factors which could reduce the spread of the virus. In other words, people who have been drinking have impaired judgement.

“The general higher-level functions in judgement tend to decrease commensurately. Then people behave in a way where they don’t actually pay attention to physical cues. They don’t pay attention to who is close to them, or who is wearing mask around them.

"If you go out to drink, you will not spend 15 minutes, then go home. Any interaction over 15 minutes is a significant interaction.

“So the concerns aren’t just off the top of the head,” Hinds said.