No need to panic!
“Let’s calm down, get serious and pay attention.”
That’s the word of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley as he addressed the nation via a press conference with the Covid-19 Response team this morning.
Rowley said the virus has been changing since November and it is changing in January and we have to pay attention.
The prime minister said the lowest Covid-19 positive cases was reported in November and he believes the spike in positive cases would have been as a result of socialization during the Christmas season.
He said unlike other parts of the world, the situation in Trinidad and Tobago does not warrant “at this time” looking at any drastic measures.
He said “We will not be trying to shut out the virus, which is already with us.”
Instead, he said, “Our response is to suppress the spread of what is amongst us.”
Rowley said T&T is in a better position now to deal with the virus, given the vaccine program that we have had, and the larger level of immunity, we can continue to operate without the level of fear and distancing that occurred before.
The PM did however, urged people with comorbidities to get vaccinated or boosted.
With Carnival around the corner, and the nature of “mingling and mixing”, he said the wearing of masks would be a personal decision.
He said: “We don’t expect an explosion out of Carnival once there was a personal level of responsibility.”
Epidemiologist Dr Avery Hinds provided data showing that the number of Covid infections were on the rise, and the speed in which the infections were happening, was increasing.
He said that the infections would increase even further with the planned gatherings for the Carnival season.
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