COVID-19

Interesting

My wife is Russian and she told me of this vaccine 2 weeks ago.  However if it's the same, she says this is not a vaccine, it's a tablet you take over 4 days and its cures the person from the virus.
Personally I find the whole Russian incredulous.

On the other hand I saw an interview with someone from Oxford University who said they were cautiously optimistic that ongoing trials could lead to the production of a vaccine in September with availability end of 2020.

Todays lack of testing and high numbers is worrying.   38%  is just enormous still.

In my little part of the campo on the border between Sanchez Ramirez and Monte Plata there was panic at the weekend and the police were closing everything down in the small village with reports of the virus being there. It has calmed a little knowing that there is a problem in the nearest small town, Cevicos, which lies in Sanchez Ramirez and there are a number of confirmed cases there.

We will see the likes of large daily numbers from province to province in the coming days and weeks ahead like Samana and El Seibo today when they do test more because of concerns by locals of infections.

It is everywhere and we just have to adapt our ways of living to suit period, and hope the government does something soon because uncontrolled spread will lead to greater problems ahead.

Government prepares ground for new state of emergency

https://eldia.com.do/gobierno-prepara-t … mergencia/

SANTO DOMINGO. -The National Congress is preparing to receive in the next few hours a request for a declaration of a State of Emergency by the Executive Power as a consequence of the increase in cases of contagion of Covid-19.

The decision was agreed between the current authorities and those that will start from August 16........

.......wait and see if it happens and what it entails........El Dia reported yesterday some extreme measures in state of emergency being proposed by a health expert...

Covid-19 virulence gains strength in populations with less access to health

https://eldia.com.do/virulencia-covid-1 … -la-salud/

Interesting perspective from health experts and interesting proposals for deling with crisis.

Wow that is  really drastic.  Not saying I disagree with what is proposed,   I am saying I do not see that happening.

Lets see if anything at all gets done.

Positive news is coming on Oxford Covid-19 vaccine, writes Robert Peston

https://www.itv.com/news/2020-07-15/pos … ert-peston

As the WHO list on possible vaccines posted the other day, the Oxford/Astra Zeneca is months ahead along with one Chinese vaccine in testing with large scale Phase 3 trials already well underaway and results expected in September.

Let's see what the report in The Lancet tells us....absolutely the rightway to go getting peer reviewed reporting from the worlds respected medical journal. Positive news but without hype and spin.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features … ont-runner

Looking more likely now.......

Congress to Receive State of Emergency Request Today

https://hoy.com.do/congreso-recibiria-h … mergencia/

Bulletin #118

Total confirmed cases       47671    Increase    1366      2nd highest day total
Total deaths                          929       Increase        19        "          "         "        "
Total recovered                   23459    Increase     325
Total active                           23283    Increase    1022
Total tests                            198496   Increase    4035     day positivity    33.9%

Spread of new cases

DN                                        310
Azua                                          3
Barahona                                 5
Dajabon                                   1
Duarte                                     29
El Seibo                                     6
Espaillat                                   14
La Altagracia                           155
La Romana                             29
La Vega                                    59
Monte Cristi                              1
Peravia                                      20
Puerto Plata                              14
Samana                                      1
San Cristobal                             3
San Juan                                     2
SPM                                            19
Sanchez Ramirez                       1
Santiago                                    271
Santiago Rodriguez                   24
Valverde                                       1
Monsenor N                                 5
Monte Plata                                  1
Hato Mayor                                   2
Santo Domingo                            184
Not Specified                                206

Danilo Medina requests a new state of emergency for 45 days before the outbreak of COVID-19

https://www.diariolibre.com/actualidad/ … MG20150387

Expect this to get approved quickly.......

PRM willing to collaborate with the government to face Covid-19

https://eldia.com.do/prm-dispuesto-a-co … -covid-19/

As I understand it the incoming president and the outgoing president are working together!  Lets hope they get this right!

Just saw this on Twitter

"Government works to increase capacity of the health system. Four hospitals, including Ciudad Sanitaria, will be delivered in the next few days

July 15,
The Government will enable 582 additional beds, of which 395 will be for hospitalization and 187 intensive care units (ICU), to serve critically ill patients in the public system, due to the acceleration of COVID-19 infections.

The announcement of the increase in the capacity of the health system in the public and private sectors, as well as other additional measures, was made by the Minister of the Presidency, Gustavo Montalvo, in his capacity as coordinator of the High Level Commission for the Prevention and Control of Coronavirus.

Bonao, Neyba, Barahona and Sanitary City hospitals will be delivered soon

He also reported that the hospitals of Bonao, Neyba, Barahona and the Luis Eduardo Aybar Sanitary City, in the National District, will be delivered in the coming weeks, which will significantly increase the capacities of our health system.

Increased physician fees and contributions for protective equipment

Regarding the private sector, he said that the agreement between the Association of Private Clinics (ANDECLIP) and the health risk managers (ARS) has been updated, with the intermediation of the Superintendence of Health and Occupational Risks (SISALRIL).

He specified that the fees of specialists who care for patients with COVID-19 will be increased, adding pediatricians and gynecologists, in addition to the previously included doctors.

"The contribution for personal protective equipment will also be increased to an estimated total of RD $ 247 million per month, of which the ARS would contribute around RD $ 143 million pesos per month and the rest will be covered by the Social Security System and the Government".

The coordinator of the High Level Commission estimated that with these agreements it is expected that the number of beds in private health centers for COVID-19 patients can be increased to 166 for hospitalization, 32 for ICU and 23 with additional ventilators, in the short term.

Identification of highly vulnerable people throughout the country

He said that the Government has carried out a study throughout the country to find the people most vulnerable to COVID-19 and is carrying out a rationalization of resources, evaluating if there are patients who do not really need to be in an ICU and could go on to occupy a normal bed.

"After carrying out this first identification of 15,986 highly vulnerable people, we will proceed to give them personalized monitoring of their state of health and the conditions of their environment."

New laboratory with a capacity of 2,000 daily tests

Gustavo Montalvo reported the start-up, in the coming days, of a molecular biology laboratory, with the capacity to carry out up to 2,000 tests a day."

Senate will sit Sunday, so any new measures will not be in place until after that.

We read there is agreement on the 45days and that is the sort of time period needed with effective people distancing controls to start to get transmission numbers down. It could take longer with weak measures.

The general consensus from the medical profession here is curfews are essential and maybe very long initially has been suggested for a few weeks. Reducing mobility is mentioned as well as ending people conglomerations and fining and closing businesses that allow that. Cutting bus travel and taxi numbers would seem possible. Ring fencing bad areas too.

The big question will be if borders will be closed again next week. The medics have called for it. Other measures would surely be ineffective if travellers can easily enter from heavily infected USA and Latin America with only a temperature check and so import infections. Essential travel for citizens, residents and genuine tourists staying at resorts to protocols could work.

We will begin to know Sunday.

The increasing of hospital beds shows awareness this is going to get worse before any improvements. And more testing has always been a PRM demand.

Here is an interesting site -   just graphs of  countries broken into groups!  It shows you pretty much  all you need to see regarding where we actually are!

https://www.endcoronavirus.org/countrie … ikQuSe89t0

Bulletin #119

Total confirmed cases       48743     Increase    1072
Total deaths                            941      Increase        12
Total recovered                   23936     Increase     177
Total active                          24166     Increase      883
Total tests                           201669    Increase    3173   Day positivity    33.8%

Spread of new cases

DN                                    182
Azua                                    22
Barahona                             6
Duarte                                 13
Espaillat                               2
La Altagracia                       35
La Romana                         50
La vega                                21
Maria TS                              12
Peravia                                12
Puerto Plata                        11
Hermanas M                        1
Samana                                 3
San Cristobal                        20
San Juan                               20
SPM                                       37
Sanchez Ramirez                16
Santiago                               144
Valverde                                 4
Monsenor N                          9
San Jose                                 6
Santo Domingo                   138
Not Specified                       308

To get a better picture in the country they should test evenly from province to province as a percentage of the provincial population. Say 0.05% would be a good start daily for each province to understand the spread properly........just over 5000 tests daily nationally needed for that. Doable.

How are there  308 not specified?  Seriously????

lennoxnev wrote:

Essential travel for citizens, residents and genuine tourists staying at resorts to protocols could work.

@Lennoxnev - curious what you mean by "genuine tourists". How would you define that term?

I think he is referring to  some early discussions around tourists arriving, going to resort, staying on resort until the return to the airport.   Not people who come on a tourist visa with the intent of  staying months and months. 

Lets hope he weighs in  on his comment.

It would appear DR has to take some serious steps to try and control a rapidly worsening transmission situation in the whole country. It is not just Santiago and Santo Domingo where we see big numbers, it is everywhere where smaller numbers and lower testing hide major problems too.

As has been seen on social media and today in comments from the MoH, airports are ignoring protocols on arriving passengers with the exception of PUJ. Clearly a country with its hospitals creaking does not need imported cases now too.

But it is keen to maintain some level of economic activity going forward in the expected new state of emergency.

As was mentioned by the wife of the president in waiting in an interview, there maybe is a need to reduce the entries rather than closing borders. Greater restrictions on travel could include limiting trips to essential travel for citizens and residents (an earlier PRM idea) and tourists booked into resorts following the strict protocols established and maybe better ( pcr ) testing.

No easy solutions here. But if you allow uncontrolled mobility covid19 will hitch a ride and expand.

We saw that immediately when long distance buses went back on the roads,  immediate start of the spread out of Santo Domingo and Santiago. 

Controlled entry and STIFF  penalties for breaking protocols!   

We need a curfew that stops the partying and hanging around as well.   It is widespread and becoming a massive problem to those living in barrios!  They have no resources with which to fight this.

The initial spread was focused on several areas:

DN, SPM, La Romana, San Juan, SFM and Barahona and were from imported cases.

It spread out from SFM into the surrounding Cibao, Santiago and to the North Coast. From La Romana to Higuey and the East Coast. From San Juan and Barahona all along the west and south west of the country.

Mobility was a huge problem as were the incoming flights from infected countries.

Imo DR has to reduce mobility big time, but that is not easy because the cities, towns and resorts need produce from the country and San Juan, San Jose, Cibao  and Constanza are badly affected. The virus can hitch a ride both ways.

This is a countrywide problem and ring fencing one city or town does nothing to address a much wider problem that has now developed.

Cutting mobility and people interactions as much as is possible and curfews are important parts of the solution. Isolating people from one another is the only known solution to get transmission down to manageable and liveable levels as Europe and Asia are showing us.

They need to test equally and quickly large scale in all parts of the country to understand the challenge they face rather than just assume the cities are the only problem. That will simply prolong the problem allowing spread elsewhere going unchecked.

There is no easy solution to try and keep economy ticking along yet reduce transmission to maneageable levels. It could be a longer haul than 45 days if the medicine is weak.

By the way, we are in the first wave still.

Absolutely agree with you.   And yes first wave!!!!

Just check the link I posted to all the graphs.   Absolutely clear!

Government authorities do not contemplate closing the country's borders to stop the expansion of COVID-19, when the 45-day state of emergency is approved and decreed, the pandemic has caused at least 941 deaths and 48,743 accumulated cases.

During a joint press conference with the transitional commission of the incoming authorities, Gustavo Montalvo, Minister of the Presidency indicated that, “… it is not in the Government's plans to take any measures to close the borders. Tourism will continue its course and the other economic activities will continue to operate, ”said the also coordinator of the High-Level Commission for the Prevention and Control of Coronavirus.

https://www.arecoa.com/destinos/2020/07 … ira-curso/

This is exactly in line with the thinking portrayed by the wife of the new President in an interview yesterday as below. Keep the economy ticking without closed borders but limit the entries - less trips. They want to keep the tourism door open. It is going to be a very difficult challenge without much stricter entry controls and 45 days could become much longer without the right approach. With USA having 75k daily cases heading for 100k they better get it right.

“Yo creo que pudiese ponerse toque de queda por un tiempo, pero eso no me compete, creo que sí tiene que haber contención en los lugares donde más hay brotes. Cuando digo contención, porque óyeme, cerrar la frontera, ya la economía está sumamente afectada, cerrar las fronteras, tal vez limitar las entradas, o sea, no tal vez la misma cantidad de viajes”, sugirió.

As  expected they will not go up against the big  families and resort owners.

I don't have a problem keeping the tourism business ticking along, but the airport arrival health checks and requirements are near to useless and need strengthering big time imo. Also the uncontrolled entry into the population through other airports is almost certainly spreading the virus faster with non existent checks and controls in some airports as reported in the media. And it will only take a few confirmed imported cases in resorts or in the wider public to bring about a rethink. Wait and see.

To repeat, if the emergency measures are weak the virus will continue to expand in DR and we will be in for a very long fall. To live with the virus it must be controlled first to a low transmission rate and then with testing, tracing and isolating you keep that control.

Bulletin #120

Confirmed total cases          50113     Increase    1370    2nd highest
Confirmed deaths                      942     Increase          1
Confirmed recovered            24423    Increase       872
Total active                               24748   Increase       497
Total tests                                205438  Increase     3769    Day positivity 36.4%

Spread of new cases

DN                                 376
Azua                                 21
Barahona                        35
Dajabon                             1
Duarte                              40
Elias Pina                           1
El Seibo                              2
Espaillat                            11
La Altagracia                    73
La Romana                       25
La Vega                              66
Maria TS                            15
Peravia                               17
Puerto Plata                      19
Samana                               1
San Cristobal                     31
San Juan                            16
SPM                                    29
Sanchez Ramirez              28
Santiago                             92
Santiago Rodriguez            1
Monsenor N                       12
Monte Plata                        18
Hato Mayor                         4
San Jose                               21
Santo Domingo                335
Not Specified                      80

Wow really spreading!

Bulletin #121

Total confirmed cases         51519    Increase     1406   2nd highest
Total deaths                              971     Increase         29    Day record
Total recovered                    24607     Increase        184
Total active                            25941     Increase        1193
Total tests                             209252    Increase         3814   Day positivity    36.9% 

Spread of new cases

DN                                  464
Azua                                 22
Barahona                        20
Duarte                             12
Elias Pina                         24
Espaillat                           21
La Altagracia                   27
La Romana                      32
La Vega                            39
Maria TS                          27
Monte Cristi                    44
Peravia                              4
Puerto Plata                    21
Hermanas M                    9
Samana                             3
San Cristobal                  18
San Juan                          16
SPM                                  29
Sanchez Ramirez            72
Santiago                          149
Valverde                           3
Monsenor N                    10
Monte Plata                     13
Santo Domingo              190
Not Specified                  137

Wow.

Bulletin #122

Total new cases                 52855          Increase     1366
Total deaths                           981          Increase          10
Total recovered                 25094          Increase        487
Total active                         26780          Increase        869
Total tests                         213085          Increase      3833   Day positivity     34.9%

Spread of new cases

DN                                            338
Azua                                           18
Barahona                                  42
Duarte                                       33
Espaillat                                     37
La Altagracia                             45
La Romana                                44
La Vega                                      18
Maria TS                                     21
Monte Cristi                               1
Peravia                                       26
Puerto Plata                              19
Hermanas M                             12
Samana                                       3
San Cristobal                              55
San Juan                                      24
SPM                                             29
Sanchez Ramirez                      43
Santiago                                   167
Monsenor N                               17
Monte Plata                                 1
San Jose                                        1
Santo Domingo                         328
Not Specified                              14

As always thank you for posting this. My friends thank you too!  I share this with them.

When one looks at these daily numbers and speak with friends and famiy around the country and read various news articles, it becomes obvious that the country is infected in every nook and cranny now.

The MoH seems stuck on the idea of locking down towns and cities but to me that appears short sighted.

Limiting movement nationally could be effective coupled with a strongly enforced curfew. But then you have to deal with social distancing during the day when the economy ticks along which is probably a challenge too far for DR without closing down some businesses and activites for a long period or imposing heavy sanctions on those that do not comply.

Dealing with tourism and arrivals from infected countries is another headache for the government.

We are only now beginning to see the effects of the election knowing tests results take time to get published. And any downward trend from new measures will take a minimum if 2/3 weeks to show up in numbers and maybe not at all if the measures are weak. I say that because testing is so low regionally and if you don't know who is infected and where, you will also be missing the asymptomatic spreaders.

I am not optimistic about DR having a handle on this crisis for many weeks at best, but a new government in 4 weeks will come with new ideas and impetus and that is our hope. 45 days will not be enough imo.....it will be the start of DR adapting to the new reality.

Keep safe, be aware of the situation arround you and adapt your daily routines to best protect your personal health and friends and family. This is for the long haul.

I agree with you.  I have noted over the last  48 hours the number of  newly elected officials being diagnosed with covid, including the death of an incoming deputado!  What this means -  all the spread during the run up to the elections and the actual elections are starting to be felt.  Clearly those in power are being tested first. We are hearing about them. Now imagine the thousands we are not hearing about......... yet! 

We are also seeing a number of recently elected mayors  testing positive. That was due to their  taking part in the recent election process, supporting their fellow candidates.

All beaches and bathing locations now closed by Civil Defence.

https://m.noticiassin.com/clausuran-tod … -covid-19/

A stay at a resort hotel looks like the only way to get on a beach in DR for some time to come.

Bahamas - will DR follow?


One of the most drastic updates he is making, effective Wednesday July 22, 2020, is to ban ALL international flights except for those coming from Canada, the UK and nations within the EU.


This travel ban will most greatly affect travelers from the USA, who have been permitted to travel to the island since its reopening on July 1st.

PM Minnis also stated that Bahamas Air will cease all outgoing flights to USA effective immediately. Travelers that are currently in the USA will have to find other airlines in the next few days to return home as soon as possible, potentially before no more flights are available.

Yep.

https://www.traveloffpath.com/bahamas-b … -in-cases/

This will shock the Caribbean islands into a reaction.

Will DR follow?

It should if it wants to seriously deal with the crisis here.

I hear it is on account of increased cases and falsified PCR tests required for arrivals.

Wow.  I saw the Instagram post about beach closures but nothing from the president's office other than that he wasn't speaking the the nation.

So many rumors making the rounds about curfews!!!

lennoxnev wrote:

All beaches and bathing locations now closed by Civil Defence.

https://m.noticiassin.com/clausuran-tod … -covid-19/

A stay at a resort hotel looks like the only way to get on a beach in DR for some time to come.

Is there more detail available? In this very short article, resorts aren't called out as exceptions. In fact, the title of the article at this link is "All the country's beaches and resorts are closed due to an increase in infections by COVID-19".

Does "closed" mean no access at all to the beaches? Or does it mean no swimming, no camping out on the beach with your cooler and sand toys? Are we not allowed to walk on the beach for exercise?

Does this also apply to pools? So many questions that just aren't answered in this brief article.

https://listindiario.com/la-republica/2 … uevo-aviso

Not much more out there. It closes places of conglomeration of people for safety reasons..covid19.

The Civil Defense are the part of government who enforce closure of beaches etc. at Easter and should there be a hurricane or earthquake. So it is real.

A decree declaring a state of emergency until 3rd September is expected later today and after that we will learn all other details, which can of course change at any time.

Make no mistake DR is in a very bad place right now and needs to take some bitter medicine. Not a place to get sick now with hospitals and clinics at near full capacity.

If one wants the tourist thing its time to go check into a resort or head back home.