COVID-19

Yes more options are always better.  From what I have seen there is one death that is  still  being investigated. Its too soon to say if he had a unique reaction to the vaccine.  Hopefully  we will know soon.

Its all about the risk analysis.   What is the risk of taking it vs the risk of not taking the vaccine!   

And yes I too hope  that this brings the world to a better place, just not holding my breath waiting. 

Planner : thank you, is a little bit more than that but is not my place to talk about it. I remembered flying to Latvia on December of 2019 taking a flight from Dallas , Texas sitting on a center aisle and right next to me there where 2 nationals from the country it was attributed the outbreak and 3 more in front of me on a connecting flight from their home country , some where going to Italy and the others where going to Germany . I spent the holidays with my mother in law, welcomed 2020 in Riga the capital , came back and outside of the natural "jet lag" which is natural traveling in time zones nothing happened to me. The news broke out on January of 2020 about the covid and nothing ever happened to me, maybe i had it and did not know ? I am mentioning this to the reader as your body will give you the signs, and yes I take my precautions and is very unfortunate that has happened but it did, and it will become costly if it  get out of hand for everyone as the concentration for resources in different countries will be towards covid and economies around the world rely on many, many other things rather than combating covid, this is my humble opinion.  Blessing to all. Krumite

Well on one note you are badly mistaken - 60% or close who have it and spread it have no symptoms. So NO your body may not give you signals and that is the issue!

Ok planner noted. if that was the case I would have been a cadaver already , I am not debating your assessment and yes all the guidance should be adhere to, if we want to control this thing, there is a lot of info out there, I do adhere to all of it. I can tell you the most I hate is wearing the stupid mask !! , but I do . Blessings Krumite

Curfew

It looks like the current curfew hours will be maintained after Sunday but with extra hours mobility to get home. Yep, starts 5pm weekdays and midday weekends. 3 hours to get home.

https://listindiario.com/la-republica/2 … e-transito

From Monday restaurants can open at 50% capacity and parks can reopen.

But bars, colmadones and gyms stay closed.

Monday to Friday curfew is 5pm to 5am with 3 hours to transit home until further notice.

Saturday and Sunday curfew is midday until 5am with 3 hours to transit home until further notice.

It normally takes 4 to 6 weeks for stiffer measures to take full effect and get positivity, cases and hospital occupancy back to acceptable levels, so we could be seeing these curfew hours for a few weeks more prior to any relaxation of hours.

If you want a vacation here probably best to choose an All Inclusive or enclosed resort complex rather than independent arrangements.

I can't find anything indicating how long this time. Anyone find it?

Until they change it or a state of emergency expires. No end date as of now.

An earlier decree 698-20 dictated that. See my post of 23 December.

State of emergency is one thing. It was extended  45 days.

The new decree is effective Monday and extends to the  26th. Just came out.

Restaurants eat in to  50% capacity,   max 6 to a table.   No bars or colmados for on site alcohol service. take out only.

Parks and malecon open but not for people to hang out in!  Small groups only. No alcohol consumption!

The rest is as described above.

Yeah, we just delayed our planned trip here.  We're looking to land SDQ on Jan 22nd, already delayed from the 14th...but now we've moved it out to mid-February.

...but we're not holding any breath betting on it.

Another lost winter/spring, I'm afraid.


Jim
ExpatRusher

I am afraid you are right!

Records broken yesterday.

Bulletin #296

Total new cases  2,106  record
Total active cases   41,122   record
Day positivity    30.47%
4 week rolling positivity  19.31%

ICU ocupancy now up to 60%

DN 811 new cases  day record 18.62% positivity
SD 412 new cases   day record  22.73% positivity
Santiago  326 new cases day record  24.11% positivity
La Vega  138  22.40%
Puerto Plata 77  23.44%
San Cristobal 45  15.19%
MTS 28 26.74%
La Altagracia 38  13.79%
La Romana  26  9.23%
San Juan 25  19.29%
SPM 24   11.33%
Hermanas M 39  26.13%
Duarte 19 18.08%

And yes its time to  re open restaurants to  50% inside dining.

Hard pill to swallow....

cases skyrocketing and open restaurants ?
I'm not sure about that... and I really hate the half day weekends

Me too  I detest them. Now imagine you work  full time.  When the heck do you get to a store or an office  if needed?   For many Dominicans Saturday is the only day they can get things done!  So that is why  everything that is open is  jammed!

Are doctors in the DR prescribing Ivermectin (Ivermectina) as a Prophylaxis & Early Outpatient Treatment Protocol for COVID-19?

Maybe?  https://hoy.com.do/resaltan-exito-de-la … -covid-19/

Is Ivermectin readily available in the DR without a prescription?

More information about Ivermectin :   https://covid19criticalcare.com/

Yes to all your questions

There are zero proper scientific studies on this.

There is a ridiculous amount of anecdotal stories!

planner wrote:

There are zero proper scientific studies on this.

There is a ridiculous amount of anecdotal stories!

Proper studies take a lot of time and money.

But since April there have been 18 great studies.  All of them are here:

https://youtu.be/NOpiMasSvSE

Great resource. I wish he'd slow down his talking a little.  It's like trying to understand Dominicans when they talk fast. lol

jdjonesdr wrote:

Great resource. I wish he'd slow down his talking a little.  It's like trying to understand Dominicans when they talk fast. lol

Some other good videos here:

https://vimeo.com/490351508https://youtu.be/4V3yxrJwJQs

Interesting video.   Not sure there is enough info or big enough studies but I am not a scientist.   Yes proper studies take time and money and are needed. 

I hope the CDC / WHO and any others start to seriously look at this, analyse the studies done and do what is needed!

Looks like it can mitigate the effects both short and long term and that is always a good thing!

Bulletin #297

Total new cases yesterday 1,459
Total active cases  41,600
Day positivity  29.58%
4 Week positivity  19.62%

Hospital occupancies all up

DN  591 new cases, SD 323, Santiago 149, La Vega 48, La Altagracia 47, Puerto Plata 40, Duarte 34, La Romana 37, Sanchez Ramirez 43, Monsenor N 31, Espaillat 29, San Juan 27, SPM 21, San Cristobal 21,

1,261 people arrested for violating the curfew last yesterday.

On one hand I am glad they are  extending by one hour weekdays the ability to get home. AND adding  3 hours on  weekends to get home!   Traffic is brutal in the bigger cities.

I am not happy they will allow churches to move forward or that they are allowing restaurants to  have dine in at  50%.   I have not seen enough data on restaurants not being  locations of spread. I  have certainly seen enough data on churches!

Sort of dilemma with early curfew on weekends which causes supermarkets, etc to be overcrowded. I saw this around holidays with later curfew. Does this solve a problem or make it worse...

planner wrote:

And yes its time to  re open restaurants to  50% inside dining.

If I look at Post #2224.... your post.... I get confused about your position on this.

Yes - It's time
No - It's not

Are you still thinking about it - undecided ??

planner wrote:

1,261 people arrested for violating the curfew last yesterday.

On one hand I am glad they are  extending by one hour weekdays the ability to get home. AND adding  3 hours on  weekends to get home!   Traffic is brutal in the bigger cities.

I am not happy they will allow churches to move forward or that they are allowing restaurants to  have dine in at  50%.   I have not seen enough data on restaurants not being  locations of spread. I  have certainly seen enough data on churches!

Here it is.....

OKAY  clearly  my sarcasm did not come across.    I will need to work  on making it more discernable.

I am  against reopening  what is really not necessary when the numbers are still climbing.

The fines for breach of the curfew have been formalized by PGR:

Finally they tell us what are the fines.

What I also like is the announcement if you have no money to pay the fine you can ask a judge to trade for community service. That is a good idea!

Bulletin #299:

Total new cases yesterday  1,506
Total active cases   42,494
Day positivity   27.56%
4 week positivity   20.00%

Hospital occupation 46%
ICU  62%
Ventialtors in use 42%

DN new cases   295, SD 192, Santiago 404, Puerto Plata 131, Duarte 26, Espaillat 68, La Altagracia 68, La Romana 29, La Vega 62, MTS 25, Hermanas M 72, San Cristobal 46, San Juan 22, Valverde 17, Monsenor N 12, SPM 10.

Private clinics are nearing capacity in Santiago and Capital.

Santiago looks a mess.

Looks like we are in for the long haul until folks get the message to social distance and respect curfew.

Any thoughts on why Santiago is skyrocketing?

Also, US may require negative test to enter.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/arti … elers.html

Thank you lennoxnev, yes we have been for the long haul and potentially it will be longer as long as individuals do not adhere to social distancing and the mask requirement. D.R. is a beautiful country with a lot of potential but no different from any other country when it comes to the virus, no country is exempt from this. At the very least you guys and gals are in warmer climate that it may propagate a little slower imagine those in colder climate !! We all need to cooperate as no government can do it all. It just a matter to adjusting to a new normal for the short run and is up to all of us to adjust until this thing goes away . Stay safe blessings to all the readers . Krumite

DRVisitor wrote:

Any thoughts on why Santiago is skyrocketing?

Saw a video today of people in a Santiago barrio resisting police as they partied.

I would worry about Puerto Plata province(470k) equally which has a much lower population than Santiago province (1.5m) and has been having lots of cases. And it is where many of our expats reside. Hospital care is worse too.

You reap what you sow.

If the hospital numbers were broken down further it would help.  No beds available in many locations now.

And looking at cases per capita is also useful. 

If you use per capita Puerto plata province and city are worrisome!!!

luisenriquereyes wrote:

Are doctors in the DR prescribing Ivermectin (Ivermectina) as a Prophylaxis & Early Outpatient Treatment Protocol for COVID-19?

No.

Public Health does not recommend the use of ivermectin in medical operations against covid-19

https://listindiario.com/la-republica/2 … l-covid-19

Nor does PAHO.

The World Hearth Organization (WHO) currently has a ACT Accelerator program headed by UNITAID  (https://unitaid.org) to identify and perform a global systematic review and meta-analysis of all active Ivermectin trials in COVID-19.

They anticipate having results available from several additional, large clinical trials within the next 4 weeks, and predicts the accumulation of sufficient patient data in these trials to reach a conclusion and recommendation for or against use of Ivermectin in COVID-19 during the month of January 2021.

Their preliminary analyses were recently presented at an international research conference and all the available trial results strongly supported the efficacy of Ivermectin in COVID-19.

If based on the projected amount of trial data in the coming month, a recommendation for use of Ivermectin in COVID-19 is issued by the WHO,  any planned subsequent placebo-controlled trials would have to be terminated.

More info here:   https://www.who.int/initiatives/act-accelerator/about

and here:  https://trialsitenews.com/unitaid-part- … sh-expert/

But it is NOT approved for use in DR nor by PAHO which represents the WHO in these parts and that is what matters now.

Wrong message here.

Take measures of using masks, social distancing and sanitary precautions to not get covid19 rather than talking up a drug which MAY have a preventative effect on covid19 in its early stages.

We need proven, thorough and peer reviewed clinical results and most importantly approval by regulating bodies first.

Remember chloroquin?

lennoxnev wrote:

Remember chloroquin?

Isn’t the promotion of Ivermectin the same thing as hydroxychloroquine – everyone claims it works when all the randomized controlled trials showed it didn’t?

The decision to adopt hydroxychloroquine was made early in the pandemic, when, despite the lack of clinical trials data to support use, there existed a scientific rationale given pre-clinical data suggesting anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties. Thus, the decision at that time was likely a sound one based on a risk/benefit calculation given HCQ’s low cost, minimal adverse effect profile, wide availability/ease of compounding, and long history of use.

Such a decision was also entirely in keeping with Principle 37 of the Helsinki Agreement on Medical Research, first formulated in 1964, which declares that “physicians may use an unproven intervention if in the physician’s judgement it offers hope of saving life, re-establishing health or alleviating suffering. This intervention should subsequently be made the object of research.”

In keeping with Declaration 37, immediately after the widespread adoption of HCQ, studies were immediately conducted by many centers. Unfortunately, all of the RCT’s reported negative results which led to rapid de-adoption with the exception of sporadic continued use in early phase disease.

Note that the current widespread non-adoption of Ivermectin in the face of hundreds of thousands of ill and dying, currently violates Declaration 37 in that adoption is being purposely and overtly avoided despite the efficacy/risk assessment of now numerous well controlled trials including over 3,000 total patients which report massive drops in transmission and large decreases in mortality when used in the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

The data supporting adoption is now approaching that of corticosteroids, where widespread use began almost immediately upon the reporting of results of the 6,000 patient RECOVERY trial which demonstrated a mortality benefit (with only 2,000 patients treated with corticosteroids in that trial).

lennoxnev wrote:

We need proven, thorough and peer reviewed clinical results and most importantly approval by regulating bodies first.

Aren’t the majority of the existing studies not yet peer-reviewed?

14 of the 24 controlled trial results have been peer reviewed, along with 2 of the 5 case series.

Applying findings from trial manuscripts posted on pre-print servers have been a standard in many of the sciences, including medicine, particularly during the pandemic. Every novel therapeutic that has been widely adopted in medical practice during COVID-19 happened before the peer-reviewed manuscript was available for analysis by the medical community, with the exception of hydroxychloroquine which was initially adopted without any posted or published clinical evidence base. Examples of pre-print adopted therapeutics are remdesivir, corticosteroids, monoclonal antibodies, convalescent plasma and the vaccines. Again, all were widely adopted before succeeding the peer-review process.

Note that the vaccines represent an even more unique case as inoculations of citizens began even before a pre-print manuscript was made available for wider review by the scientific community. Thus, to dismiss the value of Ivermectin study results because only 50% have been published in peer-reviewed journals, would suddenly create a new evidentiary standard at a critical point in the pandemic that willfully ignores both the extreme importance that pre-prints play in the rapid dissemination of medical knowledge as well as the reason for their creation. Peer-review takes months. We do not have months. Thousands are dying every day.

lennoxnev wrote:

We need...most importantly approval by regulating bodies first.

If Ivermectin is so effective in COVID-19, how come no countries have adopted it into their national treatment guidelines?

Multiple countries and regions have formally adopted ivermectin into their treatment guidelines, with several having done so only recently, based on the emerging data compiled by the FLCCC Alliance.

Examples include:

Macedonia – December 23, 2020
Belize – December 22,2020
Uttar Pradesh in Northern India – a state with 210 million people – adopted early home treatment kits which include ivermectin on October 10, 2020
State of Alto Parana in Paraguay – September 6, 2020
Capital City of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh – August 22, 2020
State of Chiapas, Mexico – August 1, 2020
8 state health ministries in Peru – Spring/summer 2020
Lima, Peru – Many clinics, districts use and distribute ivermectin, as of October the hospitals no longer use.

More answers to frequently asked questions can be found here:

Frequently Asked Questions on Ivermectin

or in this PDF here:

Download FAQ on Ivermectin as PDF

Lets not sidetrack too far off course please.   Technical discussions are welcome on a separate thread for those that are interested.

Thanks