COVID-19

Yes, but a "Reported case" is vastly different than "A Death" !!....If you are fully vaccinated and DO NOT have underlying health conditions,, you're still in good shape...

Well said ! and sadly, all to a common occurrence...

ewenmcc wrote:

Yes, but a "Reported case" is vastly different than "A Death" !!....If you are fully vaccinated and DO NOT have underlying health conditions,, you're still in good shape...

That's appears to be pretty much the case, but it seems the lab boffins are concerned the new variant gets past the jabs.
However, if they're right, they also say they can fix that - but I suppose that means yet another round of vaccinations.
Still - all speculation at the moment so no need to panic buy toilet rolls and instant noodles just yet.

The government gives provincial figures based as a percentage of total provincial adult population with cedulas showing they live permanently in that province. But then they add to those provincial adults fully vaccinated, the 12 to 17 year olds and workers in hotels who come from other provinces. So the % figure is totally distorted and was well over 100% in late summer to prove tge point. Go to Higuey and the rate is for sure lower and probably near the national average of a few points over 50% as Our World in Data. Stay in the hotels and you are with 100% vaccinated staff because their vaccination is mandated and good for tourism.

DR still seems to be doing OK compared to Europe with has much higher national vaccination rates but Delta is appparently not dominant here with Gamma, Lambda and Mue also circulating. Maybe genes, sun outdoor living and diet have an effect here because social distancing and mask use are not common.

And at least we are a long way from where this new apparently worse variant is taking over.

Very well stated Fred,,,The one caveat being, with all due respect, is that "We start over"....Preliminary science is of the opinion that efficacy may not be the 90 %+ (+/-), but that good protection is still there...Again, this pertains to people WITHOUT underlying health issues...BUT, as the virus mutates and adjusts, so do the Scientists from Britain, Germany and the U.S. !!!

Lots of news stories are being written about Omicron and lots of chatter on social media. In DR it is headline news already.

But the only real sibstantive information we have on this variant is that it is very new - a week since it was identified properly - and it is spreading globally fast with cases popping up everywhere. Also in South Africa where a surge in cases was investigated and Omicron was discovered, it already is taking over from Delta.

There simply is insufficient data in such a short time to suggest it is more or less serious or lethal or evade vaccines and South Africans have every reason to downplay this virus in view of the bans on travel it is getting.

But a sign that the medial experts are worried is that all the vaccine makers are starting the process of developing a specific vaccine for Omicron.

We should understand more in a couple of weeks.

It shouldn't affect DR for some weeks, so the festivities here are not on hold - yet.

Perhaps the worst reality of Omicron is that this pandemic is far from over and with low vaccination rates in most of the undeveloped world there is going to be more opportunities for more mutations which will impact the world in the future. And even worse it shows the world is not ready for another new pandemic.

Until people get vaccinated this will be a recurring worldwide problem.

The unsubstantiated rumor and info spreading is wild!   

We all need to sit back and wait while the people who actually understand investigate. 

Yes it's concerning.
No it's not confirmed here as of yet.
We don't know how fast it spreads.
We don't know how sick it makes people.
We don't yet know how serious the changes are in this variant.

It is in Canada already apparently according to an article in Diario Libre this morning so the odds of it being in USA and here soon are high. Sooner perhaps than one would have thought.

I do think there is insufficient genomic sequencing of samples and it is a credit to South Africa that they are one of the countries that tests more than most and have found this variant of concern. But are now being penalized for doing so.

I  also saw this reported on two big american networks yesterday,   cases in Canada, Italy,  Hong King,  Netherlands,  Israel etc.

Community transmission in Scotland too. This variant has travelled far undetected. If it rapidly transmits and superceeds Delta as in South Africa, in the colder climates of the northern hemisphere and in older populations (South Africa has a young population) this might impact Christmas and New Year in a big way.

Fourth wave of Covid was caused by the spread of Delta variant, says Public Health

https://eldia.com.do/cuarta-ola-de-covi … d-publica/

The Ministry of Public Health reported that the fourth wave of infections by Covid-19 occurred due to the spread of the Delta variant in the Dominican territory.

This was reported by the director of Epidemiology, Ronald Skewes, based on the results of 137 samples taken from October 7 to 20 and sent to the Fiocruz Institute in Brazil, 126 were of concern and of those 125 were positive for the Delta variant.

Contrary to what has happened in other countries, the outbreak led by this highly contagious variant did not cause great damage, as it turned out to be the one with the least mortality, occupation and contagion, despite not having a curfew.

All good news that DR has apprently weathered the Delta wave.

Perhaps this vindictes the use of Sinovac in large part as was demonstrated by its success in Chile and the booster shots. This vaccine has certainly done no harm to DR. And perhaps the fact that the antibody count is not so important with a whole virus vaccine which also uses T and  B cells for defence also. It may be effective against Omicron too wheras the mRNA vaccines that target the spike with antibodies may be evaded more by the many spike mutations.

Is it still safe to come over to Las Terrenas this January?

Safe depends on you but returning from Punta Cana area it was good to see businesses staying open later, busier, and new places opening!

Yes..."Speculation" is an ominous word...Just ask the markets!!!...Lets all take a deep breath...AGAIN, full-vax & no underlying conditions= Don't sweat...Live life and enjoy...What happens, happens...

A virus can mutate, in separate geographical locations, without 'transmission'....It is the nature of a virus. It changes to survive, just like every living thing on earth !

And THAT is the issue!  It mutates to survive and which mutation evades our vaccines? Becomes more deadly?  This is why everyone who can, needs to be vaccinated. This is why rich countries need to help the less able countries!

planner wrote:

And THAT is the issue!  It mutates to survive and which mutation evades our vaccines? Becomes more deadly?  This is why everyone who can, needs to be vaccinated. This is why rich countries need to help the less able countries!

I make a pretty terrible socialist but this is one of those occasions where giving something away for free to those in need is a very good idea.
Anything else is self-defeating as the virus, or a mutation of it, will find its way right back to you.

Actually, the same goes for food.
Western countries throw enough away to feed the world's poor, and get obese whilst they do it. Trouble is, a hungry man will do things a man with food in his and his family's stomach will not.
There goes the asylum problem and a load of local wars that end up costing a lot more than feeding the starving (and not bombing them) would cost.

That is not being a "socialist"  but that is a whole other discussion for another thread.

WE need to stop this NOW,  Whatever that takes is what needs to happen!

so we are a fully vaccinated Canadian couple so is it ok to come over to Las Terrenas this January?  i know it's not an easy answer but from what is the Number of cases we can tell.
the thing is what restriction Canada can add when coming back

It will be a long time before DR knows if Omicron is here. It took many weeks before they  could confirm the presence of Delta. But based upon how quickly and widespread Omicron is spreading and being reported it will arrive here soon. A spike in cases will probably announce it's arrival.

The news coming from South Africa is not good.

Emerging picture from South Africa suggests Omicron variant could be real cause for concern

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-eme … n-12484064

It has reached India and other African countries now too as well as USA. It is probably going to push the world economy backwards again and this was avoidable.

I agree with DRVisitor's statement 'safe depends on you' in that being fully vaccinated, using a mask in indoor settings, social distancing and hand sanitization are the way to keep one safe. The problem is that all of these simple actions are dificult to some and too often ignored allowing transmission amongst others and the consequential effects whilst you do the right thing.

Simply said, the virus needs respect and if one doesn't respect it and take measures to control it, it will adapt and come back again in different forms over and over again. Go back and look at Jay's very early post predicting repeated waves. We are nowhere near controlling this virus but are in a better place than a year ago with vaccines and drugs. Society just needs to make use of these weapons in the fight against the virus universally and imo using whatever madates it takes. That discussion has started in the EU. Maybe drastic but it was the way to rid the world of polio and smallpox, and this virus is doing much more damage economically and socially than either of those viruses did even though they affected the persons health more in most cases.

Legislators recommend that the Government strengthen measures at airports due to the new COVID-19 variant

https://www.diariolibre.com/actualidad/ … EE30254264

Won't happen at this time.

Vaccination mandates are coming whether one likes it or not and DR has already started.

There are a few countries that require everybody to be vaccinated and Austria is the latest with South Africa on the brink too, but there is a growing list of countries demanding that certain people or people accessing public places be vaccinated. DR is in that list. Germany is the latest European country just now to tighten controls for the unvaccinated.

Omicron will accelerate vaccination mandates worldwide. My guess is that in a year they may be much more common and if countries do not join up travel will become more difficult. The economic toll of not managing this virus better will be the driving force because everybody wants some stability and normality again and you can't hide from covid19 and it's effects if unchecked.

DR relies on tourism so will sign up fully when there is greater consensus.

Now that the DR is providing digital vaccine certificates with QR codes I wonder if they can start mandating people show this code when traveling or locally for public/private spaces?

For traveling we have the e-ticket as an example, I just had to help my parents fill it out and it generates a QR codes that is shown at the airport. Might be a model for a verification process here as well. Also reminds me of the Revisame app, where you can scan the QR codes of alcoholic drinks to verify its authenticity, it shows that the DR is capable of implementing this type of technology to solve immediate pressing issues.

Hello Freeperson,
My wife and I are also a fully vaccinated Canadian couple and have been here in LT since the first of November. We find it quite safe so far and there does not appear to be much Covid anxiety.
The only mask requirements are in grocery stores and banks. Not much sign of mask wearing anywhere else. We personally wear a mask when shopping in the calmados or taking a taxi etc..
We only eat or have cocktails in outdoor settings and are doing a lot more take out deliveries from local restaurants. Our concern is also what changes Canada may enforce before we return home.

Bad news from a new South African study for those that are relying on a past infection to provide immunity from Omicron.

Omicron has 'substantial' ability to evade immunity from previous coronavirus infection
Researchers at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) warn their finding has important public health implications.

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-omi … n-12484840

lennoxnev wrote:

Bad news from a new South African study for those that are relying on a past infection to provide immunity from Omicron.

I really hope that's wrong but all the other scentific opinion on the subject is saying roughly the same.

As the effect of Omicron begins to get confirmed by real world situations it is quite possible the world will be facing a very serious situation that requires drastic measures as we go backwards a year.

I am suprised that mask use, social distancing and hand sanitation is not being enforced rather than travel bans. We know this worked prior to vaccines. For sure vaccination must continue with determination with variant specific boosters used as soon as available.

So far opinion seems to be Omicron spreads quickly but symptoms are generally mild. However, that's first reports, not time weathered observations.

https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-a … on-variant

Far too early to assume that based upon one doctors observation of young patients. Hospitalizatiion and deaths lags the cases by weeks and how this plays out in South Africa with a young population going into their summer gives us few clues as to how this variant will affect older western populations in winter and indoors.

There is much to discover still but it looks like it travels quickly and easily. I fear for the African continent with this variant which could spread rapidly there as Delta did in India. Now that would be bad for raw materials needed for all types of manufacturing. More inflation and supply chain issues?

https://www.statista.com/statistics/122 … countries/

Another point is South Africa appears to have low vaccination rates, that might well be a big factor in the quick spread.

New Yale Study



Dr. Jorge Marte, the medical director of the Cedimat hospital center in Santo Domingo, says a new University of Yale study (Heterovac) confirms what the Covid-19 epidemiological bulletin numbers are showing. Two Sinovac (CoronaVac) Covid-19 vaccines plus one Pfizer booster shot turned out to be the winning combination to prevent spread of Covid. Dr. Marte is also an advisor to the President on Covid-19 matters.

In July 2021, the Dominican Republic became the first country to strongly recommend Pfizer booster shots to the general population. Dr. Marte says the two Sinovac and one Pfizer combination is more effective than two Pfizer vaccines. “We are better protected than those who got the two Pfizers,” said Dr. Marte. Dr. Marte was incidental to convincing the Abinader Health Cabinet to go ahead with the booster shot, despite the outspoken World Health Organization recommendation against this. Dr. Marte advocated for the booster because Cedimat was admitting a significant number of persons with two Sinovac vaccines to the intensive care unit.

When Pfizer and AstraZeneca failed to deliver vaccines on time, the Dominican Republic bought these from China that delivered sufficient vaccines for practically all Dominicans. When Pfizer made the vaccines available, these were first used to vaccinate children and then for the boosters. Today, there is an abundant stock of vaccines and people can practically choose the vaccine.

The University of Yale Public Health School researchers participated with Dominican physicians in the booster study that has showed the efficiency of the Dominican combination of vaccines. Dr. Marte points out that contrary to what has occurred in the United States and Europe, the fourth wave was mild because of the extensive vaccination and the booster. Most Dominicans have the two Sinovac shots and increasingly more people are getting the Pfizer booster. Dr. Marte says that the Pfizer booster elevates immunity up to 40 times some 14 days after the booster shot is administered.

The study showed that the high immune levels decline after 28 days, but 70 days after the third dose, the research showed that the immune level continued to be 14 times more elevated than before the third dose.

The Pfizer booster shot was applied upon demand in the Dominican Republic as a booster shot as of July 2021 to those who had received two doses of Sinovac or AstraZeneca vaccine. The medical authorities conclude the decision reduced the impact of the third and fourth waves of Covid-19 spread. The fourth wave saw a spread of the more aggressive Delta variant.

The Health Cabinet authorized the applying of the booster Pfizer shot (third vaccine) despite recommendations of the World Health Organization that there was not yet scientific evidence for the third vaccine application.

Dr. Jorge Marte does not discard a fourth vaccine, but says the timing for the recommendation has not yet been decided.

1,600 persons participated in the University of Yale study. None of the participants suffered adverse reactions of consideration.

In presenting the findings of the study last week, Dr. Eddy Alberto Perez Then, the Covid-19 specialist in the Health Cabinet said: “The results presented are unique in the world. The Dominican population that has two doses of Sinovac and a third from Pfizer is much better protected than any population worldwide that only has two doses.”

Sten H. Vermund, dean of Yale School of Public Health and professor of Pediatrics at the School of Medicine of the University of Yale concluded that protection is high with the two doses of Sinovac, but with the Pfizer booster it is fiercely high.” Dr. Sten Vermund, the Anna M.R. Lauder Professor of Public Health at Yale is also an infectious disease epidemiologist focused on diseases of low and middle income countries.

He said the findings of the Sinovac-Pfizer study show the Dominican Health Cabinet was correct in its decision to make the booster shot widely available for all the persons who had received the Sinovac and AstraZeneca first two doses.

In the Dominican Republic, several persons decided to get the two Pfizer vaccines once this was available in July 2021. Likewise, minors have been inoculated here primarily with the Pfizer shots. During the press conference to announce the study findings, the medics were asked if the persons who have two Pfizers should get a Sinovac shot or another Pfizer shot. Dr. Jorge Marte says another study would have to be carried out to get the answer for that.

Meanwhile, as of the #625 Covid-19 Epidemiological Report, Covid-19 active cases are down to levels of the start of the pandemic, despite the entry of the Delta variant.

It is yet to be seen how the Dominican population fares with the expected entry of the Omicron variant.

Omicron is looking like a super fast spreading mutation.

It is worth following closely what has happened in South Africa where this variant was first identified on 24th November - yes 13 days ago - to get an idea how it will afffect the rest of the world.

South Africa Hospitals Jammed with Omicron Patients

https://www.voanews.com/a/south-africa- … 40912.html

.......In the past week, cases have reached more than 16,000, up dramatically from 2,300 last Monday, according to South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases.

The NICD says the increase in cases in such a short period of time is “unprecedented” in the trajectory of the pandemic, now in its fourth phase in the country.

“Unfortunately, we’re seeing a more than doubling of hospital admissions each day,” said Ian Sanne, an infectious diseases specialist who serves on South Africa’s COVID-19 presidential advisory committee.

Sanne is advising hospitals to prepare for “significant surges” of patients in the coming weeks and months, and to make sure they have plenty of oxygen...........

Unvaccinated people are particularly susceptible to omicron, as are individuals who have not been exposed to COVID-19 before, disease specialist Sanne said.

“At this time, we think about 75% to 80% of hospitalizations are unvaccinated," he said. "It could be as large as 40% of the population that has not yet either been vaccinated or had a previous infection with coronavirus up until now,” he noted.

In other stories from South Africa it appears that omicron is affecting the younger age group much more with very young children being hospitalized.

The spread around the world is so rapid that it will be here in DR soon and the best bet remains to get fully vaccinated with booster to apparenly reduce the symptoms and avoid hosptalization. This variant could overwhelm medical treatment in many countries if what is happening in South Africa is repeated elsewhere.

Thanks for the update!

ease be safe friends!
god bless you all

The reality is we are probably as safe here as anywhere. At least we can meet outdoors  more often than indoors.

Good luck if you get sick and have no insurance though!

on the insurance topic, was that booked already or are there more options to get insurance later?
thanks

Gradually as more information is given it does look like this could be a major world wide event.

There are some interesting points given in this article. The one that caught my attention was that T cell immunity may be important and this is an important component of deactivated virus vaccines. It will be interesting to see how Sinovac performs with this variant. And the virus escape in Israel from triple vaccinated Pfizer patients.

South Africa uses mainly Pfizer and J & J vaccines  and is building a plant to manufacture Sinovac vaccine which was approved in July.

Omicron looks set to cause a huge wave of covid-19 around the world

https://www.newscientist.com/article/23 … the-world/

There is growing evidence that the new omicron variant of the coronavirus is capable of spreading rapidly in populations with immunity against other coronavirus variants. It has already reached many countries and appears poised to cause a huge wave of infections around the world.

The big unknown is whether omicron is more or less likely to cause severe disease and deaths. Aris Katzourakis at the University of Oxford says he very much doubts the variant’s mutations will result in decreased severity, but that it is too early to tell.

“We are all worried,” says Katzourakis. “We are waiting with bated breath.”

In South Africa, where the variant was first detected, cases are rising even faster than during previous waves, with case numbers doubling every three to four days.

The rapid spread in South Africa doesn’t necessarily reflect what will happen elsewhere. The beta variant that was first spotted in South Africa and caused its second wave didn’t result in similar spikes in cases in other nations. However, there are signs that omicron is already taking off in different countries too.

For instance, the UK is seeing a rapid rise in so-called S-gene dropouts in PCR covid-19 tests, a phenomenon that happens when a variant has certain mutations in the gene for its spike protein. This is likely to be due to omicron. Denmark, which does a lot of sequencing, has already detected nearly 200 cases of covid-19 caused by this variant.

The main reason omicron is spreading so fast appears to be that it is excellent at evading prior immunity. Researchers in South Africa have found that the risk of reinfection is much higher with omicron. This suggests that the risk of vaccinated people getting infected is also much greater than it is with delta. Initial case reports back this up. For instance, of 11 omicron cases in Israel so far, six are in people who had had three doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

Besides potentially being able to evade immunity, omicron might also be inherently even more transmissible than delta. This remains uncertain, but there are already three reports of superspreading events where an extraordinarily high proportion of people were infected at parties in Norway, Denmark and the UK.

The good news is that the expectation is that people infected despite vaccination or prior infection will still be less likely to become severely ill than those with no prior immunity, as with delta. This is because while omicron may be able to evade antibodies, it is much harder for it to escape immune cells called T-cells that help clear viral infections. We also have much better treatments now, though they are mainly available in high-income countries.

Because of the lag between people getting infected, becoming seriously ill and recovering or dying, it could be many weeks still before it becomes clear just how well vaccination or prior infection will protect against severe disease, and how severe omicron will be in those with no prior immunity.

During a press conference on 3 December, Waasila Jassat at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa said the country has already seen a sharp increase in hospitalisations in all age groups. Notably, children under 5 were the second biggest group after people aged over 60.

We will have to wait to see how those being hospitalised fare. One hospital in South Africa said that fewer covid-19 patients than normal were requiring oxygen as of 2 December, but cautioned that it is too early to draw conclusions.

Even if a smaller proportion of those infected with omicron become severely ill than was the case with previous variants, if it infects huge numbers of people, hospitals could still be overwhelmed.

“I’m hoping that prior immunity protects against severe outcomes, but I’m very concerned about the size of the epidemic wave in the US and across the world,” tweeted Trevor Bedford at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

Oscarsahony Sanchez wrote:

on the insurance topic, was that booked already or are there more options to get insurance later?
thanks

Uninsured people pay for covid treatment. You can't get insurance if you are sick. 

Any other insurance question please go to the insurance threads.