COVID-19

The DR government should take note!

Avoid cruise travel as Omicron cases surge, says U.S. CDC

https://www.reuters.com/business/health … 021-12-30/

Dec 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said people should avoid traveling on cruise ships regardless of their vaccination status, as daily COVID-19 cases in the country climb to record highs due to the fast-spreading Omicron variant.

The move delivers another blow to the cruise industry that had just started returning to the seas in June after a months-long suspension of voyages caused by the pandemic.

The CDC on Thursday raised its COVID-19 travel health notice level for cruise ships to its highest warning level, citing reports of COVID-19 outbreaks on cruises.

The health agency has investigated and still probing into COVID-19 cases on more than 90 ships. It starts scrutiny if 0.10% or more passengers on guest voyages test positive for COVID-19.

I fear that the next casualty will be large AI hotels. It is a disaster waiting to happen even though here in DR many have open air dining facilities and a lot of the activity is outdoors. The problem is the number of occupants will be at it's maximum over the next several weeks and Omicron is so transmitable and evades vaccines. With no testing on arrival in DR and no vaccination mandate there will be large breakouts of infections as people party on their vacations and lose self control with the free drinks.

I don't think the DR government has planned fully for Omicron arriving alongside Delta so quickly and fiercely. The hotel health protocols needed updating yesterday for this variant imo.

I don't think ANYBODY planned for the double whammy that exists today....

Stay home......

Only good news is the All-Ins don't step out much .... the staff could be a problem
But the visitors themselves - not so much - IMO

The visitors are the far greater problem imo.

It will be a mix of all nationalities with a decent percentage of Dominicans too.

No real airport health checking on arrival not vaccine requirement.

No requirement to be vaccinated for visitors but all workers on the East Coast apparently needed three shots a few months back along with suppliers.

Having just been to an AI, I think the current checks are quite lax and probably too weak for what is arriving now - temperature checks intermitantly and masks and gloves whilst at the buffet are about the lot.

We are in the age of 3 shots really being needed to avoid infection for some, and all other vaccination status and prior infection is ineffective against transmission and viral effects. And one infected person will transmit to perhaps ten others or more if in close proximity (yes R =10 is being reported for Omicron) and they will see symptoms in 2 to 3 days.

And what does the hotel do if they get a bunch of infected tourists? Isolate them to their rooms until they are virus free and then they fly home? Not much of a vacation and room to grumble to the press about treatment.

Wel, We'll see

here's another problem - probably the 1st of many

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/ … -1.6300717

Ooops- more

https://www.aol.com/jetblue-proactively … 55786.html

1510 cases reported yesterday with day positivity at 30.28%. Hospitalizations climbing quickly but still low. It is everywhere and the north of the country seems particularly bad with a record daily case total in Puerto Plata province (183) and Santiago province(? 251) too with high number in all surrounding provinces.

Rememeber we are looking back at a day or more with these numbers so it will already be worse.

The President has called for prudence in celebrations tonight and that may well be in order for most.

2,026 new cases reported for yesterday and day positivity of 37.59%.

2,856 cases reported in today's bulletin with a day positivity of 44.23%.

Hospitalizations are flat and there is still plenty of capacity.

Most tests are taking place in the capital with lots of queues for tests and cases, and Santiago too but also on the East Coast where there was a spike in cases reported today.

We are still looking at the end of the last year in terms of when these people got infected so more to come with active cases now at 11k.

# of tests are up b/c the unvaxed need a neg test to enter public bldgs/banks/etc

Thanks for the update lennoxnev. I have to report that my family and I have been infected, hit my wife hard for 3 days with dry cough/throat and fatigue, then jumped onto me with the same for 2 days. Still dealing with some fatigue from time to time, but no issues breathing and no fever. We are both vaccinated with 2 shots.

I think if we would have had the booster it could have been milder, but was planning on getting the booster when I vaccinated my son in March. My son who is 10 got a fever and sore throat for 1 day and got over it. Probably would have had 0 symptoms had he been vaxxed.

All my neighbors also had some sort of sickness over the past couple of weeks, so this things is spreading like wild fire, not just in the cities.

Is it possible that a silver lining of this large infection rate is that we all develop some form of immunity where we can start stamping this virus out? We may actually reach that mythical heard immunity and move on with this being endemic vs pandemic. Here's to hoping.

Happy 2022 everyone, stay safe.

Vaccination and boosters is certainly helping a lot especially in countries with an older population. Friends and family in the UK atest to this.

The positive for DR is still low levels of hospitalization but these are delayed indicators so let's hope they stay low with this reportedly weaker virus.

The President said this morning no new measures are planned and they will use military medical staff to support hospitals where staff shortages arise.

No indications of infections in my family circle who are typically triple vaccinated other than sniffles for the colder campo nights. But the long weekend has been day long teteos for some until the wee hours.

I have many staff out with covid and entire families infected. 

A friend who has stayed in isolation for last 7 days tested positive today - he was set to fly out tomorrow.  Not now.

Many many of these are unreported.  Don't let the numbers fool you. Most can't afford testing and it's not free in most cases!

3,700 new cases reported in todays Bulletin with a day postivity of 46.48% and active cases up to 14,584. There was a jump in hospitalizations especially ICU occupancy but still quite low overall.


Apparently the hospitals have been sending people home when they test positive with symptoms and with medication rather than admitting them into dedicated covid beds.

5,201 new cases reported in todays bulletin with a day positivity of 43.27% and active cases up to 19,626.

Clinics, hospitals and testing stations saturated with patients according to reports.

Wow.  just wow.

Here is the spread of cases:

About 200 doctors are infected with COVID-19; CMD is alarmed

https://www.diariolibre.com/actualidad/ … os/1567586

.........According to the doctor's statements, hundreds of doctors , nurses and bioanalysts have been infected with coronavirus, a situation that, if this continues, "will lead to the collapse of the medical care system." ..........

Dec 19 272    Dec 26   339    Jan 02  2026
Dec 20 162    Dec 27   478    Jan 03  2856
Dec 21 139    Dec 28   655    Jan 04  3700
Dec 22 241    Dec 29   911    Jan 05  5201
Dec 23 422    Dec 30   998
Dec 24 506    Dec 31  1510
Dec 25 696    Jan 01  1149

Reports are that Omicron doubles every ~2.5 day,  so three times a week

In one week, it can start at 2,000....  then 4,000  then 8,000    then 16,000 by the end of the week.

It (most likely) will only slow down when it starts to run out of new people to infect.

The limit will be number of daily first time tests.

There is a limit to how many DR can do considering testers are getting infected too and a test station in SD was closed yesterday as a result.

Fact is Omicron is everywhere now and the dominant strain of covid in DR. I would imagine there are many more actual cases now and with a population of 10.7m of which  1.4m are boosted, there remains a big pool to still get infected. And the coming long weekend of Reyes will add fuel to the spread. And then an even longer long weekend for Dia de la Altagracia and Duarte from 21 to 24 January followed by Independence Day on 27th. January looks like a continuous spreading month but I still hope it can peak.

Looks like will go down soon, even doing 19,200 test the % of positive cases dropped 3%.

There was actually 12k first time tests yesterday and just under 8k the day before and would have included returning tourists and unvaccinated employees requiring PCR tests for work.

A positivity of over 40% is quite remarkable, along with the exponential growth of positivity and cases shows this wave is still growing rapidly.

I admire your optimism Riva and hope you are right, but......

We are only a few days in and in South Africa and the UK- which still has not seen a peak - the cases have grown for 5 and 6 weeks respectively. On that basis there could be a good month to run in DR with Omicron and by then most of the 10.7m people here will have been touched by the virus in some way.

Friends and family in the UK tell me that cases are very close to home everywhere and only the boosted seem to be evading infection so far. They just had another sub 200k cases today nearly 6 weeks in and they have many more vaccinated and boosted than DR!

Not worth getting paranoid about this apparently weaker variant if you are vaccinated but I am told it can still be quite rough for a few days with the two shots.

Hello All,

I have just read that the government now approved a resolution that a PCR test is required to enter the DR but it doesn't say if it has to be taken 24 or 32 hours before. Has anyone gotten any solid info about the timeline?

Elgin7144 wrote:

Hello All,

I have just read that the government now approved a resolution that a PCR test is required to enter the DR but it doesn't say if it has to be taken 24 or 32 hours before. Has anyone gotten any solid info about the timeline?

Not true.

Read the thread ' Wht is required to enter DR'.

Public Health reports almost 6,000 new cases of covid in 24 hours

https://noticiassin.com/pais/salud-publ … as-1214140

Cases up, positivity down to just under 36%, active cases up at 29k and all hospitalizations down......interestingly after it was stated that the latest figures included other ailments.

In person schooling as confirmed this morning is to start on Monday despite reservations by many.

CMD is saying there is a crisis with medical staff bing sick, and staff absences are reported widely but this wave is mild and under control according to the government.

A cruise ship has just docked in Puerto Plata with about 150 infected people on board.

The new reality is we have to live with Omicron in DR but the government also says you must social distance and use masks and get vaccinated! But two dose vaccination remains at just over 52% of total population and 1.5m have boosters.

No problems here in the campo so all good for us. Time to go pick the oranges, star fruit and ginola and make juices to freeze.

They have managed to increse the testing numbers especially PCR tests.
Conflicting information on hospitalizations with full hospitals and medical centres being reported in the media today in Santiago and Mao yet low ocupancy in this bulletin. POP has the highest per capita cases right now based upon todays numbers and population.

We got confirmed this morning....  We have CoViD.

We are a retired couple. Well rested and fit. Not over weight. No “underlying” ailments.
We had our 3rd shot,  three weeks ago.
We have been taking lots of Vit''s for over a year.
We are very conscious about were we go, and always wear a mask.

Nonetheless. . .  we got it

So. . .   if you want to avoid getting Omicron. . .  you need to up your game.
What ever you got away with for the last 6 months  is not going to be enough to avoid Omicron.

It has been 4 days of CoViD.  What does “mild” mean for us?
Sore throat (hurts to swallow)
Nasal congestion
Achy joints
(and the big one) fatigue
My fever has been  37.3-7C  Wife's  38.3-8C

My advice.....
Stock up on ready to eat food   or    arrange to order food.
By the time you cook a simple meal....  you will be too tired to eat it.

Sorry to hear you got it!    I know dozens of people with it right now and it's a mixed bag but most say it feels like a bad flu.  A few with almost no symptoms and a few very very sick - none with underlying issues.

“They have managed to increase testing”…. Lots of free test clinics, at least here in Pta Cana.  Long lines though.

“Time to make juices to freeze”…. You’re not allowed to boast and not offer!  Where can we go pick up a bag of chinolas from your campo, bud? 

Yes they hit 17,650 first time tests yesterday but the day positivity is still mid thirties.

The chinola vines are being replaced so not the usual excess of fruit daily. It is such an easy fruit to grow and crops heavily once established throughout the year. Once we get back on stream with heavy fruiting you are more than welcome to come and pick a bagfull - it is a pain extracting the pulp which then needs blending, sieving and adding sugar to make drinkable juice and it stains!. When it crops so much, it becomes a daily chore albeit gallons of chinola pulp can be sold on. The star fruit - carambola -has started coming on good this year as the ten trees I planted over the past two years start to fruit. But you need a juicer to extract that juice and it delivers in smaller quantities. It will be a couple more years before I get much citrus fruit other than from the existing 3 trees on our 29 tareas.

Plenty of vitamin C is good to keep ones immune system charged and the locals here too eat plenty of fruit and are not yet suffering with the covid virus spreading elsewhere. Touch wood.

The last 3 days have been flat at 6,000 or so.....and 5,000 for the 2 before that

Not such a rapid increase as seen elsewhere

Good news perhaps

The positivity is still mid thirties which is very high and the number of cases depends on totals of first time tests multipled by day positivity.

Even if DR was under reporting cases by ten fold, the sum total of Omicron cases would still be under 500k out of a population of 10.7 million. Extend that to under reporting by 100 times and you still get less than half the population infected so there is probably plenty of scope to continue spreading for a long time.

You need that day positivity to drop to under 10% for several days to start relaxing and also the total active to drop to 5k or less from the current 33k.

Look at it this way we started with one case of omicron and that person passed it on to 5 or more and so on but you have 10.7 million potential recipients assuming vaccine/previous infection evasion and so far the reported cases since just before Xmas when the first cases were discovered do not add up to 50k. That is a lot of hosts still to reach and it could take several more weeks for sure.

I would suggest we are in the beginning phase but being helped moving along by festive aglomerations with 4 more public holidays to come this month..

Yes I agree we are not close to peaking.  Many US states are well ahead of us and still have not peaked. And more holidays coming, school starting back on Tuesday as well

Pfizer CEO: “Two doses of the vaccine offers very limited protection, if any. 3 doses with a booster offer reasonable protection against hospitalization and deaths. Less protection against infection.”


I just returned a week ago and tested negative but I definitely had Covid. Felt like flu for me.

I had someone ask me if you test positive at hotel what do they do now? Does government pay for your stay, quarantine some where or?

That is between them and the hotel  I believe. The govt does not pay for this anymore

and if you tested negative honey  you may have had the flu, feels very very similar. I had it as well. Tested negative  twice!  It was the flu.

On cue tourist body answer and posted today.........

Asonahores: tourists with Covid assume costs of staying in hotels

https://www.arecoa.com/hoteles/2022/01/ … n-hoteles/

Tourists who for health reasons have had to stay in isolated rooms in hotel facilities bear their expenses while they are in this situation, since the travel insurance for Covid-19 that the Dominican Government covered expired on July 31. from 2021.

The information was offered separately by the president of the Association of Hotels and Tourism ( Asonahores ), Rafael Blanco Tejera and by Seguros Banreservas .

Blanco Tejera explained that the protocols, structured and implemented from the beginning of the opening of the tourism sector, contemplate that the hotels have rooms to isolate any tourist infected with Covid-19 and that the hotel offers them a monitoring of their state of health through allied clinics, according to Listín Diario.

"This cost is borne by the tourist himself, since the Covid-19 insurance program offered by the Government, through Seguros Reservations, has already concluded, however, we have had no incidents for this reason," said the representative of the hotel sector .

It is recalled that the coverage attracted thousands of visitors to the Dominican Republic , whose model was copied by other countries.

Going up.

Thanks Lennox,  great info

But , importantly, no pressure on the hospitals yet..... very good news !!