In her report at the weekly Government press briefing on Monday, August 23rd, the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Aisha Andrewin, made it known that lately there were discoveries of clusters of Covid-19 infections: “” What we are seeing overwhelmingly,” she said, “ is a lot of Covid clusters. But this is much better than many dispersed cases popping up all over community.”
The CMO was relaying information related to the new cases of Covid that are currently found in Anguilla. Up to that date, there were a total of 174 cases on the island since the beginning of the pandemic, and there were 28 active cases. She acknowledged that August was quite a busy month, when 54 cases were confirmed. “There were 41 cases of transmission locally with 26 being males and 15 were females,” she confirmed.
The CMO noted that as regards to the clusters, many of them related to the workplace and households environments. Extending from these were several contacts. The clusters identified came from the food and beverage department of a particular resort, a bar, and a hair salon. The cases found in these areas accounted for 30 out of the 41 local cases.
“In deciding whether we should take harder, imposing measures for further control or not,” Dr. Andrewin said, “we feel comfortable at this point, so there is no need to take drastic measures like a lockdown.” She said that the most positive cases detected in one day for the month were 6, and that those were a far cry from what was happening with the big cluster during the lockdown in April when many persons were not vaccinated. She observed that, back then, they had experienced double digit positives upon testing.
She went on to say: “Another pattern that has emerged in addition to the clusters, and linked cases, is the fact that in several instances sick persons were going out in the work environment. We must impress upon the public not to report to work if you have any symptoms. If you feel unwell, with maybe a headache, runny nose, itchy throat, and flu-like symptoms, come in for a test. Let us screen you and let us clear you.”
The CMO shared that since August 8th, when the Health Authority began to notice the local transmission, they have screened some 460 persons. “ This is a testament to the limited amount of transmission thus far,” she said, “and we are really heartened by this.”
