“It’s here [and] we’ve seen it start to spread like wildfire,” Chief Medical Officer, Dr Aisha Andrewin, OBE, reported this week.
With the Christmas Season just ended and the Tourism Season in full swing, it comes as no surprise that the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the COVID-19 SARS 2 virus has “landed and continues to spread” on Paradise Island – Anguilla. This news was reported at the Government’s Press Conference on Monday, 10th January.
Speaking at the press conference, Dr. Aisha Andrewin noted: “Not surprisingly, and in a timely manner, we have confirmed that there is Omicron [on Anguilla]. During the last two weeks in December, there was an uptick in visitors and people coming back. A lot more persons were ill on arrival [to Anguilla]. When we sent off the test samples, on January 3rd, 9 were positive – 4 for Omicron and 5 for Delta.”
The Omicron virus is the dominant COVID-19 variant globally. As Omicron cases continue to increase exponentially world-wide, so do concerns regarding the virus’ impacts – the potential to overwhelm healthcare systems, and the increase in hospitalisation of pediatric cases.
Despite the concerns, Omicron is being observed as “a glimmer of hope”, Dr. Andrewin noted. She explained that although the virus has a very high infectivity rate – similar to that of measles – it seems to result in mild disease, appears to be a post-pandemic variant, and can become an endemic meaning, the virus may remain present and active, although, not severe.
Dr. Andrewin cautioned Anguillians that they should “remain hopeful, but far from complacent. Let us keep doing what we have been doing to secure as much protection as possible – get vaccinated and adhere to the public health measures and protocols.”
She observed that although the Caribbean has seen big surges and increases in the number of Omicron cases, it has not seen a concomitant increase in severity and in hospitalisations and deaths caused by the variant. She also noted that: “Due to the huge increase in numbers, we now have to start looking at a different metric to reassess severity. [We have to] get over the numbers and look at severity and death as a better illustration as to how we are doing.”
Statistics for Anguilla as of January 10:
Total confirmed cases: 1,942
Active cases: 147
Deaths: 6
Vaccination coverage: 60-61%
