The third wave of COVID-19 had not been devastating as expected: Dr George

The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Barbados, Dr Kenneth George, has delivered the welcome news today, by saying that the third wave of COVID-19 had not been devastating as expected.

The third wave of COVID-19 had not been devastating as expected: Dr George

The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Barbados, Dr Kenneth George, has delivered the welcome news today, by saying that the third wave of COVID-19 had not been devastating as expected.

While addressing the media, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Anton Best made an explanation that the recent research conducted by the University of West Indies have drawn that in a worst-case scenario, Barbados could witness a wave that could witness a wave that could last up to six to seven weeks with as many as 3500 cases per day and a total of 91,000 infections during that period.

He noted that a best-case scenario would see a shorter wave lasting just over four weeks with a maximum of 1500 cases per day and 23,000 cases in total.

Dr Best has added that the high number of ill-person could possibly lead to a scenario where as many as 700 people were hospitalized. Till date, the highest number of COVID-19 positive cases for a single day in Barbados is 923, which was recorded on January 25.

He further mentioned that the Ministry of Health & Wellness continued to encourage persons to receive their booster shots as they had been proven to provide extra protection, especially against the Omicron variant.

“It’s a good thing that many persons haven’t had to be hospitalized. We believe that the course of illness is not as severe as the Delta, and I think we will get through this. As I have assured people that this is our third wave and we will always stand firm against all the previous waves, and I expect that we will get through this wave too.”

Dr George further added that, “There has been severe community spread we certainly continue to examine the data daily and we believe that we are in our fifth to the sixth week of the Omicron outbreak and the prediction of thousands of people have not come through, and that is comforting. But at the same time, I think the message remains the same.”