COVID-19 positivity rate increases by 20% in Barbados

The COVID-19 positivity rate in the Caribbean island of Barbados is continuously increasing, according to the Public health experts of the state. The Senior Public Health Officer Dr Arthur Phillips noted that in the last few days, the number of positive cases from the – total number of tests had increased rapidly to more than 1,500 cases per 100,000 population which is around 20 per cent.

The international public health agencies consider this much high rate as a “pandemic gone out of control”.  

This COVID-19 positivity rate is exactly at the point which the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – (CDC) would consider a Level 4 risk. 

He further cited that, “In terms of what has been happening and what is happening currently in Barbados with COVID-19, we are still seeing a very high level of transmission, and that level is continuing to increase”. 

“We would normally describe more than 500 cases per 100,000 population as a very high level. People may remember back in the month of January and March, we would have spoken to the idea of 5 cases per 100, 000 as a threshold that we were aiming for to get below, & we have been for the past few days above – 1600-1700 cases per 100, 000 population & of course we have established that Delta, the highly transmissible variant is circulating in Barbados,” Dr Phillips added.  

Dr Natalie Greaves – a lecturer in Public Health at the University of West Indies, has called on the Barbadians to stop considering the COVID-19 situation as a hoax, advising them to follow the restrictions and health protocols. 

Dr Greaves noted that there is also vaccine hesitancy among the citizens of the island, noting that “people themselves are seeding doubt about things that have a strong scientific basis”. 

Following the statement, she added, “The other thing that I am still getting a lot of is really that persons are thinking that because they are young, they are immune and therefore they don’t need to wear their masks, they can still lime wherever they lime, and they are not keeping their physical distancing, not sanitizing”.