COVID stats for county Caroni continue to stand out

County Caroni is once again among those with high infections, according to the Ministry of Health’s most recent—but admittedly incomplete—epidemiological data.

RISHARD KHAN
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At the start of the country’s second wave of infections earlier this year, county Caroni stood out for its rapidly rising COVID-19 cases. But while the curve is on a downward trajectory as active cases continue to decrease around the country, county Caroni is once again among those with high infections, according to the Ministry of Health’s most recent—but admittedly incomplete—epidemiological data.

The most recent geographic COVID-19 data compiled by the ministry is up to epidemiological weeks 21 to 23. Currently, we are in week 27.

“Generally, most of the counties, that downward trend from epidemiological week 21 to 23, with the exception of counties Caroni, Nariva Mayaro and St Patrick, we see that downward trend with that significant drop from epidemiological week 21 compared to 22, and of course a subsequent drop in week 23 compared to 22,” explained Roshan Seeramsingh, Manager of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) at the Ministry of Health.

He said that within county Caroni, there were areas that are recording decreasing cases while others are experiencing increases. This, he said, could be because of household transmission.

“We have seen in the past spread taking place in the home and of course looking at a smaller geographic area, there is a chance that such spread influencing these outcomes,” he said.

He acknowledged, however, that the data is from a few weeks ago and the current situation may be different.

Asked about the county’s continued prominence in the outbreak, Technical Director of the ministry’s Epidemiology Division, Dr Avery Hinds, stated:

“The spread of this virus within any community is driven by adherence to the various… recommendations that we’ve been making for risk reduction, and it may not be specific or community sensitive or it may not be related to a given community or county.”