COVID Cases Surface Again  

Over the past three weeks, there’s been a resurfacing of the dreaded COVID virus in Belize. While there’s not yet a need for a Ministry of Health and Wellness official caution, we got one of its officials to brief us on the situation. Director of Public Health and Wellness in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Doctor Melissa Diaz-Musa, said there’s actually been a spike not only in COVID cases but in respiratory illnesses as well as gastroenteritis.

 

Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa, Dir., Public Health & Wellness, Ministry of Health & Wellness

“For the last week we have seen an increase in gastroenteritis in people over five. That has been in the alert zone now for about two to three weeks and so that is something that is currently being investigated by our surveillance team. And we have seen some increase in respiratory illnesses in a few of the districts and respiratory illnesses encompasses any of the viruses or bacteria that would cause upper respiratory illness or pneumonias. With regards to COVID, we do know that over the last two to three weeks, we have seen some slight increase, but nothing that we would say is significant at this time. But we’ve got to keep in mind incubation periods, we’ve got to keep in mind when the surveillance personnel will pick up these increases and we need to ensure that we keep following it every week to see if there is a definite significant increase. We know that persons who are vulnerable remain the same as years ago. Vulnerable populations are persons – the elderly, so if you’re 60 and over, persons with comorbidities like diabetes, hypertension, obesity, cancer patients, anybody who’s immunosuppressed, and pregnant women. So our advice from the Ministry of Health and Wellness when it comes to any respiratory illness, not only COVID, is that if you know that you’re ill, use your mask, refrain visiting at-risk persons, ensure that you keep your distance from at-risk persons, and we can protect each other by just doing some of those initiatives. Hand sanitizing is very important, covering your coughs and sneeze. So we continue to look at these numbers, we monitor them closely, and if the need arises that we do have to make a statement, we will be doing so. After looking at the COVID numbers.”