Governor Silvestri 2020-09-15
Summary of Facebook Live Chat by Governor Silvestri at 2020-09-15 07:30
Starts at 02:30
The Spanish transmission can be found here
Transmissions are Monday and Friday.
COVID-19 Testing and Treatment
Cases:
- Health Department release 74 from Sunday
- 896 confirmed cases total
- 146 recovered
- 12 deaths confirmed (up to 20 suspect)
- 738 active cases
- 218 outstanding tests, 132 processed and 86 pending
- The Bay Islands is currently spiking, while the rest of the country is recovering
- 896 confirmed cases total
Hospitalisation:
- Total of 60 hospitalised patients in Roatan
- 23 in the hospital
- 37 in the COVID center
- No information for Guanaja or Utila
Weekend Case Spike:
- Difficult as 200+ new case record, lots of alarm
- First call of the morning suggested a 2 week lockdown
- Got all the experts along with the chambers of tourism and commerce together to work out if this was necessary
- Worked out that a shutdown was not constructive, given the broad existing infection rates.
- The test results are from the last two weeks of August and the first two weeks of September (so many old tests)
- Medical brigades are being sent from the central government. Some today and tomorrow.
- If you see someone without a mask, please encourage them to put one on
- Police will be handing out fines for people not wearing masks
Strategy for Management:
- Herd immunity is not a strategy being implemented in Honduras
- Lockdown was the strategy, this is what lead to the first case being in May instead of March
- Currently, locking down further will exacerbate economic issues which is expected to cost more lives than cautious reopening and medical brigades
- No way of stopping the virus, especially now that it’s at community level
- House to house medical brigades aim to control the infection rate and help those who are infected but have not managed to get to a clinic
- Despite trying to keep it out, it is estimated that around 40% of the people on the Bay Islands have been exposed
- Current strategy is to identify those at the highest risk and save them
- Problems Honduras has to deal with that places like South Korea don’t:
- People who don’t care if they get sick. They don’t necessarily realise that they’re spreading it to others.
- People who think the virus is a lie.
COVID-19 center
- For people with symptoms, not to get testing
- Bay Islands have already gone through 7,000 tests and there aren’t many left
- People who are showing symptoms will get tested
Antigen testing
- Private clinics have these available
Travel and Immigration
Testing Requirements:
- Not sure how long the 72 hour requirement will be in place
General
Independence day:
- Today is 199 years of independence for Honduras.
- Appreciation for all the healthcare workers who are really showing what it means to be patriotic.
- Please give back to the healthcare workers by wearing a mask and following other biosecurity measures.
Circulation:
- Only people with salvo conductos and tourists with confirmed reservations
- Tomorrows digit is 5 (which was today’s, but was pushed to tomorrow due to the holiday)
- Only banks will ask you for your number, otherwise when its your day you can circulate freely
Dengue:
- Increase of dengue leading to combination of dengue with COVID-19, which is
especially dangerous
- Can’t take blood thinners on dengue, which is necessary for COVID-19
- Spraying is being done to reduce the mosquito population
Criteria for ending number system
- Hospital capacity is the key indicator for ending the number system. Green, is 30%. Yellow is up to 100%. Red is above 100%
- When most of the hospitals are green, they will eliminate the number system
Education posters:
- These are being planned