Good Afternoon,
There were 1397 test results received by the Ministry of Health since the last update and 12 were positive for COVID-19.
One of the new cases is classified as local transmission with known contact as associated with a known case.
The remaining new cases are classified as under investigation. These cases are among residents with no currently identified links to other known cases or clusters or history of travel in the past 14 days.
Additionally, 6 cases have recovered since the last update.
Bermuda now has 497 total confirmed positive cases. Their status is as follows.
· There are 227 active cases, of which
· 224 are under public health monitoring and
· 3 are hospitalized with none in critical care;
· a total of 261 have recovered, and
· the total deceased remains 9.
The mean age of all confirmed positive cases is 44 years (median: 40 years) and the age range is less than 1 year to 101 years.
The mean age of all currently active cases is 35 years (median: 31 years) and the age range is less than 5 years to 80 years.
To protect privacy and confidentiality, the average age and age range of the hospitalized cases will not be provided.
The average age of all deceased cases is 74 years and the age range is 57 to 91 years.
The source of all cases is as follows:
· 140 are Imported
· 269 are classified as local transmission of which:
· 248 are Local transmission, with known contact/source and
· 21 are Local transmission with an unknown contact/source
· 88 are Under Investigation
As investigations proceed, transmission categories may change.
Today’s update has one case moving from under investigation to imported. This case is a resident who arrived on AC 942 from Toronto on 4 December 2020 and tested positive on their Day 8 test.
An additional case has moved from under investigation to local transmission with a known contact as associated with a known case.
The seven-day average of our real time reproduction number is greater than 1 (1.67) and Bermuda’s current country status is “Clusters of Cases”.
We have received many calls to our Mental Health hotline asking, “What are the coronavirus symptoms?”
From the World Health Organization:
The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are:
· Fever
· Dry cough
· Fatigue
Other symptoms that are less common and may affect some persons include:
· Loss of taste or smell,
· Nasal congestion,
· Conjunctivitis (also known as red eyes)
· Sore throat,
· Headache,
· Muscle or joint pain,
· Different types of skin rash,
· Nausea or vomiting,
· Diarrhoea,
· Chills or dizziness.
Generally, anyone with three or more of these symptoms should please isolate and call your doctor who can advise you regarding resting. Likewise if your physician advises you that you are positive, isolate and prepare a list of your close contacts for ESU.
As mentioned in yesterday’s release, since early on in this pandemic our care homes have been working hard to keep our elders and vulnerable persons safe. Shielding requirements resulted in a restriction preventing staff from working at multiple homes. This vital intervention has remained in place; however, in part due to this, homes are struggling to find qualified staff. In particular, registered Nursing Associates and Registered Nurses are needed by many homes. We are trying to assist the homes in their ongoing search for staff. For this purpose:
1. If you are a registered Nursing Associate or Registered Nurse and have interest or experience in care home work, please email your resume to covid19resumes@gov.bm .
2. Please note, anyone who sends a resume to this address, starting tomorrow, will have their resume shared with and forwarded to care homes, as appropriate. If you don’t want your resume forwarded to care homes you must state this when you email it.
Please note COVID19resumes@gov.bm remains the location to send your resume for the government’s Covid-19 related staffing needs.
At this time, we are appealing to family and friends of care home residents to work with the homes to find creative ways to maintain connection with their loved ones while visiting restrictions are in place. Please remember that the scheduling, frequency and type of visits possible are not only set by Government guidance and restrictions but also by the homes’ ability to accommodate such, which includes having sufficient staffing levels.
Also, I would like to take this opportunity to repeat and further clarify the information that we released yesterday regarding employers asking employees for COVID-19 test results.
The Ministry of Health has received a number of questions about when an employer can ask an employee to get tested, and if they can or cannot ask for COVID-19 test results from that employee.
While the Ministry is not in a position to provide legal advice to an employer – each employer should seek his or her own, especially as it relates to obligations under the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1982 – the public is reminded that test results are considered personal health information.
As such, they can only be shared by an employee, if the employee wishes to do so. Ministry guidelines do not state that employees are required to provide a negative test to their employer to come to work.
With that said, the Ministry can also confirm a person who knows or has reasonable cause to believe he or she has a communicable disease and who exposes other persons to the disease, commits an offence under the Public Health Act 1949. It is also an offence to carry on working in such a situation.
There is a balance to be struck and the legal obligations are real
When a confirmed case is identified, the contact tracing team and Environmental Health will conduct a risk assessment on the place of employment. As part of the process, the Ministry of Health teams will be able to identify and isolate people in the organization who have had direct contact with the confirmed case. The Ministry of Health team will also advise an organization if they have to be closed for a period of time for deep cleaning or if an adjustment to their workplace protocols is recommended.
We are still receiving many quires from people who have been in contact with a close contact of someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 or who perhaps work in the same office-but not in the same work area as a positive case. These concerns (although understandably justified) are leading to non- science based decisions regarding quarantine. Again I want to stress that the ESU will be in touch with you if we feel there has been the risk of exposure. I would again ask that workplaces please not made decisions in place of ESU: it is not helping and leads to increased demand for testing appointments by people who are not immediately in need of a test.
Again, if you are identified as a close contact and asked to quarantine, you need only quarantine if you have been advised to do so by the Ministry of Heaths Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit.
NOT your neighbor not your coworker and not your family member or your employer.
ESU will provide you with those instructions regarding quarantine if and only if they apply to you.
If you are asked to quarantine as a result of exposure to a positive case, again, asked by ESU, please do not apply the quarantine guidelines that travelers follow. These are two separate quarantine and testing regimes; and the difference is that travellers are not considered confirmed positive cases.
For workplaces, we are finding that employers are making the decision to close their establishment, and possibly quarantine employees without pay, even though they have not been notified by the Health team that they must do so. We recognize it is an employer’s choice to make but acknowledge, also, these decisions create hardships for many employees. In addition, they result in a lot of understandable concerns on the part of the ‘worried well’ and casual contacts which requires significant time and resources on the part of the Health teams to unravel.
In summary, I ask employers and employees to follow public health guidance, as each case, each circumstance is different; and where it is necessary, follow the advice of legal counsel.
In closing, I would like to briefly cover two issues which we have received many queries on in recent days.
We have had numerous questions regarding the British Airways crew member who recently tested positive. It is not our policy to discuss individual cases – this is confidential information. However, the ESU has completed a risk assessment, and have provided additional information and guidance to those persons who required it, and all appropriate public health guidelines have been followed.
I will also remind the public that the Quarantine (COVID-19) (No. 3) Amendment (No. 7) Order 2020 was gazetted today and, therefore with effect from tomorrow, those arriving without a pre-arrival test will be subject to a fee of $300. This fee will be assessed at the airport on arrival.
Thank you.