Good Afternoon,

There were 1000 test results received by the Ministry of Health since the last update and six were positive for COVID-19. 

Three of the new cases are classified as imported – all were residents with pre-arrival tests who arrived on BA2233 from London on 16 December 2020 and testing positive on their day 4 test.

One of the new cases is classified as local transmission with known contact/source 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, four cases have recovered since the last update.

Bermuda now has 553 total confirmed positive cases. Their status is as follows.

There are 253 active cases, of which

• 249 are under public health monitoring and
• 4 are hospitalized with none in critical care;
• a total of 291 have recovered, and
• the total deceased remains 9.

The mean age of all confirmed positive cases is 43 years (median: 39 years) and the age range is less than 1 year to greater than 100 years.

The mean age of all currently active cases is 36 years (median: 31 years) and the age range is less than 5 years to greater than 80 years.

To protect privacy and confidentiality, the average age and age range of the hospitalized cases will not be provided.

The mean age of all deceased cases is 74 years (median: 74 years) and the age range is less than 60 years to greater than 80 years.

The source of all cases is as follows:

• 148 are Imported
• 324 are classified as local transmission of which:
• 302 are Local transmission, with known contact/source and
• 22 are Local transmission with an unknown contact/source
• 81 are Under Investigation

As investigations proceed, transmission categories may change. 

Today’s update has 4 cases moved from under investigation to local transmission with a known contact/source as they are associated with known cases/clusters.

The seven-day average of our real time reproduction number is less than 1 (0.78) and Bermuda’s current country status is “Clusters of Cases”.

You will note the Ministry of Health has changed how the age breakdown of cases is reported. Understanding that the purpose of public health communication is to provide information for action and behaviour change, there needs to be a balance between the level of information supplied to the public and the privacy and confidentiality of persons diagnosed with COVID-19. As such, today and going forward, specific ages of cases are not being used in the reporting of age ranges. Additionally, if there are a small number of cases in any category (active cases, hospitalizations) an age breakdown will not be provided.

Given the higher number of positive cases reported in recent weeks, it should be noted that the majority of transmissions have occurred in recreational environments.

As Bermuda’s gateway cities experienced a second (or third) wave of novel coronavirus infections in the fall, it was almost inevitable that we would see a corresponding uptick in infections as well, here in Bermuda. While this did happen, it is important to point out that the spread of COVID-19 throughout Bermuda is on all of us. We cannot simply ‘blame the traveller’. We must take ownership for the health of our island as it is our own individual actions as residents which make the difference and break the chain of spread.

When the Ministry of Health asks everyone to avoid ‘the 3 Cs’ (Closed spaces, Crowded places and Close contact settings)  this is why: Over the course of one weekend in November, there were three gatherings of people at two venues that resulted in more than 80 people testing positive for and contracting COVID-19 and 550 people being placed in quarantine. One weekend.

One of the venues was a sports club, where numerous people became infected. Investigations by our contact tracers indicate that from there, a bar, a retail business, another club, and several workplaces ended up with positive cases. Bermuda, this is not good.

In the first two weeks of October, 4 people tested positive for COVID-19. In the first two weeks of December, 205 people tested positive, and we continue to feel the impact of the transmission which occurred on that one weekend in November.

This holiday season, we must, as a community, follow the public health guidance and measures put in place to stop the spread. We cannot be irresponsible about COVID-19 – a virus that is so easily transmissible. Our vulnerable populations require all the protection we can possibly give them by shielding them from this virus.

So please be safe this holiday and avoid the 3 Cs. And if you are a student who has returned home from study overseas recently or think you may have recently been in contact with a positive case, think carefully about every interaction you have. If you are a returning traveller who has not received a negative Day 14 result, do not go round to granny’s house to visit her. Do not go over to your friend’s house whose mother is going through chemotherapy. Do not visit your pregnant sister, your diabetic aunt, your elderly neighbor. We must protect our vulnerable.

Also, if you will be hosting or attending a gathering during the holiday season that brings people who live in different households together please listen to the following:

• There should be no more than ten people together at one time.
• Ensure people from different households are able to remain at least 6 feet apart. Guests should avoid direct contact, including handshakes and hugs, with others not from their household.
• Host outdoor rather than indoor gatherings as much as possible. 
• Avoid holding gatherings in crowded, poorly ventilated spaces with persons who are not in your household.
• Increase ventilation by opening windows and doors.
• Require guests to your household to wear masks, except when eating or drinking.
• Limit contact with commonly touched surfaces or shared items, such as serving utensils.
• Clean and disinfect commonly touched surfaces and any shared items between use when feasible. 
• Plan ahead and ask guests to avoid contact with people outside of their households for 14 days before the gathering.
• Wear a mask while preparing food for or serving food to others who don’t live in your household.
• Limit people going in and out of the areas where food is being prepared or handled, such as in the kitchen.
• Wash dishes in the dishwasher or with hot soapy water immediately following the gathering.

The more of these prevention measures that you put in place, the safer your gathering will be. No one measure is enough to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

I would also like to issue a reminder to both retail and grocery stores to please continue to enforce physical distancing during this busy time.

Likewise, I would like to remind customers to adhere to the physical distancing directives…markers are placed on the floor for a reason. Just because you are wearing a mask that doesn’t mean you can stand closely behind the person in front of you while lining up for the cashier or reaching past someone for something on a shelf.

While winter camps for children are open and able to operate, there are a few stipulations for operating…

Attending children must be 5 years or older otherwise organizers will technically be operating “day care centres” which have their own set of rules and guidance. 

Camps must register with the Ministry of Health and Department of Youth and Sport; the registration form can be found online at gov.bm.

Camp group sizes are limited to ten (which includes staff and children), and there needs to be a large enough indoor and outdoor space so that 6ft distancing can be maintained at all times.

Accurate records must be kept by organizers for contact tracing purposes and staff must be vigilant for COVID-19 symptoms every day and take steps to minimize the risk of spreading germs.

For example, children should be kept in the same groups with the same staff member throughout the duration of the programme. Children should not be mixed from one group to another or activity to activity…and water bottles, food containers and toys should not be shared. 

For more information regarding camps please go to gov.bm/camp-guidance

For those that do test positive and who are in quarantine, as are their close contacts, I can advise that Bermuda Regiment soldiers are currently being deployed as ‘Covid Marshalls’ to conduct quarantine checks. They are in teams, covering east, west and central parishes. They are checking to ensure quarantine requirements are being met and also checking on symptoms and providing contact phone numbers if those quarantined individuals have any questions. If you are supposed to be quarantining, make sure the Covid Marshalls find you at home!

Also, there have been a number of questions regarding the new strain of the coronavirus…

On 14 December 2020, authorities of the United Kingdom reported that a SARS-CoV-2 variant has been identified through viral genomic sequencing. Given that this strain can be dated back to September 2020 in UK, the latest report from PAHO states that it is likely this virus is already circulating elsewhere. 

Further studies are needed to determine if this new strain is different in terms of the severity of disease it causes. However, the UK government has reported that there is no evidence at this stage to suggest the Covid-19 vaccines currently being rolled out across the UK will not work against the new variant of coronavirus. 

It is important to note that all viruses change over time. There have so far been hundreds of variations of this virus identified worldwide. To date, most changes of this virus have had little to no impact on how it transmits or the severity of disease it causes. 

The occurrence of mutations is a natural and expected event within the evolution process of the virus. 

Evidence indicates that the SARSCoV-2 viral variants identified to date have a much lesser influence on the transmissibility and severity of COVID-19 than other risk factors, such as age, underlying conditions, or even social behavior.

Bermuda has not been routinely sequencing our positive cases so we can’t say for sure yet if this particular strain is already circulating. However, this is something we hope to start doing in January, as we do have the equipment to conduct nanopore sequencing on island. This will be led by Dr. Carika Weldon who was the Project Manager and Lead Researcher for nanopore sequencing at Oxford University. 

On balance, as the virus strain has been around since September, it seems unlikely it isn’t here already which is why we have not closed our border to the United Kingdom.

However, the Ministry is putting in place additional quarantine restrictions for those travelling to Bermuda from the UK and those who have travelled in the UK in the past 14 days before coming to the island. Regardless of whether or not those UK travellers have a pre-arrival test, they will be required to quarantine in their accommodation for four days, and cannot be released from quarantine until they have a day 4 negative test result. This will provide an added layer of protection for all of us.

In closing, I would like to remind the public about the availability of the Community Mental Wellbeing Hotline – 543-1111. The line is open Monday to Saturday, 5-9pm.

The wellness hotline is for:

• those who are feeling anxious;
• people who may be stressed while taking care of loved ones;
• seniors who may feel isolated;
• people who are having a hard time with the isolation;
• and those caring for their loved ones who just want to chat.

 …Those are just a few examples.

Support is free of charge to the public as funding has been made available through the Bermuda Foundation with support from the Health Innovation Fund.

Thank you.