bavita.gopaulchan
@guardian.co.tt
With Trinidad and Tobago now crossing 1,600 COVID-19-related deaths, medical professionals are concerned that the mortality rate is still high.
One in every 900 people in T&T has succumbed to the deadly disease thus far.
According to Dr Nicole Ramlachan, geneticist and UTT Associate Professor of Biotechnology, the rate is worrying.
“Our death rate or mortality rate is pretty high for the region and for this particular stage in the outbreak. It is still considered to be fairly high, considering the number of deaths per million and it’s been consistently high since the surge started in May,” Ramlachan told Guardian Media.
A similar concern was expressed by consultant endocrinologist Dr Joel Teelucksingh.
“So, it is worrying that it reflects the highly transmissible Delta variant within the country. This variant, apart from being highly transmissible, it is likely to infect younger people and the potential for multi-organ failure is there,” Dr Teelucksingh said.
The data provided by the Ministry of Health for October 2021 shows that the gap has closed between the number of infected elderly and non-elderly who have died from the disease.
While the country has recorded some deaths of patients without underlying conditions, the majority had at least one comorbidity. Of the 1,434 deaths recorded since May, 86 per cent, or 1,236 people, had at least one comorbidity.
“The problem is that most of the deaths are still occurring in those with comorbidities, chronic problems like high blood pressure, diabetes, heart issues,” Dr Teelucksingh lamented.
However, Dr Shari Ramsaran, Deputy Director of the St Augustine Medical Laboratory, believes there are still many people who are unaware that they have underlying health conditions.
“I see it every day that patients, a lot of the time are not aware of their health status so they come to us and they think they’re completely healthy and they may feel completely healthy and when we really get into it, these patients are underlying diabetics,” she said.
Once the vaccination rate increases, both Dr Ramlachan and Dr Teelucksingh expect that the death rate will also decrease.
At last Saturday’s media briefing, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley confirmed that only two per cent of the deaths recorded thus far were vaccinated persons, while only five per cent of vaccinated people were hospitalised. Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram also said on Wednesday that the two per cent represented 28 persons who were fully vaccinated at the time of death, whereas 1,354 persons were not vaccinated.
“It would be interesting to know how many persons who are vaccinated actually have comorbidities, because at one time the thrust would have been for younger persons to vaccinate to operate, but persons with chronic medical problems—the number of persons who are actually vaccinated within the clinics throughout the country and those who go to private doctors—it would be interesting to get the level of protection because those are still the high-risk groups,” Dr Teelucksingh questioned.
Government is hoping to reach 800,000 vaccinated people by the end of November. Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh last Saturday said roughly 3,000 people were being vaccinated a day.