By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

Twenty-three new COVID-19 deaths were recorded in the country between Monday and Tuesday, pushing the nation’s toll to 582 since the start of the pandemic.

 The latest COVID-19 deaths happened between August 10 and October 2, according to data released in the Ministry of Health’s latest dashboards.

 Health officials said four deaths that were previously under investigation have now been reclassified as COVID-19 deaths.

 The deaths confirmed on Monday include 15 New Providence residents, one resident from Mayaguana and one from Andros for a total of 17. Meanwhile, Tuesday saw six virus deaths recorded, all of whom are from New Providence

 Of the New Providence deaths reported on Monday, they are a 65-year-old man who died September 10; a 81-year-old man and 56-year-old man who both died September 17; a 61-year-old man who died September 19; a 57-year-old woman and 55-year-old man who both died September 20; a 68-year-old woman and 41-year-old man who died on September 23; a 60-year-old man who died on September 27; two women, both aged 57, who died on September 28; a 34-year-old woman who died September 29 and a 73-year-old woman, 35-year-old man and 83-year-old woman who all died October 2.

 The other deaths include a 67-year-old man from Andros who died August 10 and a 63-year-old woman from Mayaguana who died October 2.

In Tuesday’s dashboard, the ministry said a 42-year-old woman died on September 13; two men, aged 81 and 56, died on September 17; a 79-year-old man died September 28, and another two men, aged 47 and 38, died on September 29. The victims were all from New Providence.

 The spike in deaths comes as virus cases continue to trend downward—though this newspaper has observed a slight uptick in infections on several Family Islands in recent days. Health officials were unable to provide comment when contacted by this newspaper yesterday.

 However, it was reported that 53 new COVID-19 cases were recorded on Monday and 43 on Tuesday, bringing the nation’s total count to 21,458.

 One hundred and forty-one people are still in hospital with the virus, 16 of whom are in the intensive care unit.

 Despite the declining numbers, infectious disease expert Dr Nikkiah Forbes recently said it is still too early to determine if the country is nearing the end of the third wave.

 “In the last few weeks the number of cases reported is declining,” Dr Forbes recently told The Tribune. “However, what I will tell you is that the testing has declined. When we look at the health data we look at several indicators. Test taking behaviours affect a number of positive cases and there are biases and things that will affect test taking. A holiday weekend would. If there is very big activity, test taking behaviour may change. In those weeks where the numbers were declining, testing went down. So that’s why it’s important to look at other variables, deaths, hospitalisations and the percent testing positive for the virus.

 “The percent testing positive is still on an upward trend and still much higher than where we need it to be. We want it to be under five percent. When you have a high test positivity of upward of 20 percent that is informative and means there is still a lot of COVID-19 out there. “What is positive is when hospitalisation starts to go down, when that trend continues to bear out, that’s an indicator that things are improving.

 “We have to keep an eye on the epidemic curve. At the very end of last week there was a very small increase; it’s still too early to say the wave is being flattened or is behind us,” she said.

 To contain the spread of COVID-19 residents are reminded of the following: if you have symptoms, contact your health provider; while home remedies may work for a period it is important to get tested and receive the proper care before symptoms become too difficult to manage; if you have been asked by the Surveillance Unit to get tested for COVID-19, please follow the advice and take the gold standard RT-PCR test.

 Employees are also encouraged to work from home.