Dear Editor,
In both the print media and on social media there have been discussions that we are witnessing the tail end of the coronavirus. If that is indeed true then it would be welcome news for January had some notable milestones ( not many were good). The most notable January 2022 milestones are:
1. Over 10,000 recoveries, (11,654). While not all of these were hospitalized, a high number were and the Minister of Health and his dedicated staff of healthcare professionals should be applauded for their dedication and commitment to their fellow Guyanese. As of today, February 3, the recovery rate stands at 88.34%. At the end of January it stood at 82.01% and at points during January it was even lower, reaching the low seventies at one point. This number will continue to rise as more is learned about this virus and more effective recovery procedures become extant. Indeed, 4,306 persons have already recovered in February.
2. The 500,000th (half a million) test was administered and the 50,000th case was also confirmed in January. The January surge produced both highs in tests administered and in confirmed cases to such a degree that when seen on a graph they practically dwarf the other months:
3. A monthly case fatality rate of .57 was effectively dwarfed by every other month. And this underscores the very high number of confirmed cases since the death toll in January was the third highest (115 deaths) during this 22 months long pandemic.
4. Some individual highs: Most tests in one day, 5011; most tests in one week 23,707 and most tests in one month, 83,074
Editor, a digression is in order. Some persons might question ‘most tests in one day, 5011’ given an article that appeared in Stabroek News that showed otherwise. This is understandable and easily rectified. On January 22, 2022 ANUG posted a chart on its website (https://www.facebook.com/anewandunitedguyana) which later accompanied an article in Stabroek News on January 23 (https://www.stabroeknews.com/2022/01/23/news/guyana/anug-calls-for-urgent-review-of-protocols-to-curb-covid-spread/).
On the chart ANUG highlighted two cells which showed the ‘Daily Number of Tests’ over 5000. In this case the cells were ‘5046’ and ‘5011’. The ‘5011’ is correct but the ‘5046’ is incorrect due to a simple data entry error on ANUG’s part. On the chart ANUG entered ‘465571’ for ‘Tests Done’ on Jan 15th. Combined with the next days’ ‘Test Done’ of ‘470617’ led to the erroneous ‘5046’ figure. However, the Dashboard on January 15 lists the number of tests done as ‘465971’ not ‘465571’, a difference of 400. Editor, while the error was spotted immediately no correction was forthcoming here because errors of this nature on such a large spreadsheet are common and are usually ‘self-correcting’ within 7-10 days. Unfortunately, this was not the case this time and hence the decision to emendate. The corrected cells then should look like this with ‘4646’ replacing ‘5046’:
Hence, the ‘5011’ figure is indeed the highest one day total.
Continuing: most cases in one day, 1186; most cases in one week, 6,755 and most cases in one month, 20,330.
5. Underscoring the unrelenting nature of this virus, January joined September 2021 as the only months with at least one death per calendar day as shown below:
Please note that this graph depicts the ACTUAL date of death and not the day on which the deaths were posted per Dashboard. For instance, on January 31 MOH’s Dashboard showed two deaths but neither person died ON January 31: the first died on January 27 and the second on January 30. On February 2 the Dashboard posted five deaths, two of which occurred on January 31. It is for this reason that some monthly death figures differ amongst record keepers. Some record keepers simply add a death to the month in which it was posted, and not to the exact date on which it occurred.
And, finally, Editor, it is important to acknowledge the extraordinary work of MOH’s Dashboard personnel. At a time when some countries have scaled back the publishing of a daily Dashboard to a weekly, semiweekly, or monthly basis, Guyana’s MOH published the Dashboard daily, 365 consecutive days without fail in 2021. And, this remarkable trend has continued into 2022. Kudos to the Minister and his dedicated and committed staff.
Sincerely,
Ellis Dee
