Dear Editor,
The two recently recorded deaths from COVID-19 on November 20 broke a string of 66 consecutive days of no deaths. The health sector and the Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, should be commended for their tireless work in keeping this deadly virus at bay in Guyana. The last death prior to these two occurred on September 15, 2022. This eclipsed the previous consecutive days of no deaths earlier this year from April 15, 2022 to May 18 – a total of 34 days.
Of the last fifteen deaths: twelve were unvaccinated, one was fully vaccinated (96 y.o.; additionally, to date, there’ve been 90 such breakthrough deaths—1st & 2nd doses), and two were of unknown vaccination status; there were thirteen males and two females (even though 54% females are infected compared to 46% males); two were under the age of fifty (with nine 70+); and, finally, five were from Region 4, three from Region 7, two each from Regions 3, 6, & 10, and 1 from Region 2.
Minister Dr. Anthony recently warned of a new wave of COVID infections and indeed the graph below bears this out. As the graph shows, the wave began on November 5. Ironically, last year at this time the infections were decreasing, not increasing, but the magnitude of the numbers told an entirely different story. Lest we become complacent, below are charts for comparison between this year and last.
Sincerely,
Ellis Dee
