POND ISLAND, Sint Maarten – While there are many persons understands Minister Ottley’s gradual approach toward the Omicron variant, there are still those that question this approach and call for scale back or lockdown. The Minister stresses on safety first, and encourages everyone to do their best to avoid contamination during the festive season.
The Omicron variant is on St. Maarten and is spreading at a rapid pace. It is spreading so fast, that the active cases are increasing drastically, averaging an increase of 90 per day.
Although, we are seeing the rapid spread of the Omicron variant right now, we should also look at the potency of this variant, and take into consideration that the laboratories and CPS are experiencing a drastic increase in daily testing.
The decision to link the business hours to the number of hospitalizations, is to ensure economic activity while avoiding a collapse of our health care system.
Minister Ottley would like to draw a comparison between the impact of the Delta variant versus the Omicron variant , on our Health Care capacity.
The above chart is from 16 August 2021, which represents the Delta variant, totaling 308 active cases and 17 hospitalizations.
The bottom chart represents the Omicron variant which illustrates 326 Active cases and just 2 hospitalizations. Although this variant spreads much faster, this variant is much more milder than all previous variants.
“In closing, I would like to reiterate to the people of St. Maarten, do not panic! Please remember to adhere to all the COVID-19 Health Care Protocols, which have proven to be the best way to prevent becoming infected and infecting others. Reinforce what we have learnt over the past two years and we will get through this together.”
