This evening, Dr. Uldine Wright, the president of the BMDA, granted the press an interview via Zoom, and she discussed a few of those recommendations that they are making to the government and the Belizean public:
Dr. Uldine Wright - President, BMDA
"We've seen over the past few days the 7th to the 9th had 61 cases. Then on the 10th they reported 79 cases and then after that 94 and then they had announced they had identified the Delta variant also. So, with the increased number of cases and introductory confirmation of the Delta variant present, this creates major concern in our association among our colleagues because we know about how contagious the Delta variant is, it's two times more contagious than the original strain included the Alpha variant. We've seen in other countries namely England and Israel that once the Delta variant was introduced it became the dominant variant in the population. Luckily in Europe and Israel they identified the time the Delta variant was introduced there, they had a large percentage of their population vaccinated and so the increase in hospitalization and so forth and the complications from of death were not observed as it is in the states and other parts of the world right now, as in India. Our country has slacken, it's no secret to anyone, we have the bar and grill open, we see the amount of persons there not wearing face mask, socializing. So, at this point right now, there's no room for that. Any socializing will be a case of spread especially with the Delta variant, it's 2 times more transmissible. Anybody who is not working in health care might have a different opinion, we understand the consequences of restrictions, and this is why we are not pushing for a total lock down. We just ask for an increase in the hours of curfew. This gives us, we believe enough time, work finishes for most people at 5, gives them enough time to get home by 7. Persons who do 12 hour shifts I'm sure exceptions can be made for them but the major time they would have between 5 and 9 is enough for them to go and socialize and this is what we believe would be detrimental for the outcome of the Delta variant in Belize."
