And as someone who's bracing herself for the influx of hospitalizations that may follow New Year's Eve, she had some words of advice for the Belizean public. She explained that the safest thing is to stay home but if you aren't going to do that then you need to take extra precautions - including ditching that cloth mask.
Chandra Cansino, CEO, KHMH
"My message is the same message that I think everyone is trying to give and that is to practice social distancing, unfortunately your cloth masks are no contender for the Omicron variant so if you're going out and you're wearing a cloth masks, they're saying that's just a facial decoration and so if you are going out we encourage the use of the N95 masks or the hospital style masks. If you do go out and you feel that you need to enjoy yourself, stay away from vulnerable people. Don't go see your elderly mother, don't go see your elderly grandmother, or your aunt who may have cancer. Take into consideration those people because those are the people that are currently going to be affected as well as the unvaccinated. The unvaccinated persons do have a choice but persons with pre-existing conditions don't. Those are the people we need to take into consideration."
