ORANGE WALK, Wed. June 23, 2021– Following a period during which it seemed that the spread of COVID-19 was slowing almost to a halt, there has been a recent upsurge of cases once again in northern Belize, with one of the infected persons being an infant who was only fifteen days old at the time of the diagnosis. The child reportedly had to be admitted to the Northern Regional Hospital (NRH) after experiencing seizures brought on by a high fever.
The news came as quite a shock to the public, despite Orange Walk’s rising number of active cases. The cases had risen to 41 active cases as of Tuesday, with an additional 16 detected on Wednesday — most of whom were younger in age and were from rural areas, according to the Chief of Staff of the NRH, Dr. Manuel Estrada. Dr. Estrada also shared with the media that Orange Walk is presently monitoring two active clusters of the virus in the Trial Farm area.
Seemingly the spread is being caused by the holding of social gatherings (in violation of the restriction on the gathering of more than 10 persons), which is resulting in mass contamination of persons who have been in close proximity to one another. Just this Wednesday, in fact, the Belize Police Department issued a statement that there would be a more stringent surveillance effort to detect and break up illegal social gatherings, including parties, wakes, gathering at bars functioning as restaurants, beach activities and more.
Regarding the fifteen-day-old patient, Dr. Estrada stated when he was questioned by the media, “The baby was brought because he had fever and had seizures. It’s a newborn, so we do all the studies and one of the studies that we do for all patients that are being admitted here at Northern Regional Hospital is the swabbing. Both rapid and PCR. The rapid came back positive for the baby; that’s how he was detected. Well, the mother of the baby is negative, and we’re still doing the contact tracing, and so far we don’t know yet exactly who gave the baby the infection.”
Dr. Estrada also shared that two other patients are currently admitted at the NHR. With the number of cases reaching over 150 in Belize for the first time in months, many are wondering if it is the onset of a third wave in the country. The doctor also weighed in on this:
“I think it’s just a matter of time if people don’t take care of themselves for us to go back to how we were when the pandemic first started. From zero we went to become to the epicenter. If we don’t take the necessary precautions, we can go back again for a third wave.”
Dr. Estrada has encouraged the public to take the necessary measures to get vaccinated and to follow the safety protocols being outlined by the Ministry of Health and Wellness. He stated that currently the most challenging aspect of the detection and prevention process is getting cooperation from residents being contacted during contact tracing who are asked to come in and get tested. Recently the NHR has began to test all patients being admitted and has detected several positive cases through the exercise.
So far, approximately only 29% of the Orange Walk population has been vaccinated — with the turnout still being relatively low.