NAJ expecting COVID-19 surge with Omicron BA.2 now in Jamaica

 

The Nurses Association of Jamaica (NAJ) says its members are anticipating a surge in hospitalisations in light of confirmation that the highly transmissible Omicron BA.2 variant is in Jamaica. 

 

The Ministry of Health on Thursday confirmed that the variant was detected in two of the latest gene sequencing samples from the National Influenza Centre at the University Hospital of the West Indies.

 

NAJ President Patsy Edwards Henry believes the country may have passed the point of containing the spread of the Omicron BA.2 variant. 

 

"When you look at it in a practical manner, BA.1, BA.2 have been here since January. We started lifting the protocols as early as March, so I do believe that we may see a surge in hospitalizations even with the news that it is less damaging and causes less symptoms. I do believe that there is going to be a surge. We do have super-spreaders, because a number of the persons who were carriers of COVID-19 were asymptomatic, which means they didn't have any symptoms," she warned Friday while speaking on the Morning Agenda on Power 106.

 

Public health expert Dr. Alverston Bailey is also worried about the implication of the highly contagious Omicron BA.2 variant for the Jamaican population, given the country's low vaccination rate. 

 

He argued that in Hong Kong, the variant has caused "massive loss of life and hospitalisation among the elderly and the unvaccinated", a red flag that Jamaica should take heed.  

 

Dr. Bailey also pointed out that the BA.2 variant is responsible for China shutting down Shanghai and Beijing, while New York in the United States is battling a "serious uptick" in cases. 

 

"We are deluding ourselves into thinking that we are like them because in these countries, persons are coming down with flu-like symptoms due to Omicron but are bouncing back very quickly because many of them have developed natural immunity and many of them have also developed secondary immunity from vaccination, so therefore, they are essentially protected from hospitalisation and death. We in Jamaica do not enjoy that situation," he cautioned.