Ministry of Health and Wellness’s data forecasts that COVID-19 cases could be trending down

Published by BBNTEAM at February 8, 2022

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Posted: Tuesday, February 8, 2022. 5:50 pm CST.

By Benjamin Flowers: According to the Ministry of Health and Wellness, COVID-19 cases in Belize peaked with record high numbers of cases in January but are now possibly trending downward.

The ministry released a graph yesterday showing the projected pattern for the eventual decline of cases, and today, Epidemiologist Dr. Russel Manzanero met virtually with the media to explain that the projection is one of several models that can be used and it is used for a specific function.

“You really can’t say this is what is expected, this is only to give us an idea of what is happening currently,” Manzanero said. “According to the models we were peaking in the early parts of January and pretty much we were maintaining that high number of cases for sometime until we actually had mentioned that it would have been stagnant or plateaued and then it would follow a downward trend.”

He stressed that the situation is still fluid due to the extremely infectious nature of the omicron variant, but if the current projections hold, Belize could see numbers return to pre-omicron variant levels by the end of the month.

He stressed that a key factor on whether or not the number will trend downward is public adherence to the health and safety protocols put in place to mitigate the spread of the virus.

“If we continue as is with our public health measures, with our vaccination coverage, we can see that there will be numbers decreasing. However, if we go back to being a little laxed or we are not enforcing the use of the mask, we’re not getting our vaccines, then all these numbers can change,” Manzanero added.

He notes that the model is subject to regular change.

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