by Linda Straker
- Current ARI outbreak not linked to recent volcanic ash falls
- Infected individuals not Covid-19 positive
- Rhinovirus is most common cause of common cold
Dr Shawn Charles said that the current acute respiratory infection (ARI) outbreak on the island is not linked to the recent ash falls from the volcano eruption in neighbouring St Vincent, nor the Sahara dust in the atmosphere, nor are the infected individuals Covid-19 positive.
“We have been doing PCR testing for persons who are presented to our clinics. So far the Covid tests have been negative but we have identified rhinovirus as a potential cause and rhinovirus is the most common cause of the common cold,” said Charles who explained that the dramatic rise in acute respiratory infections is affecting many schools and business places.
“We are seeing absences and sick leaves as a result of this,” he said while referring to data that showed the sudden rise in cases in the past 3 weeks. “We are in week 18 of the year. Let us go back to week 16; in week 16 we recorded 26 cases of acute respiratory infection; in week 17 we have 46 and in week 18 we have 133,” he said.
Charles said the rhinovirus is the most common viral infectious agent in humans and is the predominant cause of the common cold.
He said that whenever there is an outbreak of respiratory infections, the Ministry of Health conducts random samples to determine the cause of the infection and the current outbreak which appears to be infecting students was not treated differently.
Charles, the Acting Chief Medical Officer said that the outbreak is a sign that citizens have become unworried about the Covid-19 virus and are not enforcing or complying with Covid-19 protocols that can assist with the transmission of a virus.
“This is a signal to us that we are heading down a very worrying path. It means that we have simply let down our guard and in the event that a single case of Covid-19 escapes all our measures that we are presently taking… It means we will face the same consequences as we see happening in other countries,” he said.
Charles said that an infected person can end up mingling and mixing with citizens if the person enters the island illegally despite the measures at the border or turns out to be someone who was late with the Covid-19 symptoms.
Rhinovirus general appear in the Summer months while Coronavirus/Influenza appear in Autumn/Winter months. No need to panic, its quite normal.
Oddly enough Germany had a huge Rhinovirus outbreak last 2020 summer even though millions of Germans wore face masks and distanced. Rhinovirus which measure nano metres, penetrated the masks and did its usual infection thing no problem.
Just consider the SarsCov2 virus is even smaller than Rhinovirus, and would probably have even less problem, penetrating face masks too.
I have appreciated your recent comments on COVID the vax, etc. You are absolutely correct on this. Masks are basically useless. A Danish study showed 0.3% reduction in transmission for clothe masks (properly worn). A recent CDC study showed up to 2% effectiveness for N95 (properly worn). Very few people can properly wear a mask for more than a few minutes which means the actual benefit is essentially zero.
Health officials know this which leads me to conclude that masks are a psychological operation designed to teach blind obedience, rather than a useful medical protocol.
Thanks, happy to share what little knowledge I have.
this is really very worrying and disheartening…
I for one don’t agree with this statement that the citizens of Grenada has become unworried but at the same time I will agree that we need to be more concerned.
With all the current protocol in place such as social distancing and the wearing of face mask is in place to protect us from these diseases.