Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 21, 2020 (ZIZ News): The number of COVID-19 cases are expected to rise according to health officials who have projected that COVID-19 will eventually impact 50-70% of the population.
Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Hazel Laws explained this projection while addressing a question at Tuesday’s NEOC COVID-19 Daily Briefing.
She said the numbers projected stemmed from the Federation being exposed to the virus for the first time with no immunity.
“It’s a new virus coming into our country and 20-70% of the population will be impacted, any territory that is will be impacted and so that’s the projection. The Federation is small so we’re thinking about 50-70% will eventually be impacted by this virus”.
Dr. Laws continued by explaining how the virus can impact the population.
“What the science telling us is that 40% of those impacted will experience a mild form of this illness some may even be symptom free, another 40% will experience a moderate form of the disease and may be diagnosed with pneumonia etc. and 15% of those impacted will experience a severe form of this infection and they may be admitted to the hospital and as many as 5% may experience severe illness and maybe admitted to the intensive care unit.”
The CMO asked that persons not get too comfortable and to acknowledge their own responsibility in fighting this COVID-19 outbreak.