191 New, 1238 Active, 51 In Hospital, 13 In ICU

September 17, 2021

The Ministry received 3543 test results from Tuesday and there are now 1238 active cases, of which 51 people are in hospital, with 13 in ICU, and sadly the Ministry has confirmed another death.

These figures are the worst we have ever reported, marking the highest active cases, the most cases in one day, the most people in hospital and the most people in ICU. The hospital has already advised they have moved to “Disaster Alert Level 4″ today, marking the first time during the pandemic that BHB has ever moved to Level 4.

“Sadly, tonight I am reporting another Covid related death,” said Minister of Health Kim Wilson. “I extend heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the deceased. Our thoughts and prayers remain with you at this time”

”The Ministry of Health received 3543 test results since the last update, and 191 were positive for the coronavirus, giving a test positivity rate of 5.4%.

”These results are from testing done on Tuesday, September 14.

”10 of the new cases are classified as imported with a history of travel in the previous 14 days.

”The additional 181 new cases are classified as either local transmission or remain under investigation.

”Additionally, since the last update, there have been 35 recoveries and one death.

”There are 1238 active cases, of which:

  • 1187 are under public health monitoring and
  • 51 are in hospital, with 13 in intensive care

”Since March 2020, Bermuda has recorded 4218 confirmed coronavirus cases, out of which 2942 have recovered, and sadly 38 Covid related deaths.

FPP sept 18 2021 covid

”The source of all active cases is as follows:

  • 88 are Imported
  • 213 are classified as local transmission of which:
    • 213 are Local transmission with known contact/source and
    • 0 are Local transmission with an unknown contact/source
  • 937 are Under Investigation

”Active cases by vaccination status, transmission, and type:

  • Imported cases: 84% are fully vaccinated, and 16% are not vaccinated
  • Local/Under Investigation cases: 27% are fully vaccinated, and 73% are not vaccinated
  • Variant typing is not available at this time due to the prioritisation of test results.

”The source of all confirmed cases is as follows:

  • 549 are Imported
  • 2648 are classified as local transmission of which:
    • 2121 are Local transmission with known contact/source and
    • 528 are Local transmission with an unknown contact/source
  • 1021 are Under Investigation

”As investigations proceed, transmission categories may change. For information regarding age distributions and overall transmission categories, please refer to https://www.gov.bm/coronavirus-Covid19-update.

sept 17 by day

”The seven-day average of our real time reproduction number is 1.38. Bermuda’s current country status is Clusters of Cases. However, local data continues to indicate that Bermuda meets the criteria for Community Transmission. Community transmission is characterised by an increased incidence of locally acquired, widely dispersed cases, with many cases not linked to specific clusters.

“Our situation is critical,” said Minister of Health, Kim Wilson, JP, MP. “This outbreak continues to spread fast, it is everywhere in our community and, at the risk of causing panic, it is only a matter of time before the situation is unmanageable.”

“The hospital, public and private labs, contact tracers, testers, indeed, our entire healthcare sector, are all under tremendous pressure. They are doing a fabulous job, and I cannot commend them enough. But we must all do our part to help ease this pressure.”

“To be exceptionally clear, please take individual responsibility for your health and safety. I cannot stress enough how important it is to follow all public health guidance. Wear a mask at all times when you are within 6 ft of other people. Avoid crowded places and closed spaces. Please Bermuda, minimise your movements and keep to your family bubbles.”

”The Bermuda Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices [BACIP] met yesterday and agreed that booster vaccines be recommended for Bermuda.

“This is great news,” added Minister of Health, Kim Wilson, JP, MP. “The recommended target groups for booster vaccines are persons who have immunosuppressing conditions and Chronic Health Diseases, health care workers, essential workers and persons older than 50.”

51 in KEMH 13 in ICU

“Boosters will be an mRNA vaccine, such as the Pfizer, and will be given six months from the primary course of vaccination. The Ministry of Health is currently working out the delivery details.”

”BACIP provides guidance on the implementation of the Covid-19 vaccine. BACIP, in its evidence-based, advisory role, will provide transparency and credibility to the decision-making process and contribute to building public confidence in the vaccination program.

“I am also pleased to announce that over the weekend we are launching a new automated process for notifying Covid positive patients and named close contacts of their status and their need to isolate or quarantine,” added Minister Wilson.

“When a test result comes back positive, persons will be notified via the email address provided on their test booking. The notification email will include necessary information on the steps the person who tested must take with respect to isolation and other matters. It will also include a link to an online form that allows the positive person to list off their close contacts, so they can be notified as well about their exposure, without disclosing who the positive person is. This new automated process replaces a manual process of phone calls and emails that the contact tracing team was using to notify positives and close contacts. The automatic email notification will replace the many calls contact tracers must make to ensure residents know they are positive and their close contacts know they have been exposed.”

“This is a great tool to assist our contact tracers who are overwhelmed due to the sheer number of cases. Please provide an email address on your test booking if you want to benefit from this speedier notification process. If you test positive, please read the entire letter carefully and provide the contact details that are requested. We all must work together to help stop the spread of the virus in our community.”

“Please take note, if you or anyone in your household is feeling ill, even slightly ill, stay home. I cannot stress this enough. We are seeing far too many cases appear because people are either going to work ill, or sending their children to school or camps with symptoms. Remember the symptoms include sore throat, headache, stuffy/runny nose, sneezing, cough, diarrhoea, vomiting, fever, muscle/body aches, shortness of breath, or the loss of taste and smell.”

“Also, please take your medically fit for discharge family members home. The hospital is under tremendous pressure, and they need the space for additional admissions, not all of which are Covid related. An overwhelmed hospital with no available beds puts critically ill patients at risk. Anyone who can be discharged must leave the hospital to free up much-needed bed space.”

Minister Wilson concluded, “Bermuda please remember, we are our brother’s keeper. We must act responsibly and adhere to the public health guidelines. Bermuda, we are in a very serious situation and in order to get through this, we must take responsibility for ourselves and others in our community”.

”Each of us has a role to play in stopping the spread of the coronavirus. Follow Public Health guidelines, wear a mask, practice good hand hygiene, maintain physical distance and download the WeHealth Bermuda app.

”The WeHealth app is designed to help slow the spread of Covid-19 by anonymously notifying other app users of potential exposure to Covid-19. WeHealth has sent many notifications since the beginning of this outbreak that have aided in people protecting themselves and their families. We urge all Bermudians and visitors to the island to download the app now from the App Store or Google Play

”If a person tests positive for the coronavirus, they will receive a randomised verification code from the Ministry of Health by eMail. If they are already a WeHealth App user, they should enter that code into the app, and it will then enable other WeHealth app users to discover that they were in close proximity to an infected person, even if they do not know that person. Because WeHealth Bermuda does not use or collect personal information or track users’ locations, these notifications will be completely anonymous.”

covid-19 divider 1

You can find more information on the links below from our dedicated website BermudaCovid.com, which is the most comprehensive resource and historic record available of Bermuda’s handling of the pandemic.

  • All Charts: Vaccine, testing & more here
  • Timelines: Dates of major developments here
  • Test results: Chart of testing stats here
  • Vaccine: Data covering vaccinations here
  • Dedicated website: BermudaCovid.com

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Comments (20)

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  1. Ringmaster says:

    There is no way I will give information to be contact traced. I’m vaxxed and that’s it. No quarantine for me. Down load We Health – no way. The unvaxxed need to stay home or get over it, and be denied access to the hospital. Government is way too lax in controlling the spread.

    • FastBite says:

      LOL In one breath this dude says that the govt is being too lax in controlling the spread AND that they won’t be following govt recommendations for controlling the spread. That’s some first class cognitive dissonance right there.

    • Portia says:

      You don’t own the hospital.
      You don’t pay no one’s medical bills or health insurance.
      So no – you have no say in who uses what here.
      Get back in your time machine to 1939

      • Sandgrownan says:

        All I’ve heard is how the anti-vaccine morons must have their rights respected. At what point does my right not to be infected, or my kids right to go to school, or have the buses run, trash collected come into play?

        The unvaxxed are holding the rest of us to ransom. Time to start mandatory vaccinations and give companies the power to fire the unvaccinated.

      • Question says:

        People with cancer and heart disease are having treatment delayed and cancelled because you lot won’t take a basic simple precaution to stop you from needing a hospital bed. It is you lot who are causing this chaos.

    • Gina Ingham says:

      I agree fully!!

  2. Rig says:

    Tougher laws needed Burt, you have failed to get people vaccinated and the stats above are clear – 73% of cases are unvaccinated and that comes from 32% of the population.

    Its the unvaccinated you need to focus on.

    Any public facing job must be vaccinated – taxi, bus drivers, shops and bars, hospitals and doctors. For those not public facing like offices, you must wear a mask at all times.

    Its so simple, Italy, US, Spain etc all enacting and we are in a much worse spot.

  3. Question says:

    The limit of 20 per group has no teeth. Exemptions are being given out all over the place.
    205 people at ‘Friday Night Cricket’ tonight (Friday), in Somerset.
    650 people gathering tomorrow in Dockyard for ‘Jammin Still’.
    Various 100-200 Parties, Family gatherings, workplace get-togethers, women’s groups, and several large weddings every week. Plus blanket exemptions lasting months, for major hotels.
    So when the government says it’s helping by reducing the size of gatherings, it isn’t. They give permits out, and everyone just does what they want.

    • Nope says:

      Nice try.. jammin still has beeeeen postponed..

      • Question says:

        It still has an exemption, as do dozens of other events. Are they all cancelled?

  4. raskarr says:

    Ironic that the highest amount of cases yet correlates with the highest vaccination rates yet.

    • Bad Religion says:

      You are so dumb .

    • 2020 Won says:

      And since most people die in hospital, it must be the hospital that is killing people. Don’t go to the hospital people, hospital admissions are correlated with death rates.

      Sheesh, some people are so proud of their stupidity.

    • Sandgrownan says:

      I don’t think you understand irony.

    • Sandgrownan says:

      I don’t think you understand irony.

      73% of cases come from 32% of the population. Bermuda is held hostage to the anti-vaccinated lobby.

    • Statistics are hard says:

      That’s not how correlations work. Observing the peak of two numbers at the same time does not make a correlation. The true correlation is that higher vaccination rates are leading to fewer hospitalizations and deaths.

  5. peedoff says:

    Name and shame time, just take a few rule breakers to court give them life sentences ( they have contributed to some of the deaths no doubt ) and nine them 75000.00 might make some of the asshsss think before going out. they are curtailing and impacting a lot of peoples lives

  6. Joe Bloggs says:

    “These figures are the worst we have ever reported, marking the highest active cases, the most cases in one day, the most people in hospital and the most people in ICU. The hospital has already advised they have moved to “Disaster Alert Level 4″ today, marking the first time during the pandemic that BHB has ever moved to Level 4.”

    What else is there to say?

  7. Fers says:

    People need to be asking themselves how are we in a worst place than last year this time if people are vaccinated… Wake up Bermuda… I mean think about it vaccines were just coming out last year and now we have this dilemma. We need to know ages of people and did they go in specifically for covid or some other issue…information is not forthcoming and people are talking about losing loved ones all of a sudden and questions are being raised…on deaf ears though.