DEADLY TRIO

Murders, crashes and COVID claim nearly 2,500 lives

The triple threat of COVID-19, murders and motor vehicle crashes have claimed the lives of at least 2,464 persons in Jamaica since the start of the year. COVID-19 has claimed 1,215 lives since January 1; another 935 are murder victims and 314 have died as a result of motor vehicle crashes.

Dr Andrew Manning, president of the Medical Doctors’ Association, said that the grim statistics show the level of pressure to which the public health sector has been subjected to for the past two years. He said incidents of trauma, interpersonal violence and motor vehicle accidents are too high.

“These factors can be avoided and they have placed the health sector under severe strain and pressure. Most recently, of course, COVID-19 has exacerbated it and these are things we should be able to bring under control, but we have to get all Jamaicans involved and accept that we have to behave in a way that can ultimately decrease the pressure on the health care system,” Manning said.

935 MURDERS

The 935 murders, as at Saturday, is a 9.7 per cent increase (83) when compared with the corresponding period in 2020. The 314 crash victims represent a seven per cent increase when compared with the corresponding period in 2020. A staggering 93 of those deaths have taken place during curfew hours. The virus has claimed 1,518 persons since last March.

“We speak about things like flattening the curve and in order to do this, people have to be compliant with the measures as laid out under the Disaster Risk Management Act, such as wearing your mask, social distancing, sanitising and avoid illegal gatherings. I know people are tired of hearing these measures but if everybody were to comply based on how the virus spreads, as it is from person to person, we would find that the numbers would come down,” Manning said. “Even before we achieve herd immunity, if we could get a certain number of people vaccinated in a medium term, we could see a decrease in those infected.”