BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, October 26, 2021 (S.T.E.P.) – In observance of Blindness Awareness Month, universally celebrated in October, the St. Kitts (Basseterre) Lions Club held the annual ‘Journey for Sight’ walk on Saturday October 23 and presented two white canes to members of the St. Kitts Society for the Blind. The walk was not held last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

‘Journey for Sight’ walk which involved members and prospective members of the St. Kitts (Basseterre) Lions Club, and members of the St. Kitts Society for the Blind, started at 6:20 a.m. from the Cenotaph at the War Memorial in Fortlands. It was led by President of the Lions Club, Ms Heather Grant, who walked alongside a member of the St. Kitts Society for the Blind, Ms Sharon Fredrick.

Representing the St. Kitts Society for the Blind was its President Mr Rockliffe Bowen, who is also the Vice President of the Skills Training Empowerment Programme (STEP)-sponsored McKnight Community Centre-based St. Kitts and Nevis Association for Persons with Disabilities, and was joined by a few members on the walk.

“Fellow Lions, prospective members, and invited guests – I just want to say a special thank you to all of you who are here who took part in the ‘Journey for Sight’ walk for the visually impaired persons here this morning,” said Ms Grant after they returned to the Cenotaph at the War Memorial at the end of the walk.

Participants walked from the War Memorial and on to Bay Road through Irish Town and downtown Basseterre, and in New Town they made a detour left to the Sandown Road and at the top they turned left on to Pond Road, walked on to Cayon Street via downtown Basseterre and Greenlands, and at the CFBC turned left to Burden Street and back to the Cenotaph at the War Memorial.

“I am quite sure that the exercise was a good one and we all had our little fun as we walked along,” said President Grant. “This morning we are going to do a short presentation to Mr Rockliffe Bowen who is the President of the St. Kitts Society for the Blind. It is a presentation of two white canes that would be distributed to two of his members of the association. One of them unfortunately was not able to make it this morning because of transportation issues.”

One of the white cane, which was received by Mr Bowen, was to be given to the member of the St. Kitts Society for the Blind, Mr Michael Rawlins of Tabernacle Village, who could not make it for the walk. The second cane was presented to another member of the St. Kitts Society for the Blind, Mrs Ethel Bowen, who is the wife of Mr Rockliffe Bowen.

“This is not the first time I am participating along with the other members of our organisation,” said Mr Bowen. “It is something that we as persons who are blind and visually impaired look forward to it, every year, but unfortunately they did not have it last year because of the Covid-19. It is so refreshing and at the same time it sensitises the general public so that they can know how important sight is.”

Accompanying Mr Bowen were St. Kitts Society for the Blind members, Ms Sharon Fredrick, Ms Letitia Murray, and Mrs Sylvine Henry. Assisting them were Ms Crannie Cranston who is a member of the STEP-sponsored St. Kitts and Nevis Association for Persons with Disabilities, and Mr Derrick Conner. While present at the presentation ceremony, Mrs Ethel Bowen could not take part in the walk for health reasons.

“I would like to take this opportunity as President of the St. Kitts Society for the Blind, on behalf of our executive and our general membership, to say thanks to the President and to the other members of the Lions Club for putting on this walk every year, because this is something that we as blind and visually impaired persons look forward to,” said Mr Bowen.

He added: “I hope that the Almighty God will give them the strength to continue and to plan other activities, not only to benefit us who are blind, but to continue with the community work that they have been doing over the years.”

Representing St. Kitts (Basseterre) Lions Club on the walk included First Vice President Mrs Adaeze Hanley, Second Vice President Mr Ellamorrow Levy, Treasurer Ms Marsha Harris, Immediate Past President Ms Bernadette Dolphin, and Past Presidents Ms Charmaine Pemberton, Ms Nikiesha Thomas, Mrs Adora Warner, and the Hon Dr Geoffrey Hanley.

Others were Director Ms Petal Rawlins, Member Mr Collins Benjamin, and Founding Member Mr Samuel Tuckett. Friends of Lions included the National HIV/AIDS Programme Coordinator Dr Matthias Afortu-Ofre, the National Health Consultant with the Ministry of Health Dr Lincoln Carty, and Mr Marvin Warner. Prospective members included Mr Vincent Fough, and Mr Austin Buchanan.

The post St. Kitts (Basseterre) Lions Club holds ‘Journey for Sight’ walk, presents white canes appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

Kevin Smith, the Jamaican pastor who was arrested for allegedly performing human sacrifices last week, was mysteriously killed Monday morning.

According to Nationwide News, the pastor, along with one police officer died in a car accident in St. Catherine. Several other officers were injured.

Videos circulating on social media show the body of a man, believed to be Smith, being pulled from the damaged car by first responders.

Smith was being transported to Kingston to appear before the Home Circuit Court on Tuesday, October 26. He was to be questioned in relation to the murder of two members of his congregation, whose throats were slit during a “cult-like” ritual on Sunday, October 17.

In Facebook posts on Sunday, Smith, who refers to himself as “prophet of the nations” had warned his followers of an incoming “flood” and instructed them not to take their cell phones to church that evening – which was a no-movement day for the island. He told his followers that they were being prepared to board an ark and that those who were considered “unclean” would have their blood shed.

Upon witnessing one church member killed, a member of the congregation left and called the police.

“She gave other information, which led us to believe that persons were at risk. On responding to that report by the person who was injured, the first team of police that arrived were shot at,” said Police Commissioner Antony Anderson.

“We were concerned that some form of ritualized killing was going to take place and so we did an entry. We found that there were a couple of people who had been injured. There were cult-like behaviors and a cult-like setup that we saw,” explained the police commissioner.

A total of 144 residents attended the ceremony that night. Fourteen children and 31 women were also part of the congregation. Major Anderson said that the Child Protection and Family Services Agency was involved in the rescue of the children.

Smith is the head of the Pathways International Kingdom Restoration Ministries in Montego Bay, St. James.

According to reports, Smith had hundreds of followers from Montego Bay, and had been collecting up to one million dollars a week from the congregation, which he used to buy property, cars and other assets. At the scene, police found scores of potential victims, including naked men and animals, who had been lined up to be sacrificed.

Commissioner Anderson also confirmed that at least one police officer was found to be a member of the church.

Authorities were also looking into child sexual abuse allegations surrounding Smith.

The post Jamaica: Pastor Suspeced of Human Sacrifce Killed with Cop in Car Crash appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

The post Viking’s Mammoth Orion Cruise Ship Makes Inaugural St. Kitts Call appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

Apple once threatened Facebook ban over Mideast maid abuse

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Two years ago, Apple threatened to pull Facebook and Instagram from its app store over concerns about the platform being used as a tool to trade and sell maids in the Mideast….Read More

	*****@***il.com&p=25499548&stpe=static” border=”0″ />

Billionaire tax hits critics as Biden pushes for budget deal

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democrats’ idea for a new billionaires’ tax to help pay for President Joe Biden’s social services and climate change plan quickly ran into criticism as too cumbersome with some lawmakers…Read More

*****@***il.com&p=25499548&stpe=default” width=”600″ border=”0″ />
	*****@***il.com&p=25499548&stpe=static” border=”0″ />

‘We’ve got to run’ — Idaho mall shooting leaves 2 dead

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Police say they exchanged gunfire with a suspect during a shooting at a shopping mall in Boise, Idaho, that killed two people and injured four — including an officer. Boise Police Chief Rya…Read More

*****@***il.com&p=25499548&stpe=default” width=”600″ border=”0″ />
*****@***il.com&p=25499548&stpe=static” border=”0″ />	*****@***il.com&p=25499548&stpe=static” border=”0″ />

AP-NORC/EPIC poll: Majority in US concerned about climate

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden heads to a vital U.N. climate summit at a time when a majority of Americans regard the deteriorating climate as a problem of high importance to them, an increase from just …Read More

*****@***il.com&p=25499548&stpe=default” width=”600″ border=”0″ />
*****@***il.com&p=25499548&stpe=static” border=”0″ />	*****@***il.com&p=25499548&stpe=static” border=”0″ />

Tense quiet after Sudan coup, protesters block some roads

CAIRO (AP) — Pro-democracy protesters blocked some roads in Sudan’s capital with makeshift barricades and burning tires Tuesday, a day after the military seized power in a swift coup widely denounced by the in…Read More

The post WORLD VIEW: Facebook Revelations Grow, 2 Dead in Idaho Mall Shooting, Sudan Coup, More appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

“My most optimistic assessment is that if we keep vaccinating, sometime during late fall, into the winter, the pandemic phase of Covid will be substantially reduced over much of the United States,” said William Schaffner, an infectious diseases expert at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

He added: “We could move from pandemic to endemic, and endemic means that the virus remains in the community, akin to influenza, smolders along, keeps being transmitted, but the rate of disease that occurs is profoundly diminished, and the impact on individuals and health systems is very much controlled.”

In early September, the seven-day average of daily new cases in the United States was 166,000, according to data compiled by the New York Times. On 20 October that figure was 76,000, representing a 54% decrease. The seven-day average of new deaths has also declined by 26% over the last month, according to New York Times data.

“We have highly effective vaccines – which, yes, the new [Delta variant] impacts, and we may need to get boosters to protect people who are vulnerable and high-risk – but we have made big strides compared to this time last year, going into colder weather, at least in the northern hemisphere,” said Nahid Bhadelia, director of Boston University’s Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases Policy and Research.

Bhadelia also credits some of the “defanging” of the virus to the emergence of new antiviral drugs that reduce some of the worst effects of Covid for infected patients.

Still, while new cases and deaths have declined across much of the US, there have still been surges in some states. For example, Alaska, which trails the US average in its vaccination rate, has seen a significant increase in the number of hospitalizations and deaths over the last month, a trend that forced hospitals to postpone non-emergency surgeries and import staff from other states.

In states with lower vaccination rates, “it’s unclear what the baseline immunity from infections is,” and “that’s going to determine whether or not there are surges and how big those surges are,” Bhadelia said, though she did not expect something on the scale of previous waves.

There are also parts of the world, such as Africa, where only a small percentage of the population has been vaccinated against Covid, largely because of a lack of access to the doses, according to health officials and African leaders.

That could allow new variants of the virus to emerge.

A new variant “could reduce the effectiveness of our current vaccines, which would mean that we would need to re-engineer the vaccines and give everybody boosters again,” Bhadelia explained.

The other factor that complicates when people can stop worrying about the virus is the lack of a clear nationwide goal in terms of the number of cases, other than zero, said Justin Lessler, an epidemiology professor at the University of North Carolina. There have been 23 cases per 100,000 in the United States over the last week, according to the New York Times.

For Lessler, the goal is one case per 100,000 people, because then the risk of hospitalizations due to the virus is relatively negligible and the chances of meeting someone who is infected will be extremely low, he said. Then, Lessler said, he would be willing to eat indoors at a restaurant.

“I think that’s a reasonable number to have in your head as a goal, and I wish we had more of a national conversation about what the goal should be,” Lessler said. “It gives people a sense of what to expect.”

Bhadelia also hopes that the country retains limits on large indoor gatherings in communities with low vaccination rates and high transmission of the virus.

“We have done this every single time – starting with Memorial Day last year – where we just open up too fast, and I think this time, maybe we should be a bit more cautious,” said Bhadelia, who recommended retaining requirements for masks and proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test to attend events.

When asked whether people should attend large indoor gatherings, such as basketball games, Schaffner, the infectious diseases expert at Vanderbilt University, said he would not declare an event is safe “because it implies complete safety”.

Instead, he suggests people at higher risk from Covid, such as seniors and those with underlying conditions like lung disease, conduct a “personal risk assessment: Would I rather stay home and watch it on TV?

“Or am I ready to go, and if I go, will I wear a mask? They will be reducing their risk [with a mask], but if you go to a congregant event, where there are lots of people indoors – particularly if they are excited and cheering – there will be some risk,” Schaffner said.

Also, not everyone in epidemiology is convinced that the US has turned a corner in this pandemic. Shaman described himself as “very neutral” on the subject, in part because of uncertainty over when immunity from vaccines or infections wanes.

That is “going to be very important to understanding how frequently we are going to see new outbreaks of Covid in our communities,” Shaman said. “I’m cautious and waiting for the evidence. If you wanted me to make a prediction for where we will be this winter, I can’t even begin to tell you.”

The infectious disease experts, of course, hope more people in America will continue to get vaccinated. They also hope some safety measures become fixtures of society even after the pandemic. That includes an emphasis on handwashing – even though scientists determined that the virus rarely spreads through touch – and people no longer coming into the office when sick because they see it as a badge of honor.

“We all are a little flippant about when we are sick. People go to their jobs and are, like, ‘It’s just a cough. It’s just a stuffy nose.’ And I would hope that people at least start wearing masks when they are sick. That has become the behavior in a lot of the world, and I think it would be nice if that was something we do” in the United States, said Lessler.

Still, the experts also acknowledge that some people no longer want to hear that they need to be cautious.

“People are exhausted by this,” Shaman said. “The complacency in society is totally understandable, and there are only so many times you can tell people: ‘The virus doesn’t care.’”

The post Worst of US Pandemic Likely Behind Us, But We Can’t Drop Our Guard, Experts Say appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

TEGUCIGALPA, Oct 25 (Reuters) – Nearly 8,000 Nicaraguans received COVID-19 vaccines at two customs border crossings with neighboring Honduras in recent days, Honduran health authorities said on Monday, as supplies of the inoculations in Nicaragua have run low.

Promoting the vaccines for Nicaraguans, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez wrote in a post on Twitter that “the solidarity and brotherhood of Hondurans crosses borders.” He added that up to 500 doses were being given out daily to Nicaraguans.

Honduran health authorities also pitched the cross-border assistance as a way to help beat back the risk of more infections at home.

“They don’t have access to vaccines in Nicaragua and that becomes a risk for us due to the significant movement of people along the border,” said Honduran regional health official Jose Maria Paguada.

Officials in Nicaragua did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The border vaccines doled out in Honduras’ southwestern Choluteca department utilize donated inoculations made by Moderna and Pfizer, and will go through Nov. 6 for first doses, with second doses to follow, Honduran officials said.

To date, Honduras has confirmed more than 370,000 coronavirus infections and nearly 10,200 deaths as a result of the highly contagious respiratory disease caused by the virus.

Reporting by Gustavo Palencia; Additional reporting by Ismael Lopez; Writing by David Alire Garcia; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien

==========================================

COVID-19 vaccine safe, effective in kids 6-11

Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine generated a strong immune response in children and was generally well tolerated, the company announced Monday. In its study, Moderna determined that children aged 6 to 11 years old, who were vaccinated with two 50 microgram doses, had 1.5 times higher antibody levels than those observed among vaccinated young adults. The dosage used for the children is half of the 100 micrograms used for the initial two adult shots, but the same amount authorized for the booster shot. With the vaccine, these children showed a “robust neutralizing antibody response” and a “favorable safety profile” consistent with adolescent and adult response, the company noted. Most adverse events were considered mild or moderate, with the most prevalent symptoms being fatigue, headache, fever and injection site pain. What’s next: The company said it plans to submit data to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other regulators, including in Europe, “in the near term.” The announcement comes a day before an FDA advisory panel is scheduled to discuss data on Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for 5- to 11-year-olds.

NEW US TRAVEL RULES The Biden administration outlined on Monday very narrow exemptions that will permit unvaccinated international travelers to enter the United States. Anyone who is under the age of 18 traveling from overseas will need to show a negative COVID-19 test before boarding a flight, but they are exempted from vaccination requirements, the White House said. Even though there are vaccines available in the U.S. to children as young as 12, administration officials said they are sensitive to the global variability regarding access to vaccination for older children who are otherwise eligible to be vaccinated. Similarly, the White House said people who are traveling on non-tourist visas from countries that have vaccinated less than 10 percent of their population are also exempt from the vaccine requirement. There are more than 50 countries that meet that threshold, including much of Africa, according to the World Health Organization. “They need to have a specific, compelling reason. So, tourist visas will not qualify for that,” a senior administration official said. “If they qualify, they need to show proof of a negative test taken within 24 hours prior to departure. Other exemptions include those with certain medical conditions, clinical trial participants and those traveling on short notice for emergency or humanitarian reasons, the official said. ========================================== US Administration to make at-home COVID-19 tests more available   The Biden administration announced on Monday its plan to make rapid, at-home COVID-19 tests cheaper and more available through an accelerated Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorization process. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) plans to commit $70 million from the American Rescue Plan to boost the number of over-the-counter at-home COVID-19 tests on the market. I’m Under this strategy, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) plans to prioritize FDA authorization applications for COVID-19 tests from companies that “have the potential for manufacturing at significant scale.” Experts from the FDA, NIH, HHS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention aim to analyze and conduct studies on these tests and cooperate with companies to collect the necessary data for an FDA emergency authorization application. Significance: Jeffrey Shuran, the director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said the streamlined policies will help attract more companies to the U.S. “The most important step recently has been the money that the government has pumped into and continues to put into testing,” he said. “I think … the actions today are complementary to that and can expedite the assessment of candidates for over-the-counter tests.” The need for testing is expected to jump once the administration’s vaccinate-or-test rule goes into effect for businesses with at least 100 employees. Read more here.

The post Nicaraguans Seek Vaccines in Honduras, Moderna Safe for Kids, New US Travel Rules, More appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

The post Arrest of Colombian Crime lord Unlikely to Turn Tide in Drug War appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

The post Cuba Warns US Not to Encourage Popular Protests on the Island appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

CNN’s Begona Blanco Munoz contributed to this report.

The post Square Rigged Sailing Ship Snares Drug Hauling Narco Sub appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.