St. Vincent and the Grenadines now has three active cases of COVID -19 out of 29 recorded cases, the National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO) said on Thursday.
This follows the receipt of the second negative PCR result for one person from the Public Health Laboratory at CARPHA.
These results were included in a batch of results for 25 samples sent to the lab on Wednesday.
Four Disney Crew members who disembarked on June 15, also tested negative for COVID-19, NEMO said.
The entire group of 75 Vincentian crewmembers on board the Norwegian Cruise Line vessel, Oceania Marina which docked at Port Kingstown Thursday, tested negative for COVID-19.
Swabs for these PCR tests were collected on June 16, processed at the BEST-dos SANTOS Public Health Laboratory in Barbados and reported Thursday.
All of these nationals are scheduled to disembark today, Friday, and will complete a 14-day mandatory quarantine in their homes or a government approved facility.
“The public is again urged to maintain strict hand hygiene, cough etiquette, physical distancing in public spaces, smart mask use and strict adherence to quarantine and isolation instructions to ensure that we continue to slow the spread of COVID-19 in St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” NEMO said.
The PM’s statement about opening up to air travel starting from July 1 is concerning to me. Although it is good to see our numbers in SVG currently are quite good, that can change radically in a short time. We need to be vigilant because we do NOT have the healthcare system here that can deal with any kind of outbreak.
Before attempting any opening up we must be sure we have done everything we can do to be ready. And I do not think we are there. The wearing of masks needs to be mandatory. I suspect the reason they were not made mandatory was due to supply, but that can be changed by cloth masks made locally. There are way too many people walking around Kingstown without masks. I dare say 99% do not wear masks and with Brazil spiraling out of control, Venezuela will soon follow and we know they have a direct pipeline into SVG thru the ULP. Not only that we have close family connections to some of the areas with highest continuing outbreaks, NYC, UK and Florida.
For us PREVENTION IS PARAMOUNT. So being sure we are up on our supplementation with vitamin D, consumption of fish and mushroom which are high in Vitamin D and of course getting adequate sunlight on our skin. Wearing of masks is important, and not just covering your mouth or your chin, but covering your nose and mouth.
Protect yourself and protect each other.