Corona continued
3rd April continued: 4 more persons have tested positive for the corona virus bringing the total to 7 cases, of which 1 recovered. The 4 newly tested cases are all imported from the USA and Canada on the 25th of March, same like patient 2. They are Vincentian nationals.
3rd April: A third case has been confirmed, a male person flying in from Barbados on March 18th. He was in voluntary quarantine and developed symptoms on the 29th.
The government is limping behind the facts, masks for healthcare workers have been ordered, carnival has been canceled and there is a limit of 9 passengers for minivans. Better would be to order a limited lockdown with only essential businesses open such as supermarkets and pharmacies, and see how many patients there are in 2 weeks time. That way it will be easier to deal with the inevitable spread of the disease, and much easier to do contact tracing from patient 2. At this moment people from Owia are still trying to board minivans and often being refused.
An intelligent lockdown of 2 weeks now would at least buy some time for ordering medical supplies, get a larger isolation facility, and get the test equipment ready for local testing.
2nd April: And so it begins, the2nd case patient is a woman who arrived from New York on the 25th of March. She is a Vincentian national. She had to quarantine for 14 days. She stayed for 2 days in Kingstown , to clear some barrels through customs. Then she boarded a minivan on the 27th and traveled the length of the island to Owia where she has a house. All the while wearing a mask and coughing. She then proceeded to greet and hug people in the village and in the evening had a little gathering at her house. The next day concerned villagers alerted a nurse who alerted a medical team and the police. She is now in isolation.
All this obviously means that the passengers on the plane need to be checked, hopefully they are complying with the quarantine. The village of Owia, the customs officers and agent, the minivan passengers, restaurants, hardware stores and shops she visited both in Kingstown and Owia all may be infected, really a worst case sccenario. It is a bit late now to be closing the international borders, but I think it is a good idea to stop passenger travel on the ferries and planes between the islands for now. And let yachts stay where they are.
1st April: A second case of Covid-19 was confirmed today. The patient is a Vincentian national who returned from New York on the 25th of March. She was supposed to be in quarantine, and reported symptoms on the 28th of March. Guess it took a little longer than the 4 hours turnaround time the government reported previously for the test result to be returned.
Contact tracing is being done, and hopefully more details to follow.
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| Quiet anchorage Bequia |
30th March:
-Grenada and St. Lucia have made the curfew rules a lot stricter, as people did not adhere to the previous measures to contain the spread of the corona virus.
-In Bequia it is quiet, people keep their distance, Knights trading keeps the number of people in the shop down and sprays customers hands at the entrance, great initiative.
28th March:
-Mustique and Chateaubelair were already closed before the closing of the other ports of entry in the grenadines yesterday. Clearance has to be done in Wallilabou, Kingstown or Blue Lagoon, all on mainland St. Vincent. The quarantine rules will be enforced, quarantine is
not optional. Here are the countries for which there is a mandatory quarantine, as per the government website:
All travellers from the following countries will be quarantined for 14 days:
1. China
2. Iran
3. South Korea
4. United States of America including the USVI and Puerto Rico
5. United Kingdom
6. European Union including Italy and the Overseas Departments of France
(Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Martin, French Guiana)
7. Canada.
The general public is reminded that the requirement for quarantine is not optional. Individuals
meeting the quarantine requirement must remain in their homes/accommodation at all times
for the 14 day quarantine period
27th March:
-The ports of entry for yachts Bequia, Canouan and Union Island are now closed. Clearance can be done in Kingstown Wallilabou and Blue Lagoon. And the quarantine rules need to be followed.
Full story here:
Clearance ports closed
- A Cuban medical team has arrived in St. Vincent
- It is reported on social media that several crewmembers returning to their homes in Bequia from cruise ship jobs are not keeping themselves to the rule of the mandatory self quarantine.
-The number of Covid 19 cases in Barbados has risen to 26, Barbados now moves to stage 3 of the pandemic and a curfew will be implemented. At least 10 cases are caused by community transmission.
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Our borders and ports of entry are still open with several flights a day from Barbados.
26th March: Grenada today announced 6 new cases, all connected to "patient zero". 5 of the new cases are members of her household, 1 was near her in the airplane flying to Grenada. This means that further community transmission of Covid 19 is a distinct possibility.
Meanwhile, yachts currently in Grenada in theory could still check out if they are fed up with the state of emergency and the associated limited going ashore. They could then check in here without having to undergo the selfquarantine.
I never thought I would say this, but please, yachtspersons, tourists, and locals returning from abroad, don't put the population of St. Vincent and the Grenadines at risk. Medical resources here are very limited, and most people don't have the means to seek treatment abroad.
Update: He did not announce a border closure. Guess the government is waiting for enough cases to have community transmission and move to stage 3 of the epidemic scenario. I wonder why. A stimulus package of 74.5 million has been announced, this will come from several financial institutions.
Meanwhile, Grenada (1 confirmed case, same as St. Vincent) has announced a limited state of emergency, and the airport is closed to passenger flights.
25th March:
-The prime minister will address the nation tonight. Lets hope he is going to announce the closing of the airports. After all, apart from China,
every Covid-19 outbreak has started with imported cases. Closing the borders seems like a no brainer!
24th March:
-The first person to be tested positive for Covid-19 ends her isolation today. She will undergo 2 more tests within a 48 hour period to determine if she is virus free.
-The quarantine for visitors from the USA, UK and Europe is now mandatory.
-The leader of the opposition calls for closure of the borders to visitors. A good idea since both Barbados and Martinique already have community spreading of the disease. Liat still has several flights daily to and from Barbados, and it is still possible for yachts arriving from anywhere to check into St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
-One person has been transported in an isolation unit from a private clinic to the Kingstown flu clinic to be tested for the virus.
23rd March:
-The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank has approved a grant of EC$ 500,000 to each of its member states to combat the corona virus.
-The postal corporation has suspended its services for regional and international mail.
-According to a newspaper a court order was granted to place a person in mandatory quarantine. I think this means that a person did not comply with the request to voluntarily self quarantine.
-The 1 person with confirmed infection will end her isolation tomorrow, will she be quarantined after that? Who knows. Maybe the grant of 500k could be put to some use to inform the public.
22nd March:
-Dominica is now closed for newly arriving yachts, after reporting its first imported case. Martinique has stopped passenger flights from France. Grenada just reported its first case (imported as well) and will close the airport to commercial flights carrying passengers. Seems we are the only one open for now.
-Barbados now has 14 cases+several on a cruise ship anchored offshore, up drastically from 2 last Friday. The majority of these cases is community transmitted, not imported. The airport is still open, but most carriers have drastically reduced flights and most countries advise against traveling abroad.
21st March:
-The government has decided that air and seaports in St. Vincent and the Grenadines will remain open. This in stark contrast to our direct neighbors St.Lucia and Grenada. St, Lucia's seaports are currently closed for recreational visitors, Grenada is still open with only Port Louis in St. George's as an official port of entry. Crews that have been in Europe or the USA within the previous 14 days entering Grenada have to self quarantine for 14 days. Some crew chose to ignore this, which resulted in a new rule: no yacht crews are allowed ashore in Carriacou!
There are still flights to Martinique from Europe, for some bareboat companies it is still business as usual, guess what their destination of choice will be, even if they had to self quarantine there is no way to enforce that in a multi island nation. These captains will be checking in in Bequia's revenue office, the immigration and customs officers will be in very close proximity and so it begins.
19th March:
2020 Bequia Easter Regatta has been canceled.
St. Lucia and Trinidad have closed all ports to recreational visitors. Including cruise ships. Grenada has only two ports where yachts can check in, crews will be screened for symptoms of disease. There is no entry for persons from Europe and the USA, China, Japan, South Korea.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines has no additional restrictions in place,but 75% of cruise ships have canceled their trips.
Air Canada will suspend flights to St. Vincent for at least one month starting March 30th.
