Covid-19 second wave in St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Importing new cases

Right after American Airlines resumed flights to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as airports in other islands reopening their borders, there have bee new imported cases of Covid 19.

It was preferred that passengers had themselves tested and only flew if they tested negative, but not everybody adhered to that recommendation. Hence there were a total of 21 positive cases determined after testing in St. Vincent. 6 of these have now recovered, must be the climate, bringing the total active cases to 15.

It is now mandatory for persons wishing to travel from the USA to St. Vincent that they are tested negative for Covid 19 72 hours or less prior to their flight.

Current Covid 19 status in St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Covid 19 in St. Vincent and the Grenadines: stage 2

Update 3rd May: A 17th person has tested positive, and one person confirmed recovered, bringing the total number of active cases to 8. Number 17 is part of the same cluster.
Update 29th April: A 16th person has tested positive, this one too is closely associated with the last cluster. Contact tracing has been done I suppose, the number of persons in quarantine has increased to 100.


Very quiet front street Port Elizabeth

Update 26th April
A 15th person has been tested positive, this one too is closely associated with case 13 and 14 who got it from an imported case.
 3 more persons have recovered as confirmed by 2 negative tests, bringing the total number of active cases to 7.
Update 23rd April
A 14th case has been confirmed, this one "closely associated" with case 13. At least 5 other persons are  closely associated with this last case, extensive contact tracing is being done to determine if there is now community spreading of the virus.
Several tests have been done for medical clearance of patients, two more are recovered. The  total recovered is now 5, active cases 9.
Update April 21st
This last person that tested positive has no recent travel history. The ministry of health now calls this a local transmission, meaning the person has been in direct contact with a patient with a travel history. As per the CDC: This is the stage of local transmission - when people who have brought the virus into the country transmit it to people they come in contact with, usually friends and family. At this stage, it is easy to trace spread and quarantine people.
This is different from community spread, where none of the infected patients have been in contact with an infected person that has a travel history. That would be stage 3.
April 21st
Today one more person has tested positive for the novel corona virus bringing the total of cases to 13. 2 of the active cases have been tested twice, result negative, and hence received medical clearance.
This brings the total active cases to 10.
It is unclear if this new positive is caused by local transmission or concerns a person who has travelled.

The Corona virus in Bequia

The Corona virus in Bequia

18th April LIAT will continue to suspend all passenger services till the 15th of May.
 At the moment there are still 12 cases, of which 1 has recovered. Of the other 11 6 are now being tested to see if they recovered.
 Bequia Express will resume the regular schedule starting this Monday.
17th April Some of the persons infected with the virus are being tested now to see if they have recovered. A lot of people have completed their quarantine, so far there are no new cases and the total is still 12, of which 1 recovered.
10th April Of the 30 samples sent off, 4 tested positive.  They have now been placed in isolation. Quarantine had been extended by a week for 32 persons, they were supposed to have ended their quarantine on the 8th of April. They all worked on the same cruise ship of which 4 persons tested positive previously. The prime minister had persuaded CARPHA, the Caribbean testing agency, to test these persons even though they were asymptomatic.
8th April 30 samples have been sent off for testing. Equipment for 3000 rapid tests is being sent by Venezuela. The public health Act has been amended, breaking quarantine now can carry a fine of $2000.
7th April A next batch of 4 tests just came back and one of them was positive, bringing the total number of cases to 8, of which one recovered. This last one is also a Vincentian national arriving from abroad.
On the Bequia case: there are several versions, one is that the person is in isolation in his home and has tested positive for the virus, the other version is that he arrived from New York and is in strict quarantine in his home.

Time for a new post, the Covid 19 virus has possibly reached Bequia, people say, but it may very well be that the persons concerned are strictly adhering to the mandatory quarantine.

4th April I just heard, word of mouth so  could be a rumour, a man from Paget farm, Bequia, has tested positive for the corona virus. He has been in voluntary quarantine after arriving from the USA. Details to follow if true.
The Admiral ferry is currently not running, and Bequia Express has a limited schedule for passenger travel.