At the Government House’s weekly briefing, which resumed on Monday, January 30, Health Commissioner Justa Encarnación warned citizens that the new variant of COVID-19 still poses a risk to Virgin Islanders and suggested that everyone else get vaccinated as much as possible with the bivalent vaccine.
Governor Albert Bryan Jr. also suggested citizens to be careful and practice healthy practices in conditions such as the upcoming agricultural festival and other public events.
“I need to remind the network that COVID is still very much present,” the governor said. “And I say that as a victim for a couple of weeks beyond; You never know who you’ll meet.
“Especially our seniors with their masks, keep doing it,” said Governor Bryan. “Although this is now endemic, we still want non-unusual screening practices to protect you and your loved ones, especially if your loved ones are elderly or immunocompromised. “. “
So I ask everyone to be vigilant.
According to Commissioner Encarnación, lately there are 184 COVID-19 in the territory: 146 in St. Croix, 37 in St. Thomas and one in St. John. A patient is hospitalized with COVID at Schneider Regional Medical Center in St. Thomas and 3 patients are hospitalized at John Louis Hospital in St. Croix.
“The number of active instances is decreasing as a result of our outbreak,” Commissioner Encarnacion said, adding that the increase in instances in St. Croix followed the Christmas holidays.
“We need to inspire the balance between emotional, social, and physical health, so we’ll continue to send out press releases reminding people to practice smart hand hygiene and wear a mask at appropriate times, like traveling on a plane, and separate when not in contact with each other. ” feel good,” said the Commissioner.
He also addressed that the Ministry of Health is aware that the number of instances it tracks does not constitute all the instances in the territory, basically because a number of citizens are conducting home tests to verify if they have COVID and those figures would not be included in the Health Reports that are distributed.
Encarnación said that epidemiological monitoring is not meant to report each and every case, but is used to monitor trends in the spread of the virus.
Demolition of Charles Harwood:
Commissioner Encarnacion also announced that the physical demolition of the Charles Harwood complex on St. Croix is scheduled to begin Feb. 15.
The task includes the complete demolition of the main structure and annex and other permanent structures on the site. Demolition will follow through the structure of a four-story replacement structure of approximately 200,000 feet.
“The new facility will promote fitness and wellness and house a diversity of clinical services, such as networked fitness, behavioral fitness and kin circle planning, as well as other public fitness services, adding environmental conditioning, epidemiology and important statistics,” he said. .
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