An EZ Air aircraft being offloaded on the tarmac at F.D. Roosevelt Airport in St. Eustatius.
- EUSTATIUS--An EZ Air aircraft touched down at F.D. Roosevelt Airport in St. Eustatius on Friday evening, April 25, with medical supplies and three patients of Health Insurance Office ZVK on board. On Saturday, SXM Airways also brought ZVK patients home. All of them were placed in self-quarantine.
Government Commissioner Marnix van Rij said the public entity St. Eustatius is handling repatriations to the island on a case-by-case basis.
Currently, there are 10 persons in self-quarantine in Statia. One person is in isolation and will remain there until tested negative two times for COVID-19. The number of active cases on the island stands at one.
In total, 22 COVID-19 tests were carried out, six of which were re-tests. Two persons tested positive and the number of negative tests is 17, with no tests pending. One recovered person has tested negative for the virus twice, the public entity stated in its coronavirus update of Saturday, April 25.
Doctors Sharda and Fazal Baboe, who had to leave Statia due to a medical emergency in March, and who returned from Curaçao on April 18, are also quarantined, according to the guidelines in the emergency ordinance for the coronavirus crisis.
Both doctors are employed at Queen Beatrix Medical Centre and Dr. Sharda Baboe is also linked to the Public Health Department GGD. They are currently not working at the medical centre or the GGD. They can only leave their self-quarantine location if the public entity St. Eustatius or the government commissioner deems this necessary because of a medical emergency in which the doctors’ assistance is needed. This is the only reason the two doctors may leave their self-quarantine, but they would have to adhere to strict precautionary measures.
While in Curaçao, Sharda Baboe was assisting the GGD behind the scenes with the public entity’s policies with regard to the coronavirus, GGD head Carol Jack-Roosberg said. She is also the contact person for the laboratories in St. Maarten and Guadeloupe where all the tests are handled.
Dr. Sharda Baboe was on call this weekend during her self-quarantine, handling the telephone. In case a doctor was needed on the floor, Dr. George Odongo was available for patient care.
Jack-Roosberg said the GGD is trying to become more involved in telemedicine in these challenging circumstances.
