Acting Government Commissioner Alida Francis.
ST. EUSTATIUS--As it was learned that the four active COVID-19 cases were due to false positive tests results, St. Eustatius once again has no active cases of the virus.
Deputy Government Commissioner Alida Francis stated Tuesday evening that the St. Eustatius Public Health Department GGD had started conducting contract-tracing on Sunday, December 6, as a result of the positive coronavirus tests from Friday, December 4 and Saturday, December 5.
The GGD carried out tests on Sunday, and the persons who tested positive were tested again. People who were in direct contact with the positive persons over the weekend were also tested. “It was necessary for us to request that the tests be analysed again for confirmation,” said Francis.
The test results came back on Tuesday, and it was learned that all these tests were negative, including those of the four individuals who previously had tested positive.
Statia’s travel policy has been updated. The main change in the policy is that people in quarantine who visited a medium- or high-risk country will have to undergo a mandatory exit COVID-19 test.
Currently there are 114 persons in quarantine, and no one in isolation, with 22 pending test results. Francis said that 114 persons in quarantine is “too high a number.” The total number of persons in quarantine is based on the carrying capacity of the GGD which is a maximum of 60 persons.
As a consequence of the high number of people in quarantine, persons who want to return to Statia have been requested by the public entity St. Eustatius to postpone their return trip. This has caused people to complain about the long waiting time for permission to return.
“The government wants to ensure that the workload of the GGD does not get too high, as most of the GGD workers have not been able to have a vacation due to this pandemic, as they are at the forefront to the island’s response to the pandemic,” Francis stated.
The lack of quarantine capacity may become a problem again in January 2021, as many people have requested permission to return to Statia around that time.
“We would like to suggest that people with travel plans around Christmas reconsider if the visit is not highly required, especially if you will be going to medium- or high-risk countries,” Francis said. Very few countries in the world are categorised as low-risk at this moment.
She said that traveling brings a risk to the traveller, their family and the Statia community as a whole. Persons who can postpone their travel plans are being advised to do so, but it is a personal choice people will have to make, she said.
Rumours have been circulated that people in quarantine are not adhering to the quarantine rules. “We would like people to be reminded that when rumours are spread it can cause a lot of damage to the persons concerned, but also to their families and loved ones,” Francis said.
She asked everyone to be more considerate and careful, as it this had not been a nice experience for the persons who received positive test results over the weekend. In the same breath, she said persons in quarantine are being urged to take their responsibility seriously.
“Sneaking out of your quarantine location, whether it is at the central location, your home, or even accepting visitors to your location can put the island potentially in danger.” Francis said that Statia has been facing the pandemic for the past 10 months and asked everyone to be “responsible.”
