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A fourth coronavirus case has been confirmed on St. John, according to a Department of Health infographic published late Thursday. St. John has seen the territory's two last cases, with St. Thomas and St. Croix holding steady at 39 and 31 confirmed cases respectively.
The latest case is considered community transmission, according to Dept. of Health Commissioner Justa Encarnacion. "It means it was transmitted somewhere within the community, and it's hard to say where within the community it was transmitted," Ms. Encarnacion told this publication this morning.
D.O.H. will be hosting a press conference at 1:00 p.m. today, according to Government House. The release did not say what will be discussed at the press event, but it is expected that the new St. John cases will be addressed.
As of Thursday, 2,535 tests were conducted territory-wide, of which 2,450 returned negative. The territory has seen 74 confirmed cases and 6 deaths, including a father, mother and son. According to D.O.H. 64 individuals have recovered.
The number of confirmed cases are inching up as the territory enters its "Open Doors" phase, which welcomes leisure travelers with hotels, AirBnB and other lodging outfits being allowed to accommodate guests through a June 1 order. Recently, the administration approved live entertainment at bars, restaurants and nightclubs.
In the Open Doors phase, patrons of restaurants and bars will not need to wear face masks, Governor Bryan said at one of his coronavirus press briefings, though employees are still required to.
All other businesses will still need to require their employees and customers to wear masks, the governor stressed. And all social distancing rules remain in place, including the six-feet-apart guideline.
To prepare for leisure guests, Mr. Bryan said heat sensors for fever temperature measurement were being installed at the airports. The idea is to detect passengers who may be sick with Covid-19 and isolating those individuals to minimize spread of the deadly pathogen.
The following restrictions remain in place in the USVI:
- Employees are required to wear facial coverings at all times. Governor Bryan told the Consortium last week that while patrons are not required to wear the masks at the restaurants and bars, "it is strongly recommended."
- Establishments must provide “sanitization stations” for customers and employees.
- Restaurants and bars can only operate at half of Fire Marshal-approved seating capacity, or host a maximum of 50 customers. “That is 50 percent of what the Fire Marshal said you can put in there or 50 customers — whichever one is less,” Mr. Bryan said.
- Tables must be placed at least six feet apart.
- Establishments cannot cater to parties larger than six people. Larger groups can be split up among multiple tables that are properly spaced apart.
- Bar stools must be “spaced out as much as possible. … We know that’s going to be difficult, but we are encouraging you to do that.”
