Health

Three Unannounced Bird-Flu Drills Tested USVI Health Facilities

Three unannounced exercises using professional actors posing as patients potentially infected with avian influenza were conducted at healthcare sites in the U.S. Virgin Islands earlier this year, according to a newly released federal report that does not identify the local sites or disclose how they individually performed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published the findings Thursday in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, detailing 73 drills conducted between January and June 2026 across New York, New Jersey and the Virgin Islands. Three of those exercises took place in the USVI. However, the performance data were combined with results from the other jurisdictions, leaving unanswered whether Virgin Islands healthcare workers successfully identified, masked and isolated the simulated patients, properly used protective equipment, or alerted infection-control personnel. The report also does not name the Virgin Islands facilities involved. That information exist...