The latest case of the novel coronavirus has been recorded in St. John, the V.I. Department of Health confirmed through an infographic chart released Sunday. St. John's total confirmed cases stood at two before Sunday for most of the time period when cases started being tracked in the territory, while St. Thomas and St. Croix cases grew over the months to 39 and 31 cases respectively.
According to the Department of Health, the latest case in St. John is travel related. The island has seen no community spread or deaths related to the respiratory disease.
As of Sunday, D.O.H. had tested 2,383 individuals, 73 of whom tested positive for the disease, while 2,305 have tested negative, and five cases pending. Six people have died of the virus, including a father, mother and son.
The St. John case follows two recent cases in the territory after a long period of negative results.
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.”
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