Limetree Bay Terminals on St. Croix. By. ERNICE GILBERT FOR VI CONSORTIUM
ST. CROIX — Limetree Bay, which owns the oil storage terminal and refinery on the south shore of St. Croix, on Tuesday responded to queries placed to it by the Consortium, stating in a release that it stands firmly behind its Covid-19 data. The company's information was called into question by V.I. Dept. of Health Commissioner Justa Encarnacion during Governor Bryan's Covid-19 press briefing Monday.
"Our numbers are valid. We are asking them [Limetree Bay] also to submit something on their website that indicates the Department of Health has the most accurate data and the most timely data, because we update our data on a daily basis. And so we will work with them carefully and closely to ensure that the numbers are accurate as well as the disclosure that our numbers are accurate," Ms. Encarnacion said.
Limetree Bay's website, which showed 21 active cases earlier today, was updated to include a drop of 10 for a total of 11 actives. This means 10 additional persons have since been deemed recovered by the V.I. Department of Health, as D.O.H. is responsible for determining when individuals have healed from the virus.
D.O.H. listed only 4 active cases for St. Croix as of Monday night.
Limetree told the Consortium that contrary to D.O.H.'s assertion that its numbers are inaccurate, Limetree Bay has generated daily reports, and has provided those reports on a daily basis to the V.I. Dept. of Health. Limetree Bay also stated that its policy is to first receive clearance letters from D.O.H. for persons who were infected with Covid-19 at the facility before allowing these individuals to return to work.
"Limetree firmly stands behind its consistent and transparent reporting of information to the DOH and to the public. Limetree will continue to provide information daily to the DOH and will continue to work with the Government of the Virgin Islands and the DOH to help curtail the spread of the COVID-19 virus," the company said.
Limetree said it began its testing program on July 9 and has conducted more than 11,000 tests and reduced the positivity rate at the facility to less than 1 percent.
"All test results are reported on a daily basis to the Department of Health," Limetree said
The following represents the data reported daily:
- All Limetree employees and contractors tested (including family members)
- Contact information for all persons tested
- All Limetree employees and contractors quarantined in/out of the Limetree Village
- All persons identified as a contact trace of a positive case
- All Limetree employees and contractors identified as recovered per notice from the DOH. It is important to note that no person is released to return to work unless cleared by the D.O.H.
The Dept. of Health had originally given the Consortium an explanation as to why its numbers were different from that of Limetree's before Ms. Encarnacion changed the department's response.
"The difference is Limetree counts every test even if one person gets tested multiple times. We count each person only once. For example, if one person has tested negative 5 times, on our report it counts as one person being negative," D.O.H. said initially Saturday.
The disparity between Limetree's and D.O.H.'s numbers has been an ongoing issue for a while now.
