The V.I. Dept. of Health reported 2,111 cases of active Covid-19 infections territory-wide Monday, down 39 cases from Saturday's 2,150. The Omicron variant of the virus, now the dominant strain in the U.S. Virgin Islands, has caused the highest level of infection in the USVI since the pandemic started in March 2020, with the V.I. Dept. of Health reporting a positivity rate of 23.40 percent Saturday.
According to the latest data, St. Thomas accounted for 1,017 of the infections, followed by St. Croix with 998, and St. John with 92.
Governor Albert Bryan said last week he would announce his administration's decision on the reopening of in-person learning to all public school students this week based on how the numbers look. The original plan sees schools reopening on January 10, but the spread of the Omicron variant has raised concerns among teachers and parents on the safety of returning students to the classroom setting.
While Mr. Bryan is expected to announce a decision during today's press briefing scheduled for 1:00 p.m., the governor has expressed his desire to see students back in classrooms. "We want people back in school. I mean, we've delayed this like 3-4 times now. We already have students in school; remember students in K-3 are already" in the in-person setting.
"We want everybody else to get back in school, so far we're trending that way. If we don't start going down or flattening out next week, then we're going to have to make a decision on that. But right now we're trending toward going back to school. Of course you know you go back to school [to the in-person setting] you're going to take another bump in the cases too, but we've got to learn to live with the coronavirus," Mr. Bryan said.
He said the administration is paying close attention to hospitalizations and deaths, which would determine the level of action taken to restrict the spread of the virus. "Based on our statistical information and our projections we should be okay," he said. The health department reported seven hospitalizations at the Schneider Regional Medical Center last week with no patients vented, and the Juan F. Luis Hospital reported three patients with one on a ventilator.
Omicron is now proven to cause drastically less severe outcomes than variants before it, according to multiple studies from around the world, which explains why the territory has over 2,000 active infections and so little serious hospitalizations.
The variant's less severe nature has been backed up by over three major studies, including one from South Africa where the strain was first detected in late November, another by Scotland, and a third from the United Kingdom. The South African study, published online by researchers at South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases, found people infected with Omicron were 70% to 80% less likely to need hospital treatment than people infected with earlier variants, including Delta, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Advertisements
