COVID-19 outbreak in St. Kitts and Nevis continues to grow
There has been a spike in COVID-19 cases in the federation of St. Kitts and Nevis recently when two hotel workers contracted the virus while on duty from a guest staying at the hotel.
This has resulted in the closure of all early childhood, primary and secondary schools, and the daughter of one of the hotel workers was also diagnosed with COVID-19 and is currently in quarantine.
It has stirred up quite an alarm within the epicenter of the outbreak and neighbouring communities. Several persons are currently in quarantine and self-isolation.
The Health Department and the National COVID-19 Taskforce have been conducting tests at the various schools since Sunday 23rd May, four (4) days after the first case was discovered.
The process of testing is questionable as The Caribbean Alert has been informed that only students are being tested and that the parents will be tested depending on the results from the students. Currently, students are asked to be placed in isolation, while family members can continue to function as normal. This seems to be counterproductive.
To date, there are 19 active cases. The first case was announced on Wednesday 19th May. The Federation is still awaiting the results of the tests that were done at the secondary schools during the course of this week.
The country has been vigorously pushing a COVID-19 vaccination campaign but has not been as successful as they initially estimated. 53.7% of the Federation’s population has taken the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, but only 19.9% has taken the second, which leaves only 6,561 persons fully vaccinated of a population of over 52,000.
Liz Myke
Reporter
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