Archive of posts from Saba-News.com Archive Saba News
Update Covid 19 status, Wednesday, January 26th
On Wednesday, January 26th there are no new active cases. 3 people are recovered and out of isolation.
Update Covid 19 status, Sunday, January 23th
On Sunday, January 23rd, there are no new active cases. 3 people have recovered and are out of isolation.
Update Covid 19 status, Saturday, January 22th
1 new positive case was revealed during Special Measures testing. All contact tracing completed.
3 persons recovered.
Update Covid 19 status, Thursday, January 20th
On Thursday, January 20th there are 2 new positive cases. 1 case is an import and 1 case is from contact.
Also on Wednesday, we have 6 people recovered and out of isolation.
Update Covid 19 status, Wednesday, January 19th
Update Covid 19 status, Tuesday, January 18th
6 new positive cases – 2 unknown sources and 4 close contacts.
5 persons recovered.
(Updated 4:16 pm)
Update Covid 19 status, Saturday, January 15th
2 new active cases, both cases are contacts.
11 persons recovered.
Friday, January 14th, update from Island Governor Jonathan Johnson.
Today we have 65 active cases, 4 new cases, 1 imported case, 1 close contact, 2 queries. There have also been 21 persons recovered.
We have seen our numbers slowly decrease in the last few days. Many people recovered, and we had no hospitalizations of our covid-19 cases to date. However, this does not mean we should become complacent.
The community has done an excellent job of being together and protecting themselves and others by wearing masks, physically distancing, and practicing good hand hygiene. Please continue to do this, and pass these good practices along to the children as they prepare to recommence school next week, Monday the 17th.
First of all, being a parent myself, I share your concerns about having our children return to school given our current covid situation. However, I am confident that the measures will provide a safe reopening and reduce covid transmission.
However, the adverse effects of keeping our children out of school pose some challenges, particularly for the most vulnerable and marginalized boys and girls.
In preparation for the reopening of schools, the Outbreak Management Team has met with all schools, daycare, after-school care, Child focus, and the bus drivers.
On behalf of the Public Health Department to the parents out there, please keep the following in mind;
- Your child should remain at home when sick. Parents should keep a close eye on their child’s health.
- If parents test positive for covid, your child(ren) should stay at home, and vice versa.
- If you can, drop your child(ren) at school to avoid congestion in the busses.
- Children 6 years and up should wear masks.
- Good hygiene, hand hygiene, and ventilation at schools will limit the spread of covid-19 in schools.
- Use the self-tests at the pharmacy, but be considerate of others. If you think you or your child may have had contact with a person positive for covid-19, but you Public Health did not identify you as such, do a self-tests 4-5 days after contact.
- A single infection in a classroom does not mean that the entire class has to quarantine. If there are outbreaks involving multiple infections in the same class, Public Health may advise that all the children be tested or quarantined; this will be situation-dependent.
- Vaccinate your kids when they are eligible for the vaccine; this will hopefully be at the end of this month.
Although we have not received confirmation from the RIVM as yet, we believe the omicron variant is the prominent strain on Saba right now. We know from our cases and cases worldwide that this variant of covid-19 is highly transmissible, but symptoms are often mild to moderate. We know that vaccination helps reduce severe cases of covid-19 and hospitalization. We encourage everybody, especially all staff at all child care institutions, to get vaccinated if you haven’t already and get your booster shot.
I know most of us on Saba took the covid-19 vaccine, and many people are asking why we need a booster now. The reality is, it’s been almost a year since we initially took the covid-19 vaccine, and with increased immune responses due to the virus changing and evolving, people should also have increased protection against infection and transmission. The booster shot is not a new practice, as you may have recalled getting booster shots against other types of viruses during your lifetime.
As we continue to put up a fight against this virus as a community and as a collective people, let us remember that we are each other’s keepers. You are not only responsible for your health, but through your actions, you are also responsible for the health and wellbeing of all those you may come into contact with.
GIS Saba
We are coming out the other side, this is great news!