TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands CDC raises BVI to level 4 Covid

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/covid-4/coronavirus-british-virgin-islands

Recommends Americans not travel to the BVI.

What are the current numbers of infections?

I haven't seen anything since the weekend but it was at 1596 as of 7/15. They stopped mass testing so the infection numbers don't mean much any more.

Deaths and hospitalization are probably the better numbers to track. Saturday we were at 28 admitted patients and 17 deaths but I know more have passed since then with no reporting.

Nominally they have gone down (due to recoveries and deaths); but since they've stopped their intensive testing efforts that doesn't necessarily reflect current conditions. I think it is still at 1596 cases as of yesterday (source: BVI Platinum News)

Wow, 17 deaths, and there have been more since then? Wow.. Before this round of infections, there was only one death?

Yes. Probably almost 1 year ago.

Any increase in desire of people there to get vaccinated? You'd think going from 1 death for a year to 16 new deaths that might provide some encouragement. Assuming no one who was vaccinated died?

Really sad as the BVI could be booming right now just like the USVI is.

They did have a drive-through vaccination this weekend with about 800 vaccinations getting done! That's 2.5% of the population which will sadly take some weeks to fully take effect but is still a huge step in the right direction.

That’s a huge improvement in vaccination rate. Glad to hear it!

Zanshin--that is good news! Hopefully many more will get vaccinated. Perhaps the seriousness of this is finally sinking in.

Hate that it had to come to this for folks to come to their senses..what a crying shame.

Who is counting and reporting and verifying causes of death on these new deaths?

The numbers come from the BVIHSA and the deaths have occurred at Peebles. No expert, but not sure if an autopsy is performed when there is a death in those circumstances.

Regardless of if it’s covid, covid related or perhaps another cause 17 deaths in the BVI is significant in such a short time period.

Another 235 vaccinated yesterday at the drive thru, looked pretty steady today as well.
The drive thru will be open 9-4 all week, so hopefully many more to add...

Today another 187 vaccinated.

That’s 1,222, which is 3.82% of the population, if they’re all first doses. That’s a great jump! I hope they can meet or exceed those numbers for the next several weeks. When is the new vaccine shipment due?

And, unfortunately the jump in fatalities usually trails the jump in cases by a couple of weeks.

Total numbers are currently:
active cases - 1604
deaths - 23
1st shot - 15,620
2nd shot - 10,881

Wow, 1st shots are at about 50% - great news!

I agree, the recent push got that number of 1st shots up dramatically. Many of those aren't quite active yet, but the trend is promising and even just one shot is much better than none at all.

I thought I also read somewhere that they are trying to make the Moderna and Pfizer shots available to BVI people via a trip to the USVI. Not sure how that would all work but if people were concerned about the AstraZeneca shot having options may increase the vax count.

Astra Zenica does not seem to be as effective. Would be nice if they could get either Moderna or Pfizer.

Or J&J - one and done would be great for them.

One and done is nice but I believe the J&J is quite a bit less effective than other options.

Agreed. No way would I personally want J & J (if I weren't already vaccinated, which I am!!)

Yeah, I did some looking it seems it is a lot less effective against the delta variant. Given that, the others do make more sense.

I got the J&J, which normally is only given to the homeless in Germany (because it is so difficult to get them to come twice); but I got in a local lottery due to an outbreak in the city where I was. For me the vaccine is just an insurance policy against severe sickness and prevents hospitalization - I still act as if I'm not vaccinated. I realized how times have changed, one guy at the store register today was sniffling and I wondered if it was COVID, allergies, or just a coke habit...

There is nothing wrong with the J&J vaccine other than the negative spin it attracts when the coffers for the other two stop over-flowing with dollars. For a hesitant population they might want to consider a one and done. BTW, I've read two separate articles this week in which one said J&J is outperforming the Pfizer/Moderna against the variant and the other said it's not performing well against the variant. Just gotta do your own thing...

J & J is only about 75% effective, in general, versus Pfizer and Moderna, each at nearly 95%. That 20% is a BIG difference to me.

Again, what good is Pfizer or Moderna if a population is particularly resistant to getting a vaccine in the first place. At that point one shot may be all they are willing to take. So I think that we can agree that having the J&J (along with the others) offered to them would be the way to reach the most people. 75% efficacy would FAR OUTPACE their current protection which obviously wasn't much.

Looking at some of the contents of the reader comments on the BVI news sites I read similar views about other vaccines being better than what they have. But those would need to be purchased by the BVI, and those that they do have (and which are due to expire soon) were FREELY GIVEN. It just goes to show that regardless of the situation there will always be those who complain. In the UK we call it "whinging and whining"

mfringsley--on that, we agree, that their current protection is basically zero..

If I remember the data correctly, the J&J 67% efficacy rate is in the prevention of CONTRACTING COVID-19. The efficacy in the prevention of SEVERE SICKNESS & HOSPITALIZATION is comparable to that of Phizer and Moderna, is it not? Forgive the caps...

That could be, but this whole topic has become a general one, not about the original topic, which is extremely important. Sorry for my role in the thread drift.

Let's get back to the topic of current Covid levels in the BVI..

The new numbers published on the BVI government site don't reflect the actual infection levels here; but the death and hospitalization numbers show that the crisis is still continuing. The first travelers were refused boarding on Monday due to delayed test results (as was already predicted in this thread), and the Minister of Health's "apologies" don't really ring true (https://bvinews.com/late-test-results-causes-missed-flights-health-minister-apologises/).

Wait, they have 30,000 rapid tests just sitting there somewhere?? "The minister explained that there are some 30,000 rapid test kits “sitting right now” and said these should have been made available sooner but his team is still working on a strategy on how to best implement it."

Unfortunately, the rapid tests won't help the problem of people being turned away at the ferry and then missing flights. USVI now requires an antibody or PCR test and that system is overwhelmed. They would need to figure out a strategy to prioritize outbound USVI tests or increase capacity so every result is returned in 24 hours.

We're coming to the wrap up of this year's busy season (either naturally or forced) so that may be enough to bring some relief to the testing load.

I ALWAYS recommend flying. That process has been working for a while and there is a lot more redundancy in carriers. My recommendation stands; if you are in the BVI or planning a trip in the next couple of months, change your tickets and fly thru SJU.

Yes. This is the BVI, by the time the strategy is developed and implemented there will no longer be a need for said tests. And remember that there is a fight going on with the government not approving private practice tests and insist on using their one (overloaded) official government-run lab. St. Maarten put the BVI on the red list and I wouldn't be surprised if other countries don't follow suit soon.