The third confirmed case of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, has been confirmed in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the V.I. Department of Health announced Wednesday evening.
The case is from the St. Thomas/St. John District, the second from that district. The territory’s first confirmed case was from St. Croix.
According to the Wednesday news release announcing the case, DOH said, “Health officials have been closely monitoring the global outbreak and building capacity to prevent the spread of the disease in the territory and respond to the positive cases.”
The department’s Epidemiology Department is testing for cases that meet the “persons under investigation” criteria. It also is conducting contact tracing and assisting health care providers and the public with up-to-date information on how to prevent additional cases, the news release said.
“While the risk of severe illness for most is low, precautions must still be taken to avoid transmission within the community,” DOH said in its release. “A person may also get COVID-19 by touching a surface that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose or eyes.”
Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. said Wednesday the confirmation of the third case comes as no surprise and underscores the need for V.I. residents to continue following the Department of Health’s guidelines.
“Unfortunately, we know that we that we will have more cases in the territory,” Bryan said. “We expect that at least two additional cases will be confirmed positive based on the proximity of those individuals to the territory’s first two cases.”
Department of Health guidelines to avoid COVID-19 and preventing the spread of the virus are:
– Limit socializing and close contact with others, because people without symptoms can still transmit the virus.
– While sick, avoid contact with others.
– Avoid people with cold or flu-like symptoms.
– Stay home if you are sick.
– Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when coughing or sneezing and discard the tissue. Wash your hands immediately. Avoid touching your mouth, nose or eyes.
– Clean and disinfect surfaces and objects that may be contaminated.
– Wash your hands often with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available use an alcohol-based hand rub with at least 60 percent alcohol.
Reported COVID-19 symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath. It spreads mostly between people who are in close contact via respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
People who have contracted COVID-19 are most likely to spread it when they are most symptomatic, the Department of Health said.
