(VI Consortium) Health officials in the U.S. Virgin Islands are ramping up their calls to the public to get vaccinated, as the highly transmissible and deadly Delta Covid-19 variant — which British Virgin Islands health officials believe is responsible for the calamitous situation in the BVI — has also been suspected in the U.S. Virgin Islands, with concrete proof coming sometime this week.
As of Sunday, the territory had fifteen Covid patients hospitalized: ten on St. Thomas and five on St. Croix, according to data provided to the Consortium by Health Commissioner Justa Encarnacion. Of the fifteen people hospitalized, three were on ventilators: two on St. Thomas and one on St. Croix, the health commissioner made known.
Ms. Encarnacion also said that there would have been more deaths and hospitalizations if the territory had not been utilizing monoclonal antibody (MAB) treatments on patients, which has been proven to help severely ill Covid patients recover. The Schneider Regional Medical Center has administered 203 MAB treatments to date, while the Juan F. Luis Hospital has administered forty-three, according to the health commissioner.
