Bryan delayed reopening of Virgin Islands schools until at least Sept. 8

Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. said on July 13, 2020, that the U.S. Virgin Islands would delay the reopening of public schools until at least Sept. 8 as COVID-19 cases continued to rise in the territory.

Bryan said reopening schools on Aug. 10 would have required fully online instruction. He said the Education Department had drafted a reopening plan that complied with Department of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and that public discussions of the plan would begin that week.

Bryan also said the COVID-19 outbreak at Limetree Bay Terminal on St. Croix was continuing. He said the administration had been informed before the briefing of 16 additional positive cases at the refinery.

According to figures Bryan provided, Limetree had 2,685 workers, including 985 living in the man camp and 1,700 living outside it. He said 1,386 workers had been tested and 69 had tested positive, including 40 outside the man camp and 29 inside it. He said 59 of the 69 positive cases were asymptomatic and that Limetree was testing more than 300 people a day.

Bryan said Limetree Bay and the Virgin Islands Department of Health had increased testing and contact tracing among refinery contract workers. He said those steps were in addition to a moratorium on additional contract workers traveling to the territory, temperature checks at the gates, and a two-week restriction involving the man camp and contract workers.

Bryan said 11 states and territories were subject to travel restrictions for entry into the Virgin Islands: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Nevada, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Texas and Utah. Travelers from those jurisdictions were required to present a negative COVID-19 test taken within five days of arrival.

The government said it was tracking 120 active cases as of July 13. It said 4,296 people had been tested, with 206 positive results, 4,084 negative results and six pending tests. Since July 10, 617 people had been tested and 49 were positive, including three on St. Thomas and 46 on St. Croix, 41 of them linked directly to Limetree Bay. The territory had recorded six deaths. One COVID-19 patient was hospitalized on a ventilator at Juan F. Luis Hospital on St. Croix, and one was hospitalized at Schneider Regional Medical Center on St. Thomas.

Official source: https://www.vi.gov/governor-bryan-delays-reopening-of-territorys-schools/