by Linda Straker
- Grenada has “no health travel notice”
- In very low-risk group for the transmission of Covid-19
- New Covid-19 case announced on Monday, 11 October
Health Minister, Nickolas Steele, said that Grenada’s continued inclusion of the island in the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) very low-risk group for the transmission of Covid-19 is not only a matter of not having an active case, but has a lot to do with the enforcement of public health and quarantine regulations as part of the new health protocols for entry to the island.
Grenada is one of 7 Caricom countries, 6 of which are in the OECS, that have been deemed safe for citizens of the United States to travel. The other countries that have “no health travel notice” issued against them are Anguilla, Dominica, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis and St Lucia. The 7th regional territory is The Cayman Islands.
“The goal now is for us to maintain this status and not return to the other levels. I, therefore, urged all visitors especially our returning nationals to please comply with the entry protocols and remain in quarantine until given the permission to leave,” said Steele.
Grenada was previously labelled as low risk by the CDC, and is now in the ‘No Travel Health Notice’ list, which means that the risk is very low. The CDC has 5 risk levels with the highest level of 3 labelled as high risk, level 2 labelled as moderate and level 1 labelled as low risk. The 4th is very low. The 5th level are countries whose data is unknown to the CDC.
On Monday, 11 October 2020, health officials in Grenada announced a new Covid-19 case which increased the number of cases confirmed on the island to 25, since the first case was confirmed in March.
There were no cases from late July until early October. The new case is a returning national who entered the country on a flight from Canada. He left the quarantine facility before getting back his results and as of Friday, 15 October dozens of people who were both directly and indirectly exposed to him, are in quarantine.
The CDC website which was last updated on 13 October, explained that the risk level is based on population count. “For foreign countries and US Territories with 300,000 people or less, CDC reviews 2 primary criteria: new Covid-19 case counts, and new case trajectory.” Grenada’s population is 110,000.
