by Linda Straker
- 13 unvaccinated and 9 fully vaccinated passengers positive for Covid-19 between August and October
- Fully vaccinated arrivals spend up to 48 hours in quarantine
- Unvaccinated arrivals spend up to 7 days in quarantine or until medically cleared
Since Grenada began enforcing its policy that only fully vaccinated foreign nationals will be allowed into the country, there have been 9 passengers testing positive for Covid-19.
As of 31 July 2021, all arriving passengers entering the country who were not nationals had to be fully vaccinated. Grenadian nationals and citizens were allowed entry without showing their vaccination status.
“The change in policy forms part of Government’s ongoing efforts to control the spread of Covid-19 in Grenada. Under the new guidelines, outside of citizens and residents of Grenada, no one will be allowed to enter the country from July 31, unless they are fully vaccinated. Citizens and residents of Grenada can return whether vaccinated or unvaccinated,” said the news release from the Government Information Service (GIS) announcing the new policy.
Records from the Ministry of Health show that in August 2021 there were 5 fully vaccinated arrivals who tested positive, and there were 2 in September and 2 in October. The data also shows that there were 5 unvaccinated arrivals who tested positive in August and 4 in September and 4 in October.
Thousands of fully vaccinated visitors and unvaccinated nationals entered the islands during the 3-month period. All arriving visitors who are fully vaccinated are mandated to be tested upon arrival at the Maurice Bishop International Airport (MBIA) and spend up to 48 hours in quarantine once there is a negative Covid-19 test resulted. Unvaccinated arrivals are required to spend up to 7 days in quarantine or until medically cleared if there is a positive result after taking the test at the airport.
Grenada experienced its first major Covid-19 outbreak from mid-August to early October and during that period over 5,000 people were medically diagnosed as positive cases. There were many others who became infected but did not seek medical assistance, and recovered from the infection.
At one time during the outbreak, the Acting Chief Medical Officer said that the positivity rate was 30% among those testing for the virus, and projected that the country may experience a positive rate of 50%. That has not occurred.
As a result of the outbreak almost 200 people, many of whom were senior citizens, died. Among them was Massima Noel, Grenada’s oldest citizen who was 119 years old.
The economy is already terrible
Keep your attention outside of the epidemic.
If 15 unvaccinated arrivals were tested positive they must have been Grenadian nationals. We don’t know if any of the 9 vaccinated who tested positive were returning nationals but it begs the question why are returning nationals treated different to any one else? The government should change it’s policy & insist all arrivals are fully vaccinated, returning nationals or not.
Ok, 5000 people were diagnosed during this period while the airport caught 9 positive cases, so we were definitely at community spread and those arriving were not the real threat.
The headline makes it seem like something else, but Straker did not provide the denominator (9 out of how many??). That is critical context! If we presume 15,000 travelers arrived over those three months (less than half the PCR tests conducted since July 30), and nine were positive, that’s a positive rate of 0.05%. That is similar to what studies on “breakthrough cases” (infected while vaccinated) have shown. Breakthrough cases are miniscule compared to regular infections and way shorter in length (less time to spread, lower viral load, etc).
The real threat are those that continue to forward dubious and deep-fake, anti-vax videos on whatsapp and facebook. Do we want another variant to come and wipe out another 200 of us? God gave us a way out. Do your part, please get vaccinated.
Linda Straker
Was is the point of this article??
We all know that both vaccinated and unvaccinated persons can test positive for covid?
At least visitors being vaccinated greatly reduces the chances of them getting very sick whilst they are here and becoming a burden on Grenada’s health system.
A better subject might be about how the daily vaccination rate amongst Grenadians, which was so high when 10 people were dying a day, has greatly diminished now.
As one of our most eminent journalists, Linda Straker does not need me to correct YOUR statement, but I am going to do so anyway.
There are NO INACCURACIES in her report, you are simply asking for additional information and as an educated person I am sure you know where to get such data. Insults do not become you !
Linda, Linda, Linda
Again your information is sketchy at best.
What is the point of your article ???
Learn how to provide accurate information. The fully vaccinated persons who tested positive, was this upon ARRIVAL or DEPARTURE??? Same with unvaccinated be precise in your reporting. You are NOT up to snuff in your journalism skills Linda Straker!
Tough crowd! Re-read the paragraph beginning “Records from The Ministry of Health show……” and you’ll see she refers to arriving passengers. Together with the reference to testing at MBIA, and the quarantine requirements make it clear, to me at least, she refers to testing positive on ARRIVAL.
How petty you are.
Just picking holes for the sake of it. Please be more supportive.