Saba News News and Information from Saba Island, Dutch Caribbean
Many of you know that we currently have clusters of cases affecting the Saba Comprehensive School and Daycare. We understand that this may be worrying for many, but let us remember that we are a highly vaccinated and boosted population. (The vaccine and booster help to protect against severe disease and illness, especially with the circulating omicron variant)
The Public Health Department will continue to test, contact trace, quarantine, and isolate for the time being, and we thank all those for working along with them. Despite these new cases, we will not reintroduce measures on the island unless the situation calls for it, like in the event of severe illness, which would burden the healthcare system.
Two years ago, when covid-19 arrived on our shores, we put safety measures in place as best we could with the information we had, which wasn’t that much as it was something new that the world was dealing with simultaneously.
A year later, there was a vaccine, and we breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that we could finally go back to the normal that we knew before 2020, and then there were the covid-19 variants, some more severe than others.
Putting things into perspective two years later;
• We know so much more now than we knew then
• Vaccines and boosters have significantly decreased hospitalization and severe disease
• There are medications now to treat severe cases of covid-19
• The current dominant strain of covid-19, omicron, although highly transmissible, usually does not cause severe illness
• Mask-wearing and good hygiene helps to limit contracting and spreading of covid-19
• And most of all, being responsible does play a role.
As a community, we have done an excellent job Saba! And Together as a community, we will go into the new phase in the coming weeks.
I want to end by saying, although we do not have any on-island mandatory measures, please use your discretion when it comes to your safety and your family’s safety.
Continue practicing good hand hygiene, wear a mask or social distance if you deem it necessary, and call Saba Cares when you are not feeling well.
Jonathan Johnson,
Island Governor
Island Governor