U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS — During his weekly update Monday on the status of the COVID-19 virus in the Territory, Governor Albert Bryan Jr. reminded residents that while there have been no significant increases in the number of new cases, the threat of the virus remains real.
“While we are looking good so far in our testing and number of active cases, I want to remind the public that we are still very much in this battle against the spread of COVID in the territory,” Governor Bryan said. “As a matter of fact, just this weekend I had to remind someone that we are still in a State ofEmergency in the territory.”
The Governor urged residents not to let their guard down, particularly when going to bars and nightclubs. He also reminded the community to continue wearing face masks and practicing social distancing.
“We have been seeing a lot of activity around the bars, including large crowds and individuals not practicing safe social distancing. I need people to understand that patronizing these establishments places you at a higher than usual risk, so please adhere to the guidelines and take additional precautionary measures,” Governor Bryan said.
Stimulus checks
- The Department of Finance last week issued an additional 3,665 checks totaling just more than $6.1 million dollars.
- To date, 28,263 stimulus checks totaling $45.9 million have been issued.
- The Government of the Virgin Islands still is waiting for the list of beneficiaries from the Social Security Administration.
YES credits
- The V.I. Water and Power Authority has completed its May billing cycle and all YES program credits have been applied to ratepayers’ accounts.
- To date, WAPA has issued $250 credits to 44,157 residential ratepayers and $500 credits to 7,671 commercial ratepayers.
- A total of 51,828 ratepayers have received YES credits.
Unemployment benefits
- As of June 5th, the Department of Labor has issued 11,291 unemployment insurance checks totaling $8.2 million dollars.
- The Labor Department has issued 6,599 Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation checks totaling $13.1 million dollars.
- The total amount of unemployment benefits issued is just more than $21.3.
- The Department of Labor has secured a contract with InTouch Call Center, and the public can get information about any COVID-19-related employment security issues and unemployment benefits by calling 1-877-374-0356.
- The call center is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
COVID-19 cases
- Currently tracking 3 active cases
- 2,202 individuals tested to date
- 2,128 of those tests were negative
- 71 tests came back positive
- 63 recovered
- 3 tests are pending
- 6 fatalities to date
- No COVID-19 patients are hospitalized at Juan F. Luis Hospital on St. Croix.
- One COVID-19 patient is hospitalized and improving at Schneider Regional Medical Center on St. Thomas.
Governor Bryan’s next COVID-19 update is scheduled for 1pm Monday, June 15th
