Some local Saint Barth reporting with new details on the numbers behind the numbers.
Zero active cases in Saint-Barth, clues
of the circulation of the virus weaken
Santé Publique France published its second epidemiological bulletin on Friday April 17. It identifies the number of patients seen by their treating physicians or at the hospital who have had symptoms of Covid-19 but have not been tested. In addition, a battery of tests was carried out on Super U personnel, all negative.
Good news yesterday in the ARS daily update: the last Saint Barth patient who was infected with Covid-19 is cured. Thus, the island no longer has any proven cases.
However, not everyone is screened. So how does the virus circulate on the island? The indices are encouraging.
In its first bulletin, Santé Publique France had identified 36 suspected cases between March 23 and April 5. Evocative cases which are not all really contaminated by Covid-19.
The organization added in its second bulletin, published on Friday, that during the week of March 30 to April 5, fourteen people consulted their doctor in Saint-Barthélemy for an ARI (acute respiratory infection). From April 6 to 12, this number dropped to 5.
In the same two weeks, five visits to the hospital for suspected coronavirus were recorded.
ARS and Santé Publique France estimate that statistically, 3 of these suspect patients are actually infected with the virus. This is a significant drop since the beginning of April.
Questioned by us on April 6, the liberal doctors had announced 68 suspected cases in six weeks, mainly encountered in the first two weeks of March. After the start of confinement, they encountered far fewer patients likely to be carriers of the virus.
For almost a month, all the tests carried out on Saint-Barth patients have returned negative. Observations in private doctors' offices show a spike in suspected cases in the first half of March, which has only decreased since the start of confinement.
Two dozen negative tests at Super U
In its bulletin, Santé Publique France also talks about a case on our island which was detected via its treating doctor, whose test returned negative. In addition, ARS Guadeloupe conducted this week a vast screening of Super U employees, considering that it is the establishment which receives the most public on the island, in
both twenty-four employees, at the start of the week. All results, returned Wednesday April 15, are negative. Supermarket staff are among the most exposed to Covid-19 traffic. On the island, a Super U employee had tested positive for coronavirus on March 26. She is healed today.
Effect of containment
Macron’s scientific council announced last week that the epidemic was going to worsen in the overseas territories, citing a shift of three to four weeks compared to mainland France. However, containment, added to the closing of the borders, was applied at the very beginning of the epidemic, ahead of France. An anticipation that must have greatly increased the effectiveness of these measures.
In fact, most of the territories
ultramarine roofs are fairly spared compared to France as a whole: Wallis and Futuna has known no cases, New Caledonia began its deconfinement on Monday. In Saint-Barthélemy, the epidemic has so far been very limited. The number of contamination in Saint-Martin and Guadeloupe has stagnated or increased slightly for the past few days.
This news is encouraging, however, vigilance remains in place in these territories which have nevertheless experienced rapid progression of the virus in a short time. And whose health systems are less solid than in mainland France. Mayotte and Guyana are particularly monitored. And in Guadeloupe, doctors indicate that in view of the patients they treat, the Covid-19 does indeed circulate in the population.
