CHARLOTTE AMALIE — COVID-19 deaths continue to rise in the territory with two deaths related to coronavirus in just the last two days, the Virgin Islands Department of Health confirmed.
The Health Department confirmed today that a 93-year-old man on St. Thomas became the 17th confirmed COVID-19 related death in USVI, with the latest fatality occurring in St. Thomas.
The deceased elderly man was previously on a ventilator at the hospital, but not on a ventilator at the time of his death on Friday, VIDOH said.
The Department would not confirm or deny if the nonagenarian had once been a resident of the Queen Louise Home for the Aged.
On Thursday, the VIDOH said that a 59-year-old St. John man became the 16th confirmed COVID-19-related death in the territory.
The latest COVID-19 deaths bring the territory’s total to 17, with 11 dead in St. Thomas, five dead on St. Croix and just one dead in St. John.
The VIDOH reported 17 new coronavirus cases in the U.S. Virgin Islands on Friday.
Health experts are pleading with the American public to be vigilant during the upcoming Labor Day weekend to prevent a repeat of the increase in COVID-19 cases that followed the Memorial Day and the Fourth of July holidays.
“We don’t want to see a repeat of the surges we’ve seen following holiday weekends,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, during an interview with CNN on Thursday. “That doesn’t mean you have to lock yourself in a room and not enjoy what hopefully will be a nice weekend for people, but there are certain fundamental things that you can do and still enjoy yourself.”