FREDERIKSTED — In support of the Virgin Islands Department of Health’s Coronavirus requirements to help contain the spread, the Virgin Islands National Guard are on orders to further advocate the stay-at-home order and physical distancing guidance as per the direction of the USVI governor yesterday.
Effective Saturday, Governor Albert Bryan, Jr. announced that all beaches in the territory are closed until April 20 in his efforts at curbing the COVID-19 virus and as a way to discourage residents from ignoring the stay-at-home order and physical distancing.
“The Virgin Islands National Guard will be deployed to support VIPD and DPNR to enforce this order,” Bryan said. “I am appealing to you, tell your friends, your family and your loved ones to do the right thing and to stay at home.”
While the Virgin Islands Police Department (VIPD) and the Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources (DPNR) are enforcing the new mandate, VING will assist in helping educate and redirect individuals who are not obeying the stay-at-home order.
As we support the territory, the Virgin Islands guardsmen are asking the community to abide by the stay-at-home order. Together we will help slow the spread of the virus in the territory.
The governor, who declared a State of emergency back on March 13, states that the upcoming weeks between April 24 and May 14 are expected to be a peak period of hospitalizations.
VING has ensured that all health and safety measures are in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s standards.
Based on the support missions all personnel will be in the right personal protective equipment.
“We are on the front lines of this COVID-19 pandemic fighting against an invisible and dangerous enemy,” Colonel Kodjo Knox-Limbacker, the VING adjutant general, said. “The health and safety of our guard members are our utmost priority.”
For more information on COVID-19, the new strain of coronavirus, please visit the USVI Department of Health’s website, doh.vi.gov/coronavirus or text COVID19USVI to 888777.
For non-medical information, call (340) 715-6843 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. 7 days per week.
https://www.dvidshub.net/news/366850/ving-conducts-support-missions-further-advocate-stay-home-order