St. Croix, US Virgin Islands — Starting Thursday, August 19th, the Department of Health will shift to temporarily cease its Tuesday and Thursday COVID-19 pop-up testing events on St. Croix and St. Thomas. This change will not impact pop-up testing and vaccines that occur on Wednesdays on St. John.
The Department has set out to improve its free testing options by expanding daily drive through testing to prioritize testing for those who are sick or are a close contact of a confirmed positive case. Testing will be conducted drive-thru style at the Charles Harwood Complex from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. and at the Roy L. Schneider Hospital from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. by appointment only.
Territorial Epidemiologist Dr. Esther Ellis urges the public to follow best practices during the current COVID-19 surge. “It is critical during this surge that if you are sick you stay home, only leaving your home to get tested. After receiving a test you are required to quarantine. Additionally, if you are a close contact of a positive you are required to quarantine for a minimum of 7 days. You can test out of quarantine no sooner than day 7 if you have no symptoms at all.”
Close contacts are individuals who were within 6 feet of a positive case for 15 minutes without a mask on over their nose and mouth. Close contacts exposed to a positive case should stay away from others and wait at least 4 days before getting a COVID-19 test.
Pop-up vaccinations will continue throughout the community at previously used pop-up testing sites. The current schedule for pop-up vaccinations is Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Charles Harwood Complex on St. Croix and Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. at Cost-U-Less on St. Thomas.
Community Vaccination Centers remain open on St. Croix and St. Thomas. Anyone 12 and older can get the COVID-19 vaccine by walking into any of our Community Vaccination Centers in both districts.
On St. Croix, the Community Vaccination Center is located at the Nissan Center which is in La Grande Princesse, adjacent to the Honda Dealership and The Paint Shop, on the same side of the street as Food Town.
On St. Thomas, the Community Vaccination Center is located at the Community Health Clinic on the 2nd floor at the Schneider Regional Medical Center.
You can schedule an appointment for the COVID-19 vaccine by calling (340) 777-8227 or by scheduling yourself online at covid19usvi.com/vaccines.
COVID-19 Mitigation Team Lead Dr. Debra Wright-Francis shared her thoughts on the recent changes. “DOH remains committed to making testing available to the community. The surge in the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 has dictated a pivot to addressing the symptomatic patients and contacts first.”
The Department is also working with private providers to expand testing options. Due to the current surge and high testing demand, the department urges the community to please schedule their testing online, utilize the Epidemiology hotline, or contact private providers directly, so that we can better accommodate everyone in need of testing at this time.
The Epidemiology hotline numbers are accessible from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. for callers to report suspected cases at (340) 712-6299 OR (340) 776-1519. Preregistration for testing can be completed online at covid19usvi.com/testing.
