WASHINGTON — In a pandemic high for the U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the hospital there on Friday reported 69 confirmed coronavirus cases amongst about 6,000 residents on the bottom.
None of the contaminated folks required hospitalization, medical evacuation or monoclonal antibody therapy, mentioned Dawn Grimes, the spokeswoman at the bottom hospital, which serves each the neighborhood and the detention operation holding 39 wartime prisoners.
She didn’t touch upon whether or not any of the prisoners or roughly 1,500 navy members and civilian workers who workers the operation had examined constructive.
Nearly all the 69 individuals who examined constructive for the virus had been totally vaccinated, Ms. Grimes mentioned. A number of had been partly vaccinated. One of the 69 included a 10-year-old youngster who’s both totally or half vaccinated, mentioned a base spokeswoman, Nikki L. Maxwell, on Saturday. No different particulars had been accessible.
On Tuesday, the bottom commander, Capt. Samuel White, reinstated an indoor masks mandate for all residents in response to what he known as “this uptick in cases.” That day, Ms. Grimes reported that 17 folks on the bottom had examined constructive since Dec. 1, all however considered one of them totally vaccinated.
Until this week, solely the estimated 900 unvaccinated folks on the bottom had been required to put on masks indoors, making for crowds of unmasked patrons within the base’s Irish pub and at the fitness center.
Ms. Grimes mentioned Friday that, in response to the surge, the bottom was requiring vaccinated guests and returning residents to be examined on arrival, isolate for at least three days, after which be examined once more earlier than they will rejoin the neighborhood. Unvaccinated folks have been constantly required to quarantine for 2 weeks upon arrival.
She added that public well being employees had at instances this week carried out about 250 assessments in a single day, and that the small neighborhood hospital had ample testing capability to do extra if wanted.
“Our Covid-19 hotline team continues to field calls around the clock to answer Covid-19-related questions and to provide screening for individuals who are experiencing symptoms,” she mentioned.
The base additionally launched round the clock curbside testing at the hospital, which sends its most severe or complicated cases to the United States for navy medical care. The detainees are the exception: The Pentagon sends specialists, together with neurosurgeons with specialised gear, to deal with the prisoners, a lot of whom are approaching their third decade in U.S. detention.
Cases rose after a Navy ship from Jacksonville, Fla., the usS. Milwaukee, stayed at the bottom pier from Christmas by means of New Year’s with about one-fourth of its 105-member crew infected. Most had gentle or asymptomatic cases.
Guantánamo has reported an 85 % vaccination price, that means roughly 900 base residents declined or had been ineligible for vaccines. Some of them are the younger kids of sailors and Navy contractors who dwell in suburban-style housing on the bottom.
