Good Afternoon, 

I hope you all made it through the hurricane with minimal discomfort or damage to your property. 

Today there were 818 test results received by the Ministry of Health, and one was positive for COVID-19. 

The new positive case is an imported case in a visitor who tested positive on their day 4 test having arrived on BA 2233 on 11 September 2020. The case is isolated and contact tracing has begun.

Bermuda now has 178 total confirmed positive cases. Their status is as follows:

• 164 have recovered, and
• there are 5 active cases, who are
• all under active public health monitoring;
• none are hospitalized or in critical care, and
• the total deceased remains at 9.

The average age of all of our confirmed positive cases is 57 and the age range of all of our positive cases is from 10 to 101 years. 

Overall, 51% of cases were Black, 40% White and 9% other/unknown.

The source of all local cases is as follows:

• 67 are Imported
• 90 are Local transmission, with known contact
• 19 are Local transmission with an unknown contact, and
• 2 are under investigation

Bermuda’s country status remains “Sporadic Cases”. The seven-day average of our real time reproduction number is less than 1.

I want to remind residents wishing to travel abroad that a COVID-19 test taken in Bermuda before you travel will NOT count as your pre-departure test for re-entry into Bermuda. Once you leave Bermuda and enter a jurisdiction with community transmission of COVID-19, you are at risk of being exposed. The pre-departure test needs to be taken in the overseas jurisdiction in which you have visited, prior to returning to Bermuda. Residents who do not take the pre-departure test before returning home will be required to quarantine for eight days.

I would now like to commend my Ministry of Health team for successful management of the COVID testing programme following Hurricane Paulette. This involved significant logistical reorganization of testing and communication with travellers to advise them of their new testing times, as COVID-19 testing was, of course, cancelled on Monday.

Yesterday, following the departure of Hurricane Paulette from the area, Perot Testing facility opened at 10am to recommence COVID-19 testing for travelers. Also, the Heron Bay testing site was prepared to function as normal today per the original schedule. 

Additionally, the hotline was back up and running yesterday to answer queries, assist with Travel Authorization processing and provide the same resilient support they have been over these difficult past few months.

I should note that if travelers are unable to receive emails at this time, they can contact the call centre at 444-2498 and they will be provided with their revised scheduled time for testing.

With Hurricane Teddy tracking towards Bermuda, it is important for travelers to be aware that further testing times and locations may change as the storm gets closer to our shores. People scheduled for traveler testing and pop-up testing may need to be rescheduled so it’s important for those individuals to check their emails and stay abreast of the latest developments. Those travelers due for testing that are under quarantine and will be affected by the closures should remain quarantined and should not take it upon themselves to attend a testing site and date of their choosing.  

Re-opening of testing sites and Government’s lab following the storm will be communicated via press conference or press release and posted on the Government portal and social media channels as soon as possible.

Once again, the Ministry of Health is reminding residents that all restaurant patrons must wear a mask at all times when not seated at their table. This includes entering the premises and exiting, as well as when using the restroom. The wearing of masks in these instances is compulsory and dining establishments are required to enforce these rules.

I would also like to remind members of the public to please provide your contact details at the businesses you visit such as bars, restaurants, gyms, salons, theatres and recreational charter boats in case the Ministry of Health needs to contact you about a possible COVID-19 exposure. For more information about contact tracing or anything related to COVID-19 please go to coronavirus.gov.bm

I end by reminding us all to avoid the 3 Cs: closed spaces, crowded spaces and close-contact settings.

Stay safe, Bermuda, and Thank You.