‘Clean Sandals’: Grenada resort says retested staff, guests ‘in the clear’

The Grenada branch of the Sandals resort chain on Wednesday declared that all 432 of its staff and guests recently retested negative for COVID-19.

It was not immediately clear whether Grenada’s Ministry of Health had confirmed the results.

The property, which remains closed until February 3 was linked to an outbreak of coronavirus cases back on December 13 that prompted the authorities to tighten the country’s COVID-19 measures including limiting all gathering to 10 people, the closure of businesses by 10 p.m., and operations at restaurants and bars being limited to takeout only

But in an update issued this evening, Sandals Grenada said: “ Based on the second round of testing which was conducted by the Ministry of Health on the 23rd of December, soon after the first test and within the accepted incubation period, the results are now available and of the 432 team members tested, all 432 have returned negative PCR test results.

“The 14 team members originally identified as part of the ‘cluster’ were also retested soon after, and so far 12 have received negative PCR test results. The results of two remain pending.”

The health ministry in St George’s had reported that a cluster of 26 positive COVID-19 cases had been diagnosed, originating from the Sandals resort.

The positive cases that included guests and employees, as well as their contacts were identified following the testing of employees and guests as part of the ministry’s continuous testing of frontline staff in sectors directly related to tourism, travel and health.

With respect to the staff member and her family who were also identified as part of the original ‘cluster’ connected to Sandals, both her and all members of her family have received negative PCR tests after being retested, the hotel said.

Sandals further noted that of the 11 guests identified as being positive, they were also retested immediately upon their return to the United States from Grenada, and nine have received negative results.

“They had both PCR and antigen tests, which confirmed they do not have or ever had any trace of the virus in their system. We await the results of one couple,“ the hotel said.

Despite declaring that “virtually” all staff and guests have returned negative results upon being retested, the hotel remains closed to new arrivals at the moment, the hotel said, as it continues to “work closely with the Ministry of Health and the [Chief Medical Officer] to ensure that guests are able to return safely, and as we continue to do all we can to protect our team members and the wider public”. (BT/PR)