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US Based Kitttitian Dr. Ivan Gavin Hamilton, MD has lauded the management of the COVID-19 pandemic in his homeland of St.Kitts-Nevis . The internal medicine specialist commented on the country’s recent listing as the country with the Lowest COVID-19 Risk in the Hemisphere. In a comment posted on Social Media Hamilton expressed commendation on the all around handling and management of the Pandemic on the islands .

His full comment stated:

“The management of the pandemic in the Federation has been such a spectacular success, it boggles the mind. It approaches the level of the supernatural. One wonders if there is indeed a flaming two-edged sword in the air over the country. But that’s all moot: who needs supernatural protection when you have Hazel Laws and Cameron Wilkinson and Abdias Samuel on your team. All they ever do is win, and the entire Federation is better off because of it.
We have managed to create a textbook-worthy response to this virus, including several best-in-class outcomes. Our policy environment has been exceptionally stable. At every stage, whatever course of action our government committed itself to, they remained steadfast in it from the outset. There’s been no seesawing, no back and forth, no hasty judgements from which we have later had had to retreat. With all the malicious misinformation in the air, this is an important goal of pandemic response, one not measured by numerical metrics. By comparison, in our mighty neighbor to the North, to whom we can usually look for guidance at times like these, the policy environment has been terrifying chaotic and rudderless. They have to change course every day, everywhere. We owe this stability not only to the CMO and Chief of Staff, but also equal credit is due to our Prime Minister. In these extraordinary circumstances, it was the working relationship and trust that he built with his medical and scientific chieftains which would provide the platform for our success. That trust enabled him to establish policies grounded in the science to the letter.

When the consequences triggered public outcry, that trust permitted the Prime Minister to fully deploy his powers of persuasion and defend these policies on the merits. Indeed, I marveled from afar to see my Prime Minister nimbly embrace a nuanced and sophisticated role for himself – that of the advocate, the paterfamilias. When all the jargon was making many a head spin, he would speak to the nation plainly from his heart, with conviction, and concern, and care, and the people responded. All these things worked together to bring about such good, and the Federation has every reason to be proud of it’s spectacular success. When coronavirus finally arrived, despite all the rumor and gossip, every Kittitian and Nevisian buckled down and handled their business. Social distancing is antithetical to how we live, but so that we might live, we got better at it every single day.
The numbers of cases is a compelling way to measure our accomplishments. We have the fewest number of active cases, of total cases, of hospitalizations, and of deaths due to covid-19 of any independent country in the Western Hemisphere. Were we to focus on the numbers alone, we would lose sight of our most spectacular accomplishment thus far. None of the statistical tables showing data per country include this, because it’s not a numeric assessment. We maintain the distinction of having never had any evidence of community spread of covid-19 within the Federation. Every case thus far has been traced to an origin abroad, brought to the Federation by travelers, some nationals, others tourists. To put it simply, that means that when it comes to hand hygiene, mask wearing, and social distancing, all things considered, nobody does it better.
We have every right to give ourselves a pat on the back!”

Dr. Ivan Gavin Hamilton, MD was the 1993 St.Kitts-Nevis State Scholar and is presently a Board certified internal medicine specialist in San Francisco, CA. He currently practices at San Francisco Center Liver Dis and is affiliated with California Pacific Medical Center – Van Ness Campus.