Before the pandemic, I traveled back to the US four times a year to visit my disabled sister, Sharon. While I was in the states, I packed barrels to ship home to Grenada.  I filled the barrels with everything and anything from medication to quality olive oil, plant pots, electronics, camera equipment, or clothing.  Items ran the complete gamut – anything we either can’t get in Grenada, is exorbitantly expensive here, or the quality is poor. (It seems many of the inferior goods that Americans won’t buy end up in developing countries.)

My wonderful friend, Diane, graciously allows me to send everything to her house about a week or two before I arrive. Then I drive to her home in Connecticut after visiting with my sister on Long Island. Diane and I go on a two-day shopping spree – to Trader Joe’s for $500 worth of nuts, berries, and sauces, home goods stores for sheets, towels, rugs, etc., and anything that I can’t buy from Amazon or other online retailers without seeing the product first.

Diane fills her extra bedroom to the ceiling with boxes (… and her porch, … and her shed). We spend a full day (or two!) unboxing everything to get rid of all the packing material and then repack the empty boxes, so I can drive everything to Brooklyn to ship via a freighter bound for Grenada. After the packing is competed, I grab a hotel room, dinner and then I fly back home from JFK airport early the next morning so there is always pressure for everything to go perfectly.  Fingers crossed, everything has worked well each time.  Back in Grenada, Michael is always shaking his head because he always adds extra time to deal with any potential problems.  This is the smart thing to do, but it would mean one less day to spend with Diane, so I just cross my fingers and run around like a crazy woman.

I organize everything according to how it will pack best in the barrels. All the soft things go together to either pad the barrel’s bottom or cushion delicate items. I group all the big stuff, so it is easy to see and ensure everything will fit in the barrels.  Then there’s all the small stuff – toothbrushes, soaps, batteries, etc. that slip down the sides and fill in small crevices.

I always rent a Chrysler Town and Country van (now called a Pacifica) because all the seats fold down into a flat floor – perfect for transporting a ton of things. I fill the car in sections – oversized heavy items in the back left, soft things in the back right, and then all the smaller items in front. I head off to Brooklyn around 9:00 AM, so I miss the Connecticut commuter traffic, and I arrive right around lunchtime.

My favorite shipper is Compass Shipping. It’s a Grenadian company, and I love hearing the familiar Caribbean accent as I arrive.  And, true to form, everyone is friendly and helpful.

Early on, I met Jimmy, the lead forklift operator, and packer. He’s consistently taken great care of me. I pull up with my overloaded car. He takes a glance and immediately decides how many barrels or boxes we’ll need based on the size and shape of the largest items. He’s never been wrong.  Within an hour to an hour and a half, we get everything unpacked – again – and fill the barrels. Jimmy is fast and meticulous, making sure anything liquid is standing upright, tops sealed with tape, secured so it wouldn’t fall over, and cushioned to avoid breakage. Jimmy has the touch – everything packed densely, no movement but not packed too tightly, so everything arrives in one piece, with nothing broken.

(One time when Compass was out of barrels, I went to a competitor, and the packer kept jamming things into the barrel with me repeatedly pleading to be more careful. All our Shout laundry cleaner containers split during shipping and covered the bottom of the barrel with liquid.  It was heartbreaking throwing away hundreds of dollars of food I’d just purchased because it was covered in soap. Not to mention the hours washing everything else. Lesson learned, stick with the pro!)

As with so much this year, COVID changed my travel plans.  I haven’t been back to the US since last February.  I planned to travel in May and then tentatively in September. In a normal year, I’d make one extended trip in November to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with my sister.  Finally, it was apparent that I would not be traveling at all in 2020, but we were out of all our favorite US-based products and needed the everyday items we purchase from time to time.

Try to imagine if you could shop only four times a year.  Michael and I literally begin a new list as soon as the barrels arrive and then wait 4-5 months before getting the next shipment. It’s a lesson in planning and patience. There’s no running to the store to pick up that little item that will make whatever easier or nicer. Oh, I forgot to buy material to cover a cushion?  Guess that will wait until the next season!

When I determined I wasn’t going to get to the US this year, Diane, being the incredible friend she is, offered to 1) allow us to send another ton of boxes to her house, 2) do all the local shopping, like Trader Joes’, by herself, and 3) drive six-plus hours to and from Brooklyn, NY to deliver the goods and help pack barrels.

I call this extreme friendship.  Diane and I have been best friends for a long time.  We both have always said we would do anything for each other, and she passed this test with flying colors.

Diane is talking about moving to Tennessee, so this might be the last time I can impose on her generosity.  Although she said she is still willing to receive boxes at her new home, unpack and repack everything,  rent  a van, pack it to the ceiling, and drive across five states to NY to meet me, I think this is a fantasy – and beyond reasonable – so I will have to figure out an alternative.

Michael and I waited and coordinated our Amazon shopping trip to coincide with Amazon Prime Day to see if we could score some extra savings, but only a few items of the items we needed went on sale. We ordered everything on that day, and as an avalanche of packages arrived at Diane’s house, so did new pending COVID lockdown orders for Connecticut.

Diane squeaked the trip in on the very last day before the lockdown started. I had my fingers crossed that the trip would be uneventful, and fortunately, it was.  We kept in contact throughout the day, and everything ran smoothly.

Three weeks later, the barrels arrived.  As I unpacked, thrilled with our bounty, I realized how much I missed seeing Diane.  The few days we get to be together to laugh and catch up while we shop, pack, and enjoy each other’s company multiple times each year is the sweetest gift of friendship. I know I’ll figure out some way to get barrels to Grenada, but I don’t know how to replace the laughter, love, and fun I have with Diane.

Hats off to Diane and extreme friendship.

After having only 23 active cases of COVID-19 and no deaths, Grenada became COVID free in mid-June.  The Ministry of Health reported the welcome statistics, and all Grenadians sighed with relief.  Protocols remained in place, people followed the protocols, but tensions reduced, and people began cautiously resuming a more typical lifestyle – with stores, restaurants, and businesses slowly reopening.  Of course, the Government still enforced wearing masks, hand sanitizing, and social distancing everywhere, but we saw a glimmer of hope for health and normality.

Grenada remained COVID free during July, August, and September.  People started feeling safer, and we only read about new cases happening elsewhere. Although Grenadians were getting lax about wearing masks at all times, we still donned them when coming close to others plus hand sanitizing when entering any store, restaurant, or business.  It was so pleasant living in the COVID free bubble. People were cautious but felt safe.

Local schools began their fall semester online-only, and St. George’s University campus remained closed for students, conducting classes online.  After a month, the local schools started to partially open with students going to classes on staggered days – 1 to 2 days per week. Now, local schools are back in session for everyone every day.

Finally, the airport opened to UK and European flights and then US flights one month later.  Grenadians have mixed feelings about this.  We rely heavily on tourism for jobs and business revenue, but with the airport opening, we expose the population to imported cases COVID.

Overall, due to robust travel protocols, and a requirement to stay in mandatory quarantine until receiving a negative PCR test, cases are identified while people are in quarantine, and there has been little community spread.   The most significant issue has been people who breached quarantine before their test results came back, and those results were positive.  Breaching quarantine creates a massive problem for the country and unsuspecting individuals who come in close contact with infected individuals.

One person who breached quarantine immediately went to several parties. As a result, 77 people who came into close contact with him needed to quarantine.  A second breach (by a US doctor who definitely should have known better) resulted in 40 additional people being quarantined.  People who breach quarantine are fined $3,000 EC (about $1,100 US), which seems like a paltry amount given the potential community spread, the disruption to businesses and innocent individuals who then have to quarantine for a minimum of 5-7 days.

In both breaches, the virus spread to others in close contact, but in each instance, those people were already in quarantine when they tested positive for the virus, so overall, the virus has been well contained.

We also had a young man who couldn’t wait to see his girlfriend. He broke into her quarantine location, and when he thought he was going to be caught, he jumped out a second-story window and broke his leg.  All for love!

Grenada has been designated as a “Low Risk” country for COVID-19, one of only a handful of countries worldwide. Here in Grenada, with our bubble being burst, people feel less safe and have become more vigilant.

St. George’s University (SGU) announced that their January semester will be held online. They will continue to monitor the situation before announcing if the April term will be held in person. This announcement has an enormous impact on Grenada.  SGU accounts for 25% of the country’s total revenue, and the lack of international Medical and Veterinary students trickles down into everything from buses to restaurants and grocery stores.  Since last spring, we haven’t had full grocery shelves, and some products disappeared completely when the students vacated the island in March.

As of November 20^th, we have eleven active cases of COVID-19, 30 cases have been cleared, and we’ve had no deaths.  These are impressive statistics, and everyone should be proud of our response to this deadly virus.  Unfortunately, we’ve lost over 100 Grenadians to COVID living elsewhere – primarily in the US and UK.

All eleven active cases, and the known contacts of people who breached quarantine, are asymptomatic, remain in quarantine, are awaiting testing and medical clearance. Because of the stringent protocols, we’ve stayed mostly safe.  The biggest problem has been people breaking quarantine.  One hundred seventeen people had to quarantine because three reckless individuals could not remain in place for a week.  What a sad and selfish situation.

The Ministry of Health has done a fabulous job protecting Grenadians and keeping everyone informed.  Frontline workers have kept the country running as close to normal as possible and were especially valued during our stringent lockdown earlier this year.  The Grenadian people also need to be commended for following protocols and making an enormous impact on keeping everyone safe.  We may grumble about mask-wearing in our heat and humidity, but people do it because it is the right thing to do to keep everyone safe.

Because of the increased numbers of imported cases reported in the last week, The Ministry of Health has altered our protocols. Travelers need to complete a Pure Grenada Travel Authorization Certificate, including a negative PCR test within 72 hours of flying that must be approved before arriving. (Travelers initially needed a negative PCR test seven days before travel, but so many people have tested positive after arriving in Grenada that the timeline has been tightened.)

The specifics of each case are detailed below.  When looking at the US and UK’s daily infection rates, it is astonishing that we have had so few new cases since opening our borders.

October 12^th – we recorded our first case in 3 months.  A returning national breached quarantine before being released, and because of this, 77 people had to be placed in quarantine to prevent community spread.

NOTE: This person was identified as Case 25 and was listed as the first new case in 3 months, but I could find nothing about Case 24.  This discrepancy may be from an early case where a man illegally fled the island before his test results were processed – he was positive.  He flew from Grenada to Canada and then onto the UK at the beginning of the outbreak before Grenada shut our borders.

October 17^th – The Ministry of Health announced Cases 26 and 27.  One person had been in close contact with the man who breached quarantine.  The second case was unrelated. The person also returned to Grenada via airplane, tested positive during quarantine, and remained in quarantine until cleared.

October 24^th – Another person returning to Grenada tested positive, Case 28, and went into quarantine.

November 2^nd – Case 29, a person returning to Grenada tested positive and quarantined.

November 4^th – A new arrival to Grenada became Case 30 and quarantined.  Other passengers on the same flight were closely watched, but no one else contracted the virus.

November 8^th – An American doctor and his wife who have a home in Grenada, broke their home quarantine, and visited four restaurants before their tests came back positive and became Case 31 and 32. As a result, another 40 people had to quarantine to prevent community spread and one restaurant had to shut down.

November 14^th – The 33^rd case was identified.  She was in close contact with the couple who breached their home quarantine and had been quarantined through contact tracing.  All 40 people near Cases 31 and 32 and are in quarantine will be retested shortly.

November 18^th – Three new cases announced – Case 34 arrived in Grenada from the USA, was PCR tested, and remains quarantined. Cases 35 and 36 arrived at the Carriacou Marina (a sister island to mainland Grenada) and are quarantining on their yacht with two others.

November 19^th – One new case, Case 37, arrived in Grenada from the USA, was PCR tested and remains quarantined.

November 20^th – Four new cases announced – Case 38 arrived in Grenada from the USA on November 15th, and has been quarantined since.  Cases 39 and 40 are the two other people who have been quarantined on the yacht off the coast of Carriacou with Cases 35 and 36. Case 41 is the son of Case 33, who was a close contact of Cases 31 and 32.

With continued vigilance and a bit of luck, Grenada will continue to be a low-risk country for COVID-19.  As Grenadians like to say – “For now, we are safe, please God.”