Abstract

Background: The Caribbean small-island development states are characterized by their tourism dependence, interconnected, porous borders, underresourced populations, and varying health and surveillance capacities. Travel and tourism are key economic drivers yet facilitate the introduction and spread of infectious diseases, providing a conduit for local outbreaks to become pandemics, as the first cases of COVID-19 and its variants were imported.

Method: The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) led the regional public health response to COVID-19, as mandated, which incorporated robust, multi-sectoral collaboration and coordination with Heads of Government, Ministers, health, security, and tourism leads, regional and international entities; provision of surveillance and response, technical guidance, laboratory services, risk communications, resource mobilization, vaccination support, capacity building, and instruments to promote tourism recovery and healthier, safer tourism (HST) to its 26 Member States.

Result: CARPHA produced 265 situation reports, 64 technical guidelines, 104 vaccine updates, 11 regional documents, 44 videos, 73 infographics, 78 travel briefs, 136 country reopening plans, 175 infographics, trained >14,000 persons, and tested 165,164 samples from 17 CMS (27.38% positive; identification of 3,658 samples with variants of concern). For tourism recovery, CARPHA trained ~9,000 people in preventing COVID-19 in the hospitality sector; provided real-time surveillance and alerts for visitor illnesses in cruise ships (1641 COVID-19 alerts) and accommodation settings (34 alerts; 1001 businesses) that triggered rapid responses; issued 140 HST awards and joint tourism safety communication with tourism entities. 

Conclusion: CARPHA implements an integrated, multi-faceted, and multi-sectoral response to public health threats, like COVID-19. CARPHA continues to work with countries and partners to strengthen regional health security.