Fact check: Jamaica is not insulated from the COVID-19 pandemic

Bayliss Wagner, USA TODAY
·3 min read
7

The claim: Jamaica has not recorded any COVID-19 cases

The distribution of COVID-19 vaccines this year has inspired optimism about the pandemic. However, many countries face new waves of cases and the majority of the global population remains unvaccinated and at risk.

Jamaica has had a relatively low number of cases in comparison to other countries, but it, too, announced new lockdown measures in recent days. On March 22, Jamaica's Minister of Finance, Nigel Clarke, announced a COVID-19 relief package totaling $126 million, as well as three weekends of a curfew from noon to 5 a.m.

However, a meme from March 19 claims that no coronavirus cases have been recorded in Jamaica. The post has 6,600 reactions and over 1,300 shares.

"JAMAICA has not recorded any case of the CORONAVIRUS. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” the meme reads, next to a photo of rapper and cannabis aficionado Snoop Dogg.

Montego Bay, Jamaica
Montego Bay, Jamaica

Meme is outdated

The claim that Jamaica has not recorded any cases of coronavirus is clearly false. Jamaica, which has a population of just under 3 million people, has confirmed 38,514 cases of the virus and 586 deaths since the pandemic began, according to the World Health Organization.

The meme first appeared on a humorous Facebook page on March 21, 2020, just over one year ago. It was slightly closer to the truth at that time: Jamaica's daily new cases were in the single digits, the country's COVID-19 data shows, and the country had received very little international attention about its COVID-19 situation as a result.

However, Jamaica’s Minister of Health and Wellness Dr. Christopher Tulson had announced that its first confirmed case 11 days earlier, a Jamaican citizen who returned from a trip to the U.K. on March 4 and had become ill.

It is true that Jamaica has fared better than many other countries; even now, it is No. 109 in the world for most active cases per capita, according to Worldometer.

Our rating: False

We rate the claim that Jamaica has "not recorded any case of coronavirus" as FALSE. Jamaica has recorded more than 38,000 cases of COVID-19.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Jamaica has recorded over 38K COVID-19 cases