"After further investigating cause of death and ensuring notification of next of kin, the [US] Virgin Islands Department of Health is saddened to confirm the territory’s sixty-seventh death related to COVID-19. The deceased is a 59-year-old male on St Thomas," DoH said.

The department on Monday announced that a USVI resident who was fully vaccinated against COVID-19 died of complications related to the virus last week, the first such breakthrough case in the territory.

The Covid death of a fully vaccinated, hospitalised resident was announced by Territorial Epidemiologist Dr Esther Ellis. The death occurred last week, according to Dr Ellis. She did not say which island or whether the victim had underlying conditions, citing HIPAA law.

"This is a reminder that the vaccine was developed to lower the risk of transmission and to lower the risk of hospitalisation and death, which is what it does," Dr Ellis stated. She encouraged residents who have taken only one dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna Covid-19 vaccines to get the second shot, stating that persons who are not fully vaccinated are “significantly less protected with partial vaccination.”

On Friday, September 10, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published research that found that people who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 were 4.6 times likelier to get infected, 10 times more likely to be hospitalised, and 11 times more likely to die from the virus.