April 11, 2020 – You can now track Central Dalmatia COVID-19 cases on the official website, but there is one thing to bear in mind if you do.
It is just 33 days – and yet several lifetimes ago – since TCN produced the first corona map of Croatia on March 9, 2020.
I like to look at it from time to time – things didn’t seem too bad back then, did they?
The response was huge, and it is the second-most popular article on TCN this year after the Zagreb earthquake.
And, as with most of the good stuff on TCN, the first corona map of Croatia had nothing to do with me.
“You know what is hot right now?” asked my clever Venezuelan colleague, Gustavo Vilera. “Corona maps. People want to see where the cases are. There is no corona map of Croatia.”
Since I have no idea how to add text to a picture, the likelihood of me designing a corona map was less than zero, but my wife is much better at these things and most other things as well.
Working on her iPad and without any sophisticated software, she produced a very credible effort, which she updated daily for us until Index and then Koronavirus started doing theirs.
Since then, more maps have followed, and I came across the latest one I was unaware of last night after I received several panicked messages from people on Hvar and Solta.
Does Solta have corona? Are there really four cases on Hvar?
I had no idea where they got this information from, and so I opened the link they sent, which is from the regional Stozer. And there it was – a Central Dalmatia COVID-19 map.
With four cases on Hvar and one on Solta, as well as a second on Brac.
Really?
My information (and although I follow things very closely, including the putting the Index live updates on TCN part of the time, I do not have official access to any offline info) is that there is currently one case in Supetar on Brac, and one case in Jelsa. The Jelsa case is someone who was recently repatriated from Austria, I understand, and is now in isolation. The question why people who are returning are not put in isolation for 14 days in one place and fed and looked after if they have no money – surely we have enough empty hotels and such a policy will be much cheaper than dealing with an infection in their communities – is perhaps not one for me to ask, so I won’t.
With my local knowledge and further investigation online, I think I have the explanation – and some good news for all three islands.
The site states that there are four cases on Hvar – two in Jelsa, one in Stari Grad, and one in Hvar Town. The one in Hvar Town has recovered, according to the site.
There has only been one case on Hvar until this latest one in Jelsa. That was in Vrboska, and I was VERY happy to report a week ago that the patient had been very responsible in his self-isolation and made a full recovery.
Perhaps the fact that the case was in Vrboska but is showing in Hvar Town meant that things were being recorded not where the virus was striking, but in the place of residence of the patient. If the ID card said Hvar Town, then it would be recorded in Hvar Town.
And it seems that this is what is happening from a comment I saw from the Stari Grad Fire Service.
The Hvar case was indeed Vrboska. Two of the cases are from the nursing home in Split, leaving just the one case in Jelsa. It seems from the comment above that Solta is also corona-free, and that there is only the one case on Brac.
But I must stress that I am not privy to official information. But if this is the case, and I know resources are stretched, it would be greatly appreciated by many I think, if the Central Dalmatia COVID-19 map reflects the actual cases and not where the patients are registered.
For the latest in the coronavirus crisis in Croatia, follow the dedicated TCN section.
