TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin PM speaks about SXM opening in JUNE

I am at home and can't see it because of bandwidth issues. Did she talk about reopening the AIRPORT by June?

Covid-19 Update - St. Maarten
PM: 'I see us reopening up St. Maarten in June'
"In my vision, I see us reopening up St. Maarten in June. That gives us time between now and the end of May to reach our peak and go back down. That gives us time to slowly but surely open up essential services. If after this week we are able to see the cases start to go down, the quicker we are able to open up more essential services." - Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs, in live broadcast on Easter Monday.
The two-week state of emergency (total lock down) is slated to end on Sunday, April 19. However, by Friday, April 17, government will be able to ascertain the length of time still needed to conduct further tests in the community based on the results of the medical and community outreach checks and testing.
The community outreach is set to start tomorrow, Tuesday, in Sucker Garden.
(Source: Govt. of St. Maarten)

OK, not much real information there, but she said 'open up essential services'. To me, 'essential services' is much different than 'reopening SXM to visitors', which is what I thought she meant. Also, I'm kind of confused about how the total lock down is slated to end on Sunday, but they are re-opening the grocery stores tomorrow.

One guesstimating for a possible all safe day.

1 April 2020
+84 days (the number of days Wuhan was on lockdown)
——————————
= 24-Jun-2020

Have of that is 42 days which happens to be 14day incubation + 14 +14. Which sounds like a pretty good period of time to knock transmission down a lot

1-apr-2020
+42 days
——————
13-May-2020

Any time time between those dates sounds reasonable to do something prudent——-whatever that is.

I see a pinprick, rapid blood test before going through TSA and a certificate you hand to immigration at your destination and any connecting points in between.

They may want to prick you again. Your hotel or cruise ship may want to see certificate.

This sure sounds encouraging, but they'll need to proceed slowly. Without adequate testing of their residents and the long latency period of this virus pulling the trigger too soon could backfire. Maybe COVID-19 testing on St. Martin has progressed to the point where they can consider this. I sure hope their testing has been better organized and more effective than what we've seen in the states. A rapid pinprick blood test sounds really nice, but at this point that seems like a fantasy. Abbott Laboratories out of Chicago has developed a COVID-19 testing unit that can give a positive SARS-CoV2 reading in 5 minutes, and a negative one in 13 minutes. But, where are these units? No one seems to have a straight answer regarding this. Unfortunately, I'm starting to think that a truly 'safe day' without the fear of this virus will occur when an effective antiviral medicine gets approval and can stop the infection from spreading into the lungs, and is readily available to the public.

I would be more worried about incoming travellers , locals should be easy to manage .

You know I'm coming now to another way of thinking. A lot of us are in the same age group and anything can happen everyday left on this earth so why deny ourselves the pleasure. No good in the Bank or anywhere else these days. I do though think June is a little early, however July and November/Dec if prices are correct or even if they aren't but within reason, I will go FC(to avoid crowds) along with a bunch of wipes, small bottle sprays, masks(*a big stick to swipe people with) and just try and be sensible where ever we go. Had a trip planned to London for a month in early June, that does seem way to early being a big city. Just have to take extra precautions in hotels, no handshakes with anyone and I have a feeling that we are going to see many more people wearing masks in the next few months. Rotting away here at home, getting fat, (way too old before my time) and its got be coming soon to parteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Cautiously, but with drinks in hand, beach in background, fly me baby!

Can you imagine sitting on Orient with well spaced loungers and here comes the beach walkers with a dozen hats stacked on top with shirts and scarfs draped on their arms ready to sit next to you to sell their stuff? Oh my.

oh such pessimism? let out a silent one......