TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Aruba to open it's borders on Monday

Daily Herald story

I know it's not SXM, but Interesting parameters, especially including the insurance policy, which covers the cost of quarantine on island. Obviously, there is a mistake in the story, when it says that visitors that test NEGATIVE after they arrive are in trouble. Obviously, it means 'positive'.

I wonder if you have to pay for the option to have the test done there?

You can try to take the test in the US, but may not receive the results in the 72 hour period prior to departure in order to upload them....I'd have no problem chilling for 24 hours after arrival for the on-site results.....

See https://www.visitaruba.com/news/general/corona-virus-and-travel-to-aruba/ for more details. The price to take the test on the island is $75 and the insurance is $15 per insured person per day. These are indicated as preliminary numbers and may change.

Wow, the insurance price seems kind of steep to me.. I don't know about the cost for a test here, as my insurance would pay for it IF the doctor orders it, but you have to have two symptoms to get the doctor to order it.

I can see a lot of confusion implementing this.

The other thing is, there are so many different tests which measure different things!

That along with some that aren't 100% correct.

I wonder if the evacuation insurance programs cover this? And would it meet the requirements of showing you have insurance coverage.

Don't know, good question, but I kind of doubt it.

How about medicare and your supplemental insurance?

Neither one of those would cover the cost of quarantine on the island and I think most medicare supplemental insurances don't cover outside the country, or more properly, the only coverage is out-of-network coverage, which is almost worthless.

Might want to read this.
https://www.curacaochronicle.com/po...S6ITXcJUzl-5dwFqQG1Ch1aomQBUVQseTcTJzYfc
Exerpt:
"July 1 has not been confirmed yet. The government is still working on conditions and requirements to open borders for travelers from the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium."
Don't see the USA or Canada in that statement.

A justaposition of this pandemic, a positive is bad, and a negative is good.

It’s $65 to get antibody test and zero for some plain covid nasal tests locally.

$15/day doesn’t sound outrageous to me compared to rental car schemes.

Insurance is mutual risk sharing.

If it gets the economies of the islands going it is cheap to mutually share the risk of getting to all our paradises. And I am a cheapskate.

Firm believer we better get Livin/movin or we may never move again or for along time if economic collapse arrives.

Things are looking up locally in Ohio although I worry some aren’t serious about the risks to their loved ones. I’m the oldest left In the family so I can decide the risk for me.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-tests-invalid-us-lab-a9548691.html#gsc.tab=0

The islands should not depend on these tests that have so many false positives but wait till the TSA starts a temperature check and screening for passengers getting on flights to SXM. I will not fly to SXM and get tested after I land.

Testing AFTER arrival just won't work....and I'm more concerned about the false negatives ...100% on day one of infection to 67% on day 4 and 20% on day 8....but basically the tests are not the be all and end all...



Reliability of tests

Folks, if we put the same scrutiny on the flu we would not go anywhere. Is Johns Hopkins going to make a Flu Map? Same thing, disproportionately hitting 80 and up, 70 and up and 60 and up and 50 and up.

We need to build capacity to deal with this bug who will hit older people. Sorry.

Insurance to build some rooms with ventilators on island and properly priced i surance to get you off island infected to your home to fight it there.

Just saw a live video on Facebook a very large group of people celebrating at an establishment and no face masks and no social distancing. Absolutely no effort to keep this from spreading again.

I know them, Scubaman. They are all close friends who have been in quarantine and trust each other. They claim they wear masks when going places such as grocery stores, whee they don't know everyone they come in contact with. However, I share your concern and personally would be wearing a mask.

Love that they post the pictures. Keeps me current on who/where to avoid.

I don't think knowing people makes them safe to be with. They do go other places and they don't know when they may be in contact with someone
with the virus. If they want to socialize, it would still be nice to follow the safety precautions.

I still don't see my grandchildren and it is becoming obvious that we are one of the few that are doing this.

Aimed at no one in particular--I think we've kind of gone astray here from the topic.

Most places seem to be requiring a test, which I don't necessarily have a problem with IF one can obtain a test and a quick result, which is a different issue. This question of the insurance in Aruba still bugs me though. The cost seems really excessive to me. For two people for 7 days, it's $210. That seems really high to me. I'm not sure what percentage of Aruba visitors are timeshare people, but I can't imagine most SXM t/s people are going to want to spend that amount per week, just for insurance, in addition to the other stuff. It seems like a boondoggle for the insurance company, to me...

Aruba’s Entry plan: And it keeps changing. USA can enter July 10
Canada July 1

At a press conference on June 11 the Aruba government made the announcement everyone has been waiting for. Borders will open in stages. On June 15 the island will open for the ABC islands only, meaning Bonaire and Curaao. Starting on July 1st the borders will open for Europe, Canada, and the Caribbean (with the exception of Haiti and the Dominican Republic). On July 10th the borders will open for the United States. The borders will remain closed for South America and Central America until further notice. For any tourists entering they must upload the result of a Covid test taken three days or less prior to travel date, use a mask on the airplane, and have health insurance that will cover them in case they get the virus in Aruba. Aruba will be able to provide that insurance for people for $15.00 per day if needed. If a person does not provide a test before flying or cannot provide documentation that they are Covid free as they enter the airport they will be tested at the airport. They must go to a certain hotel where they will stay until the results of the test are obtained. So it is very important that if you are flying to Aruba you do get tested beforehand. That is definitely the best case scenario. If they are positive for the virus they will go to a Covid hotel for quarantine. If a person needs to get a Covid test upon arrival it will be $75 at their individual expense.

We are still not seeing our grandchildren either. We saw 2 from the window. It has been so difficult but better to be safe than sorry.

I'm confused as to how that is different than the original link, other than it doesn't seem as mandatory with regard to the insurance.

Where I live you can be tested for Covid19 for free so I do hope SXM goes with this three days prior to entering SXM to show you have been tested. The insurance thing seems like a scam to me?

Trouble is you can be tested and show negative 3 days prior but the test they give you on arrival could be a crap shoot. No guarantees for correctness.

I probably will not be going back to St. Maarten till December??? Greece reopened so thinking of visiting Greece?

Greece has reopened but not for US citizens....and....flights to/from Greece to the US are still banned "until further notice"

Did you skip Cafe Rembrandt today, Elaine?

This should be on a separate forum

Yes, we did Linda. Weekends too many people out, although the pictures I saw EARLY were great.