TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Minister Ludmila de Weever announces use of all FDA approved antigen rapid tests for USA & Canadian

This was posted as a public post on the Government Facebook page, so I feel comfortable copying and pasting it here is not a copyright violation.

Minister Ludmila de Weever announces use of all FDA approved antigen rapid tests for USA & Canadian passengers **
After consultation and approval of Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor Richard Panneflek, Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transportation and Telecommunications, Ludmila de Weever, is very happy to announce a move that will surely assist in increasing our tourist numbers and airline load factors. As of February 17, 2021, passengers arriving from the United States of America and Canada can use all FDA approved rapid antigen tests for travel to Sint Maarten. This includes those antigen tests with Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) as well. This does not include At Home Tests.
"This is a huge boost to our tourism sector and that confidence in our island is demonstrated even more when we see expansion of our airline service routes, such as the announcement by American Airlines for the service between Dallas-Fort Worth and Sint Maarten to commence in June 2021. This demonstrates that demand for travel to Latin America and the Caribbean is still high despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic," stated Minister De Weever. The non-stop flight will run on Saturdays from June 5 until August 14, 2021.
Since 2019, representatives of the St. Maarten Tourism Bureau (STB) and SXM Airport started the discussion about the possible seasonal route and the Ministry is thrilled to see it come to fruition.
"With this change in entry requirements, we expect to see increased stay-over arrivals and economic activity as well as the continuation of improved relationship with one of our larger carriers and I am grateful for the cooperation received from Minister Panneflek and his team." the Minister concluded.

It is also on the front page of the Daily Herald today, but not yet in the on-line version.

I wonder how long it will be before the EHAS site changes it's requirements?

Most practical thing they could do while still requiring a test.

Next step would be to determine if requiring a test is actually resulting in anyone not making the trip. Perhaps having people confirm by text they still plan to travel 7 days out and then perform statistics on no show rates.

Here is the article.
LINK

No mention if it has to be 120 hrs or 48 hrs prior to last leg.

Good news, as even with the 120 hour rule, PCR tests are often difficult to obtain.

The rapid test has always been 48 hours; this announcement only changed the brands of test that SXM will accept.

That's what I figured but was just throwing it out there.

The EHAS website has been updated:


“Alternatively, travelers originating from the USA and Canada can do an antigen test for the SARS-COV-2 virus obtained from a naso-pharyngeal swab performed within 48 hours prior to departure to Sint Maarten. All FDA approved antigen tests including those with Emergency Use Authorization only (EUA) are accepted. Tests performed outside of the 48 hours period and home tests will not be accepted.“

Wow!! Pretty fast, for them!!

Seems they learned from the last fiasco!

Maybe the announcement was late and after they changed the site.

So today I just booked an appointment for testing PCR test with a window within 120 hours. Does this now mean I have to test pithing 48 hours using a rapid test?

"test pithing" ?? No idea what that means. Regardless, if you have a PCR test, and you get your results in time, you don't need a rapid test.

Ro, you have the option of either the 120 hour PCR test or the 48 hour rapid test.

Thanks everyone.