TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Foxy's breaking the news - June 1st?

Can anyone corroborate this with a government announcement?

April 20, 2021
Dear Foxy Family,
FINALLY THERE IS A BRIGHT LIGHT on the horizon, or at the end of the tunnel, however you choose to look at it. The BVI Government has given June 1stas our Date for The Re-Opening of Borders to regular traffic and we are SO looking forward to an increase of visitors from then on.

Full post: https://mfk.soundestlink.com/view/6...b30e6c844b6767297c920ba9374f87564819f86a

Seems like 4/20 wishful thinking

As we will be arriving June 3 after 2 nights in STT this is great news...hoping its true and relying ( again) on Jason to give us the stright poop!

My guess is Foxy is trying to force them to make the talk reality.

Okay....hold the football, Lucy......HERRRRRRRRE we go!!!!

HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

So just what is "Proof of Vaccination" ?

I assume your CDC card. That is by far the easiest part of any of this.

That would make it easy.

I laminated mine, but we will see if becomes internationally (BVI) accepted.

What kind of "CDC" card is being issued in Europe?

I almost hate to say this but I'm already reading stories about counterfeit CDC cards and from looking at our cards, that appears to be something easily done. Let's hope that doesn't impact plans for them to accept the cards.

Eventually I expect there will be a vaccine passport which is universally accepted.

Pointing out that anyone under 16, and anyone visiting with travelers under 16 would still be subject to Quarantine. I guess?

kids are overrated....:)

tell me about it.

Got the same report of fake vacinnation cards just today. My financial banker told of her offer to have one made. She was already vaccinated but it certainly is out there and, yes, looks very simple to fabricate.

Well - your vaccinations are also on file with the health department so perhaps a link to that proof might help?

Can you even imagine the cronyism in the contractual development of the digital system for vaccine proof around the world? At any rate, the CDC yellow cards have been used for decades and accepted worldwide (mine is full of all kinds of weird shots from travelling to South America). I totally agree there will be counterfeits but I doubt it would be on a wide enough scale to make a real difference.

I hadn't considered this up to now...what a good point. Is there a definitive answer around this?

I confirmed today with a government liaison that there is still nothing official. They are shooting for June, but they have no details at this time re: vaccine passports, quarantine time/reduction or testing requirements.

NY has the Excelsior Pass app that can be used within NY state. Since the CDC stated they do not foresee a National or International version, perhaps we will end up with state-issued vaccine verification ID’s until a universal verification ID is indeed available?

Have not heard anything addressed, and am keenly interested. Of our late June crew of 7, 6 of us will be fully vaccinated by then. My youngest daughter turns 16 a week before we are scheduled to travel and will likely have received her first jab prior to our departure, but definitely not "fully" vaccinated. In any event, we are prepared to deal with the realities if we are all subject to quarantine as a result. All for one, and one for all, etc...

We will have 6 of 8 (all adults) with month of gap between shot #2 and Jun 14 which should cover it if Foxy elected Premier by then...I told my daughter if she or her friend aren't clear without quarantine due to being fully vaccinated we are cutting them loose....they are both in colleges where you can get vaccinated easily and they have been dragging their feet...

Good for you for "one for all and all for one"....At this stage I prefer "WIFM" Whats In It For Me...

Now HIPAA will get involved.

If my kids were eligible and didn't get it, I'd cut them loose as well. I look forward to the WIFM stage...

100% agree!

My thought is that when the Premier did his interview that basically stated that they were going to open up to vaccinated people on June 1, he was telling his people that he wasn't playing around any longer. They have brought the vaccine over, they have enough to vaccinate but people are not getting vaccinated out of fear. He's saying that the BVI have been closed long enough, the government has done all they can to protect its people but can't protect them further if they don't get the vaccine. So, who knows if he will actually go through with it. Just my two cents.

I got the same impression.

100% agree. It was a warning to the BVI residents to get vaccinated, not a promise to open the borders. Actually, more of a threat to get vaccinated because the borders might open.

The other perspective that most won't like - I followed the governments priority list to get vaccinated when it was my turn on 19 March. Because of the 10-12 week guidance for astrazeneca from the UK, my second shot is 28 May so I'll be fully vaccinated on 11 June. Selfishly, I have no interest in changing the protocols and taking on more risk until myself and even more people from the BVI are fully vaccinated. No offense to everyone who wants to vacation and party but we've sacrificed enough to take on extra risk now. We are still catching visitors in Day 4 tests and in exit tests so the protocols are working.

No offense taken certainly. It is each nation’s choice. If they feel unsafe in opening borders ..don’t do it. Let tourists choose another destination until the citizens feel completely safe and assume any economic consequences. An observation though is that AstraZenica vaccine was not originally meant to be given at 3 month intervals. I understand getting many initial vaccines into arms that gives75%immunity on first dose is very impotent. Currently BVI residents are unwilling in much of the population to get vaccinated. My take is that is not wise..but it is their decision. . I’m not at all convinced that waiting 3 months is the best course for developing immunity or getting the most people fully vaccinated in the bvi when expiration dates are looming. and people seem reticent to be vaccinated.Government’s have their issues with the interval and eligibility for vaccine in many countries.

Each country has their choice of implementation and and each traveler can weigh that choice as to tourist destination. Each citizen can decide to get vaccinated before vaccine expires or is returned to sender. Each traveler has a choice.

So you are saying Foxy isn't Santa?...

I am fine with however BVI plays the cards on this. Even with a quarantine in place which I think likely I don't anyone without a vaccination on the boat to reduce the risk of 1 positive test Day 0 or 4 triggering a boat quarantine for the duration.

I agree with you 100%, Jason -- believe me....living in a tourist destination and watching some of the behavior I have seen here?? Protect thyself! We are fully aware that we will have to follow protocols as they stand and are ready to do so. Just hoping that MAYBE we don't have to Q for as long....that is my only real hope. I HIGHLY doubt it will be as easy as "hey come on in on June 1 and roam around with your vaccine proof and a 72 hour negative pre-flight test!"

The BVI is overreacting to COVID.
The USVI is slammed with thousands of tourist and boaters now for close to 6 months and there isn’t a problem of quarantining tourists.

Yes, and they had their 27th death this week. Scaled to the BVI based on population that would mean the BVI would have lost 9 people to COVID and so far it's only been 1. In the eyes of most BV Islanders and government officials, they would keep the success they had versus opening the economy earlier.

I have my own opinions but I can tell you 9 would have been a tough number for people here. And based on healthcare options and evacuation options, an outbreak here likely would have been worse.

The hospitals are counting al fevers as COVIT

We've only had a few COVID hospitalizations in the BVI so that is not the case here. I know people that have been in the hospital here in the last 13 months and they were not included in the COVID count.

Exactly how many people do you know that went to the hospital for a fever, and were counted in the COVID hospital count?

We don’t know how many, we do know that the statistics on deaths per year hasn’t changed much in the last ten years.

The stats I have watched show overall deaths are up from previous years worldwide. Some of that is expected due to the aging population. Some is covid. The interesting stat is that flu has virtually disappeared. Looks like under 500 flu related deaths in the US this season verses 60,000 in 2017 season.

If you’re trying to use excess death figures to advocate that the BVI should change their policies, you’re barking up the wrong tree. According to JAMA, from 3/1/20 to 1/2/21, the US experienced 522,368 excess deaths. I’d say that’s a pretty big change - 22.9% to be exact.

As a MD with a large healthcare organization we have been told to not laminate in that boosters will be difficult to add and they will be coming.

Sorry, could you put that in layman's terms? I don't understand laminate or boosters.