St. Barth’s Commuter Covid Testing Requirements
- Thread starter Bilnan248
- Start date
NovaRob
SBH Member
Excellent! Glad you made it there safely and smoothly. We will be there Saturday afternoon...can't wait...
-Rob and Amy
..... and here we go.
debd
Senior Insider
:up:
elgreaux
Senior Insider
with over 200 cases of covid in the past week, many residents would like visitors to be tested and vaxxed, not too much to ask to protect our elders and kids?
debd
Senior Insider
No, it is not.
Wishful thinking... there is a conflict of interest......
elgreaux
Senior Insider
yes we get a weekly update from the prefecture: this one notes 189 new cases from March 20-27 and 63 more since March 28.. so that's over 250... on the rise sad to say...
Saint-Barthélemy :
Pour la semaine 12 (données arrêtées le 27 mars), on dénombre 189 nouveaux cas sur le territoire de Saint-Barthélemy, contre 74 en semaine 11 (données SI-DEP ARS). 186 nouveaux cas sont comptabilisés par SPF sur la même durée de temps. Le nombre de cas cumulés de coronavirus confirmés depuis le début de la crise sanitaire s’établit ainsi à 4,150 (données SI-DEP SPF).
Depuis le 28/03/2022 (semaine 13 en cours), 63 nouveaux cas de COVID ont été enregistrés sur 385 analyses effectuées.
elgreaux
Senior Insider
maybe you should just fly back to France, you have always been a pot stirrer, and believe me, those of us who lived thru the lockdown and two years of regulations and masks don't want to see all that happen again... tourism can continue with testing and vaccinations, and avoiding of masks, but tourism will stop altogether if there is another lockdown, so what is your conflict of interest?
Personal attacks aside (from you again, what a surprise), do you really think that you're the only one who has lived thru the lockdown and 2 years of regulations and masks? Where have you been since 2019?
You obviously don't understand what is at stake here. The island (the whole world in fact) can no longer afford a lockdown. it will never happen again (except in crazy China, but that's another story). Not in the Western world.
The conflict of interest is obvious.
The Brits were denied access to Courchevel (and other high-end ski resorts in the French Alps) during the Christmas holidays, but guess what? They were allowed entry into St Barth during the festive season.
eMed testing was allowed (and still is for unvaccinated visitors who need a test), but French residents/citizens were never allowed to use home tests (proctored or not). Why is that?
Some villa rental estate agents (now part of the new government) impose their own covid rules to the authorities only to satisfy customers. Lobbying in motion. Tourist office, airport management, Préfecture.... all have to abide to their desires in the name of business promotion. Why do you think this is happening?
Should I go on?...
The island authorities (and local businesses) have no interest in imposing more restrictions. Quite the opposite. They want visitors to keep coming.
And you want to add more restrictions, more vaccinations, more tests, more masks......? St Barth does not want that.
elgreaux
Senior Insider
I have mainly been here in SBH since 2019, dealing with a handicapped husband post life-threatening stoke and covid. and it's not up to you or Fabrice Danet (who is terrific director of the airport) or the island authorities to put in or remove restrictions. it's up to the prefect and the ARS and the French ministry of health who don't really care about the economic impact it has on the island. once there are hundreds and hundreds of cases and the hospitals are full again, there will clearly be testing of visitors at the very least, if not more stringent restrictions, here and elsewhere.. let's wait and see what the French president does after the elections, be it Macron or another... how can you say St Barth does not want that.. maybe the hotels and restaurants don't, but many residents i have spoken to, especially those with kids in school where they have been clusters in past weeks, are not opposed to asking visitors to be tested. they need to be tested to go to the US, so why not to come here if the spike continues to spike..
The prefect is constantly in contact with the local authorities, airport management, tourist office, hotel association, etc....On a daily basis in fact. The Prefecture (and to some extent the ARS) do care about the island economic situation. They are fully aware that the whole island is depending on tourism and that new restrictions will definitely impact local businesses.
Stop panicking. Omicron variant is not as dangerous as the previous variants. Especially for kids. Clearly, hospitals are not full (and will not be). The vaccination rate on the island is high, impact will be minimal. And even if more people are getting infected, there will be no major consequences. The wave will go through and disappear within a few weeks.
It is clear that the authorities are assessing COVID cases, but the word seems to be, let this wave go through, since it is not as deadly as the previous ones, and it will increase herd immunity.
Not a reason to go back to more vaccinations, testing, masks, and all. The show must go on, and the party also. If you have any doubt, stop by Nikki Beach on a Sunday by lunch time, and you will see that St Barth does not want that.
Stop panicking. Omicron variant is not as dangerous as the previous variants. Especially for kids. Clearly, hospitals are not full (and will not be). The vaccination rate on the island is high, impact will be minimal. And even if more people are getting infected, there will be no major consequences. The wave will go through and disappear within a few weeks.
It is clear that the authorities are assessing COVID cases, but the word seems to be, let this wave go through, since it is not as deadly as the previous ones, and it will increase herd immunity.
Not a reason to go back to more vaccinations, testing, masks, and all. The show must go on, and the party also. If you have any doubt, stop by Nikki Beach on a Sunday by lunch time, and you will see that St Barth does not want that.
debd
Senior Insider
Just go away, and find someplace else for your uninformed, un-empathetic, selfish, know-it-all, and always seem to have to have the last word on everything COVID, etc. Ellen is a highly respected, and dearly loved person by many, many people here and around the island. I simply will not stand by and listen to you attack her.
You are entitled to your opinion and alleged connections and alleged inside scoops. It simply does not make you the authority on the island, the virus, other people's personal level of COVID comfort, the needs of the residents, or how things are or will be on the island.
Just stop.
Although I am sure you will need to have your morally superior last word.
debd
Senior Insider
Just go away, and find someplace else for your uninformed, un-empathetic, selfish, know-it-all, and always seem to have to have the last word on everything COVID, etc. Ellen is a highly respected, and dearly loved person by many, many people here and around the island. I simply will not stand by and listen to you attack her.
You are entitled to your opinion and alleged connections and alleged inside scoops. It simply does not make you the authority on the island, the virus, other people's personal level of COVID comfort, the needs of the residents, or how things are or will be on the island.
Just stop.
Although I am sure you will need to have your morally superior last word.
elgreaux
Senior Insider
thanks for the good word....
Erik . . . I think that your assessment is morally, tragically flawed.
“The wave will go through and disappear within a few weeks . . . let this wave go through, since it is not as deadly as the previous ones, and it will increase herd immunity . . . The show must go on, and the party also . . ..”
A close friend — fully vaccinated & “boosted” — recently died of Covid-related pneumonia contracted on SBH. In this history, it’s painfully cavalier to read your sentiment, as reflected in your observation of Sunday lunch at Nikki Beach, that “the show must go on.” There are barriers that can reduce such loss of life.
