The Bahamas has tried to control the novel coronavirus on its islands to the best of their ability. As a country that’s still recovering from a devastating hurricane in 2019, they have no ability to deal with a massive spike in cases like has been seen in much of the United States. The island chain moved its coronavirus response level to Phase 2 on July 1st, which allowed for commercial travel to islands to resume. Turns out things have not been going great for the past three weeks.
Even with requiring a negative COVID-19 test before arrival, The Bahamas has seen an increased number of cases and the Prime Minister is not going to allow the number of Bahamians infected to go up exponentially just to reopen the tourist economy.
On Sunday, July 19th, Hubert Minnis, the Bahamas Prime Minister, gave a National Address about restrictions that were going to be reinstated. For an island that depends greatly on the United States to provide most of its tourists, there’s no question where he’s directing many of the comments.
Fellow Bahamians and Residents:
Regrettably, the situation here at home has already deteriorated since we began the reopening of our domestic economy. It has deteriorated at an exponential rate since we reopened our international borders.
He made sure to mention that despite the efforts of The Bahamas, all of that work could be undone by letting in people from countries that do not have the virus under control.
In neighbouring countries, hospitals are overwhelmed and deaths are increasing. For some places it is unclear when or how they will get this virus under control. While there are countries that continue to make progress, such progress can be reversed because of what is happening in neighboring and other countries.
As for where he’s pointing the finger for the new cases, he just could have said, “You know where they’re coming from.”
International commercial flights and commercial vessels carrying passengers will not be permitted to enter our borders, except for commercial flights from Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. This will come into effect as of Wednesday the 22nd of July 2020 at midnight. Bahamasair will cease outgoing flights to the United States of America, effective immediately.
Visitors from Canada, the UK and the EU are still welcome, just not Americans.
Actually, some Americans are welcome, just not the ones without a huge amount of disposable income.
- Private international flights and charters for Bahamians, residents and visitors will be permitted.
- Pleasure craft and yachts will also be permitted.
So if you have your own plane, boat, or yacht, you can still visit the Bahamas from the United States. I’m glad to see they understand how our system works.
We deserve this, we really do. I’ve already said the only places people in the U.S. will be able to visit for a while would be our own country. For those people living in hot spots, you might not even be able to visit other states. I guess we’re lucky there’s plenty of places to see in our own backyard.
#stayhealthy #staysafe #washyourhands #wearamask
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
