St. Maarten’s health pass goes into effect this Friday for “nightlife businesses” (see related story). Unlike the one introduced a week ago on the French side that counts for establishments and public places with more than 30 attendees, no such limit was mentioned at least during Wednesday’s press briefing by Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor VSA Omar Ottley.
In Curaçao the threshold is even 100, which raises questions. Locally, mention was made of clubs and beach bars, but the latter by their very nature rarely have a single, controllable entrance.
Nevertheless, the measure is understandable as part of efforts to reduce the spread of COVID-19, also to facilitate a much-needed speedy recovery of the tourism economy. If all goes well this should allow for lifting the current 1:00am mandatory closing time too.
As stated before, it is somewhat regrettable that the Digital COVID-19 Certificate (DCC) for now only regards European Union (EU) citizens, including residents of the island. The problem is that the bulk of visitors certainly to the Dutch side are North Americans.
They can still join the party with a negative test result no older than 48 hours. However, the inability to upload their proof of vaccination and obtain the necessary QR code as they do in their Health Declaration before travelling to the destination can be seen as an obstacle.
The minister said other countries are joining the EU’s DCC system and the US is considering following suit. Hopefully that won’t take very long, so that all fully vaccinated guests can move around and enjoy themselves in greater freedom.
