There is an interesting story in today’s paper about the Dutch Coronacheck app to be used as proof of a negative test result, vaccination, or recovery from COVID-19 for easier travel within the European Union (EU), by linking it to the EU’s Digital Corona Certificate (DCC). The intention is to include the Caribbean Netherlands from July 1.
However, most residents do not – yet – have the required citizen service number BSN and digital identification DigiD. They will therefore get a special portal to upload their proof of vaccination.
A solution is also being sought for Curaçao, Aruba and St. Maarten. The latter would seem logical because just about all passengers going to St. Eustatius and Saba come through Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA).
Although some are uncomfortable with the idea of affording benefits to persons who get vaccinated while doing so should not be mandatory, in practical terms exactly that will obe needed to get back to some semblance of pre-pandemic normalcy. If everyone at a location is vaccinated people do not have to constantly fear being infected with the potentially deadly virus, it is as simple as that.
Take the cruise industry. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis objected to ships sailing out of his state demanding proof of vaccination from passengers, but that is the only way it could currently work.
Despite all occupants, including crew, of the Celebrity Millennium homeporting in St. Maarten having supposedly been both vaccinated and tested, there were still two positive cases onboard during its first weekly voyage. One can only imagine what might happen without those restrictions.
