The dreaded coronavirus was on the minds of many this weekend as two cases in St. Martin coming from St. Barths and a related one on that island were confirmed. The vacationing French couple was quarantined at Louis-Constant Fleming Hospital, while their son is in self-isolation at home.
However, two St. Martin residents also suspected of possibly being infected after returning from L’Oise, France, tested negative. This leaves the three isolated family members as – so far – the only known cases.
One should note that precautions taken at Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) did work, because the infected couple without any symptoms were stopped on their way back home based on the region of France they come from. The French side can surely handle a few cases and St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) is able to admit four, but if more were to occur it could become a real problem, so contacts the current victims recently made are being screened to try to contain the spread.
Today’s other related story is about the cruise ship Braemar that was not allowed to return to its homeport in the Dominican Republic for fear of the virus. On Friday they requested permission to disembark more than 600 passengers mostly from the United Kingdom (UK) in St. Maarten and fly them out from PJIA.
The latter took place in a controlled manner Sunday evening after the necessary health declarations were received. These confirmed that – despite some having suffered flu-like symptoms – all passengers were cleared to travel except for one with gastroenteritis who remains at SMMC.
As part of the turnaround operation, 500+ new passengers also mostly from the UK were flown in and boarded the vessel. Although the risk that any of these outgoing or incoming passengers might have carried the virus in the first place may be considered rather low based on World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines, limiting their local presence and contacts was the prudent thing to do.
