Friday’s decision to change the French-side curfew from 8:00pm to 11:00pm (see related story) makes sense based on its more favourable COVID-19 figures. Restaurants will now at least be able to serve dinner again.
It means their closing time is now synchronised with that of St. Maarten too. The latter is obviously desirable in view of the open border.
The island is at a crossroads regarding its recovery from this unprecedented coronavirus-related crisis. Visitors are returning in numbers and keeping infection numbers down remains crucial for the destination to be seen as relatively safe.
So, while the continued restrictions may be experienced as a nuisance by some, they are considered necessary also to restore tourism that ultimately provides the livelihood of practically everyone. Too many persons can be seen not wearing facemasks as required or otherwise disobeying the rules.
Until enough people have been vaccinated to achieve so-called “herd immunity”, such behaviour is simply unacceptable and downright irresponsible, because it puts at risk the ability to put bread on the table for an entire population going forward. This does not concern just health, but sheer socioeconomic survival as well.
