Government Commissioner Marnix van Rij
ST. EUSTATIUS--The seventh emergency ordinance for St. Eustatius in connection with the coronavirus pandemic will come to an end at 6:00pm Monday, June 15.
Government Commissioner Marnix van Rij said a meeting with the Island Support Team had been held on Wednesday, during which the strategy and choices to be made by the public entity St. Eustatius for the upcoming weeks with regard to the upcoming Emergency Ordinance were discussed.
The commissioner said that originally the idea was to keep everything as is for the next six weeks. Based on the law, it is allowed to issue an emergency ordinance for no longer than two weeks, based on the situation pertaining to the pandemic, Van Rij explained.
Statia is currently COVID-free, but the virus is still prevalent around the world, such as in the United States and Central and South America, where the virus is still rampant.
Most important for Statia is the situation in Dutch St. Maarten/French St. Martin, as this island is the transport hub for Statia and Saba.
Van Rij stated that St. Maarten/St. Martin are getting the COVID-19 situation contained, but there are still active COVID-19 cases on both sides of the island.
St. Maarten is being cautious and has decided to continue the travel restrictions in place until July 1. New travel details concerning civil restrictions over the airspace of the Dutch Caribbean islands are expected to be released soon. Bonaire has decided to allow tourists back on the island, a decision Van Rij said he understood as tourism is “vastly important” to Bonaire.
For now, Statia will be staying on its course in which it will only allow select groups of persons to enter. These persons include essential workers, and stranded Statians such as students, persons on medical referral and their companion.
At present, the St. Eustatius Public Health Department can monitor a total of 45 persons in quarantine. Currently, there are 15 persons in self-quarantine.
“For our economy, it is important that essential workers are coming back who have been employed in public infrastructural works or for projects in the private sector,” Van Rij said.
The eighth emergency ordinance, which will be published Monday, is expected to have one minor change. Currently only a maximum of 50 persons are allowed in one location, but if an entrepreneur wishes to host an event with more than 50 guests a permit will be required.
