Persons repatriated from the Dominican Republic arriving at F.D. Roosevelt Airport in St. Eustatius on Saturday, September 5.
ST.EUSTATIUS--Seven persons were repatriated to St. Eustatius from the Dominican Republic on Saturday, September 5, on board an SXM Airways aircraft from St. Maarten. This was the second group to return from the Dominican Republic; the first group arrived on August 11.
Some of the repatriates have been stranded in the Dominican Republic since December 2019. Thanks to the efforts of the public entity St. Eustatius, relatives of the repatriated persons and officials of St. Maarten and the Dominican Republic, they were able to return to Statia.
The returnees were placed into quarantine for a period of 14 days. Before these persons are released from quarantine they will have to have negative tests for COVID-19.
St. Eustatius Public Health Department officials were on hand to meet the repatriated residents on Saturday. They were escorted through Immigration, had their passports stamped and were then guided to a bus that was parked on the tarmac at F.D. Roosevelt Airport.
Security officers led them to the bus outside the airport premises and the bus was driven to the quarantine destination, which is secured during night-time hours.
Just before the SXM Airways flight returned to St. Maarten a man who had been in quarantine in Statia was escorted onto the flight. He said that being in quarantine felt as if he had been “in jail” and he had requested permission to leave the island. Health Department officials assisted him in getting on the flight.
All passengers on the flights wore face masks.
