The Road Map towards the reopening of St. Eustatius consists of four phases. The first phase will be concluded on Wednesday, May 25, and is marked with a green checkmark.
ST. EUSTATIUS--On Wednesday, May 26, the Public Entity St. Eustatius will further open up the island by introducing the second phase of its Road Map. As of this date, Statians residing abroad and Statia residents who want to return home can enter the island. Also, visitors from Curaçao, Aruba, St. Maarten, Bonaire and Saba are welcomed to Statia.
The main condition is that all incoming travellers must be fully vaccinated. Everyone who qualifies to enter in phase two of the Road Map but are not yet fully vaccinated, will also be granted approval for entry to Statia, but must go into quarantine for 10 days.
Wearing a face mask, keeping social distance and washing hands regularly is strongly advised when going to publicly accessible places. For all government offices, wearing a facemask is mandatory effective May 26. This also counts for persons visiting the St. Eustatius Health Care Foundation (SEHCF), the Auxiliary Home and the pharmacy. Businesses can make wearing a face mask mandatory before entering their premises.
“The public entity will maintain the same strategy that has kept residents of St. Eustatius safe thus far, but is now positioning the general public to share the responsibility. We are now at the juncture where the community needs to actively join in the fight against COVID-19 considering the relatively low vaccination rate, limited medical facilities and capacity, and the potential risk that is created when St. Eustatius reopens. It is, therefore, important that government and residents remain vigilant,” Deputy Government Commissioner Alida Francis said.
The second phase was initially scheduled to start on May 19, but was postponed to properly dialogue with and inform key stakeholders of the most important guidelines that belong to this new phase.
For all persons entering Statia, registration of entry through This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. is still mandatory. For all persons entering from a high-risk country, a COVID-NAAT test is also still mandatory.
The third phase of the Road Map for re-opening does not have a starting date but will start when 50 per cent of the population of Statia is fully vaccinated. Up till now, in total 978 persons (which is 41 per cent) received both doses of the Moderna vaccine.
In addition, 129 received the first doses which means that they will soon receive their second shot, making it 1,107 persons that will be completely vaccinated, or 46 per cent of the total.
When the 50-per-cent mark is reached, fully vaccinated visitors, including tourists, can come to Statia without the mandatory quarantine of 10 days. Non-vaccinated visitors can also visit Statia but a quarantine of 10 days is mandatory.
In the fourth phase, everyone can enter the island, also not-vaccinated visitors, without the need to go into quarantine. The condition is that the majority of Statia residents must be vaccinated, which is set at 80 per cent.
The easing of measures started on April 11, which was the first phase of the Road Map of the opening of the island. Effective April 11, Statia residents who are fully vaccinated do not need to go into quarantine anymore when entering Statia after travelling abroad. They adhere to a special five-day protocol that includes wearing a face mask, keeping social distance, regular hand washing, and they cannot attend events.
The decision to further ease the measures was taken after careful deliberation and consulting with key partners such as the Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS), the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment RIVM, the Public Health Department, the Crisis Management Team, the Island Council, St. Eustatius Business Association (STEBA) and Central Dialogue.
The general consensus is that Statia should gradually and carefully re-open with everyone taking personal responsibility to mitigate the COVID-19 virus from entering.
