Yes, this is definitely one piece of the puzzle that those wanting to travel to SXM or anywhere out of the US need to keep in mind, before making firm plans.

That and whether US or Canadian tourists are allowed into SXM.

Unless it is required/allowed business travel (once things open up some) it is a crap shoot for any travel out of the US or into SXM at this point and for the rest of the year.

only time will tell rural, but one would think that relying on travelers for a major contributor to their economy st maarten is in quite a pickle. Kinda damned if you do and ...........

No travel to Canada is currently allowed either, whether across the US/Canada border or by overseas visitors, unless the visit qualifies as "essential" (which does not include tourism) or it is a necessary commercial or cargo activity. I don't see those restrictions being lifted anytime soon, unfortunately.

With SXM also closed, I would be stopped at the airport. We have booked for 5 weeks in SXM, starting mid-January 2021. I am an eternal optimist, but I honestly think that the chances of actually going are less than 50/50. It would be a combination of considerations, including the idea of being in an aircraft without the benefit of reduced passenger loads (physical distancing), an effective vaccine (unlikely that quickly) or an effective treatment (a possibility) and adequate testing (pre-screening).

Of course, it presumes that air travel restrictions have also been lifted. We are keeping our fingers crossed, but we may have to just move it to 2022.

From what I have been told ( remember I said told ) I am by no means up on this subject . So take it for what it is worth . Every time this virus gets pasted along it becomes less and less severe .Because then you get it
from the person before you their anti-bodies have been fighting it . The only reason I say that it might have some truth is because the states that have already opened up . And the media was saying it would be a blood bath .
Their numbers ( positive tests and deaths ) are coming down . The numbers seem to say locked up or opened up is not showing any difference . So I am wondering , the longer this goes the less and less it will be ..Just like a flu dissipates .
I do not want to put any disinformation out there. Like I said this is just a thought . Maybe someone with some expertise has some thoughts . Jeff

The next time I speak with my youngest son (who's company is presently working on a vaccine for COVID-19) I will ask him that question. That's an interesting point, but in reality the severity of any virus typically occurs only when it starts to mutate or change it's internal DNA structure. The virus itself, SARS-CoV-2 at this time has stayed remarkably consistent with no true mutations taking place. But, that could change and if and when it does one of two things will happen: it will become more virulent (and potentially sign it's own death warrant) or less virulent and possibly begin to produce symptoms more in line with the common cold. If the latter, it would potentially become more contagious but with milder symptoms. The number of reported infections would likely rise, but the death rate would begin to drop off significantly.

We have two trips planned for early 2021 and, of course are very hopeful we can go, but if this virus is anything like the 1918 influeza........

People keep comparing this to the 1918 flu. Our medical knowledge and abilities have come a long way in over 100 years.

Correct. I wonder how the reaction was for that situation as there was no social media or a 24/7 "news" cycle back then.

I agree a lot of things have changed and medical facilities are much better, but the population is much bigger now so many more people can become infected and a greater chance for more rapid spread. If airlines resume travel again too soon and the rules are not properly followed, we definitely will have a second wave which could prove to be much worse. We need to take precautions for many more months.

Hello Jeff C. ... responding to you from the 'other' side of Pennsylvania regarding your post. Finally had a chance to speak with my son Andrew who is a molecular biologist at a bio tech company in California and is presently working on a COVID-19 vaccine (like so many other places around the world), and I presented your post to him. Your information for the most part is accurate, and SARS-CoV2 infections will be less severe when contracted from someone who already has been infected because their immune system would be fighting the infection and establishing antibodies to do so. That is why medical professionals faced so many perils from this early on, because they were being exposed multiple times to a large number of individuals and had just turned symptomatic. Therefore, the severity of future infections really depends on who someone gets this from. A virus that spreads from a newly infected person will be just as potent as in the past, but infections from those in the latter stages of COVID-19 disease will likely be spreading a less potent version. New infections, as they are reported across North America, will consist of individuals with varying degrees of the illness. With that said, those people with vitamin D deficiencies are much more vulnerable to get a more serious infection. This is one of the reasons COVID-19 has hit the African-American communities so hard in terms of mortality, because this population base is typically deficient in vitamin D levels. He recommends having vitamin D levels checked by your PCP, and if deficient taking supplemental vitamin D to boost your numbers upward (beyond what you get from a multi-vitamin). And, by no means ever attempt to drink Clorox or Lysol as a supplement!

Good info on vitamin D.

We all better hope the airlines are operating and the borders are open.
Temperature checks, antibody/test documents and all kinds of other precautions need to all be in place.

Older local folks need to be careful on SXM and older travelers may need to forego traveling this year. Quite frankly, they need to stay out of the local grocery store.

BUT, The rest of the younger population needs to get back to normal ASAP. And facetime mom and dad.

Thus far:

We are seeing more and more friends and family members losing or about to be losing their jobs permanently.

One of our friends young and bright, very cheerful person in her mid 30s has committed suicide after losing her job.

Thankfully, so far we know of no family members or friends sick or dead from COVID 19.

Totally agree GaKaye

correct GaKaye...and as well as hygiene

Thank you Sammy M. For taking the time to find out all that information . And for posting it so we may all see. All I can say now is that if we don't get our Governor ( Wolf ) to open up very soon , PA. is in major du-du .
Here in Lancaster County according to the PA . Dept. of Health we have a total of 187 deaths of Covid-19 . But of those 187 , 169 were from Nursing Homes and Personal Care Homes . And we still are not opened up .
And yes I smell something rotten ! But that's for another day . Thank you for taking the time to let me know . Jeff_C

Don't want to make this a PA thing but I saw the stats update today and more than 95% of COVID19 in our area were from the facilities you mentioned. Tough to make the reopen decisions but seeing friends and neighbors go out of business permanently and knowing many that are in jeopardy of permanent job loss as well is painful. Our governor doesn't worry about getting a haircut but I lived through the 60s and I don't want to do the long hair again.

Nearly 100,000 American's are dead and you are worried about getting a haircut.

Please shut this thread down. It was bad enough when it was conveying medical nonsense. Now it is declared that those in nursing homes don't matter. It's certainly not about US international travel restrictions. That's easy. The rest of the world now rightly considers us a third world country. They are going to carefully open up, but they are going to ban American's because we are the worst virus outbreak in the world by far and there is no end in sight or any real plan to do anything about it at all other than to ensure some people don't have to let their hair grow long.

This thread is totally different than the original post and is going nowhere..