SHTA wants EHAS ended before November...

The St Smarten Hospitality and Trade Association wants EHAS ended prior to the start of high season.

SHTA says to kill EHAS

Personally, I don't really think that EHAS is keeping anyone from coming, that wants to. I really don't see what the benefit is though, at this point. I am very happy they did away with the mandatory insurance, as that was just a money grab.

It's not really a big deal for people to do prior to arrival but for some first time visitors it can be a little confusing.

Seems like, On SXM you can have the biggest no brainer Idea and it will not happen or not happen quickly just because it comes from outside or foreign opinion or pressure. Not because its not a good idea. EHAS is not needed anymore and is keeping some tourist from not coming to SXM which is hurting the island people and economy. To me its not a problem but a lot of people just don't like or understand the hoops and hurtles as it creates a roadblock and unnecessary anxiety. We have friends that have passed on SXM for another island for that reason. Hopefully the gov will do away this this requirement before to many tourist book for high season other destinations. They said March already, just do it now.

I have friends who have visited with us in the past on St. Maarten. They are not vaccinated and will not come back until EHAS is ended.

If it is causing folks to change island venues because of it, it would seem to be a no-brainer to eliminate the requirement as it really serves no purpose anymore.
From a business standpoint especially.

On the topic of EHAS and the insurance money, I normally do not agree with MP Emmanuel on anything, but in this case, he is correct. There needs to be some transparency as to the whole program and where the money from the insurance went.

Link

As such, Emmanuel said that the government should “for once in its tenure” practice transparency and respond to the many public inquiries and concerns about the programme.


The key phrase here......."for once in its tenure".

The insurance is dropped but EHAS is still in place? That makes no sense! The point was to not have the health care system and the hospitals on SXM overwhelmed by tourists stricken with Covid. The fully vaccinated and the unvaccinated are getting Covid but with mild symptoms. The jab was not the answer and the whole world went along with this profit driven boondoggle.

Guess it depends on your definition of "mild symptoms" ...Yesterday in MA there were 60 new COVID deaths and presently 856 hospitalized with the virus

Yeah, we're not even going to go there.

Read the linked article.

SXM apparently wants to transition EHAS from COVID to Tourism Data Collection.

Did I miss something, or is that the plan?

The 60 deaths attributed to Covid and reported by Massachusetts on October 13th was for the prior week and not for just one day. A link to the reporting is below.

Massachusetts Covid Numbers

The article has been edited since I originally posted the link so much of the original content has changed. What I can say, with the rewrite, and I'm surprised no one has picked up on this, is that they they have suspended the October 15th changes for two weeks. The new date is 1 November for changes to EHAS, per the revisions in the article. Does this mean they will continue to make the insurance mandatory for the next two weeks?



The below is pulled right from the revised article:

"On Wednesday, during the Council of Minister’s press briefing, Prime minister Silveria Jacobs announced, in her capacity as acting minister of VSA, that the announced change of EHAS has been postponed two weeks, from October 15 until November 1."

***Maybe the Prime Minister doesn't want the Money Train to stop!

You may be on to something.

Thank you for that correction. I was used to the daily reports and haven't followed them recently now that they are weekly numbers

boucharda--again, let's not get into this numbers things for the US. Not relevant to this topic.

The PM didn't refer specifically to the insurance requirement, so it's very unclear.

Today is the 15th. Is anyone scheduled to leave in the next couple of days? Would be interested to hear what you are required to do now.

Actually friends are leaving today to St. Martin. I will text and ask what was needed to enter SXM.

Friends replied back saying they did not pay insurance but did complete the EHAS.

OK, that's good, that they didn't have to do the insurance.

That takes care of the extra money theory.

To require visitors to complete an application and get approval to enter the country just for data collection purposes is ludicrous.

Pre Covid, they used to have the paper forms for you to fill out, with details regarding where you were staying, etc. But I wonder whether they ever did anything with that stuff, considering someone would have to manually input the info into a computer. I think they want it to be required, so they don't have to do any work to get the info.

Updated Herald article.
LINK

Frankly I wouldn’t be returning with EHAS in place except that I have a credit that has to be used
Who wants to wait til 3 days before to find out if you pass 😜
While I love St Maarten there are many /most places w/o this hassle
Also how are they verifying that people r giving accurate info?

"Who wants to wait til 3 days before to find out if you pass 😜"
It's pretty much automatic if you are Vaxed. Just takes a little effort to fill out and submit. Not really a big deal.

This EHAS 3 day thing is so easy to understand. It has health questions like have you been around someone with covid , fever, etc so what good is it if you answer these questions to far in advance? They need current health answers!!! That's why you have to wait. Why can't people understand this... EZPZ. But EHAS is totally NOT needed now so it seems to be more of a political thing , not laying off voting employees ...nothing to do with the health of the island. IT needs to end, its really costing the island tourist dollars.

"It has health questions like have you been around someone with covid , fever, etc."

Do you think most people are going to answer that honestly (assuming they have been around someone with covid) if they expect to fly to St. Maarten in three days or less and have paid for accommodations and airfare? Honest question.

I think you just answered that question.