SXM minister proposes rapid antigen test for visitors

Daily Herald story

They will need a lot of tests on hand.

I question whether the advance test might make more sense. What happens if a person tests positive on the rapid test and they are a visitor? I would assume they would be required to be quarantined and it seems SXM government has very few such quarantine facilities. And I would assume there would be some push-back to the requirement that the person quarantined be required to pay for the cost of it?

Why not have the rapid tests done in the boarding areas of each airline before departure, I don't think people would want
arrive in St. Maarten and test positive and have to fly back home. And if I tested positive I would rather be close to our hospitals
if need be.

That and if you test positive but are actually negative or visa versa? There have been some inconsistencies with some of those tests.

That's a good point. I think the islands that have required the test so far are requiring it upon arrival though.

We don't have enough tests for the population, let alone visitors.

That better change or there will be no visitors allowed in if that is what they plan on doing.

I agree with you Elaine. As WLE said, I would much rather be closer to home if I found out I was infected. Visitors should not be taking away tests that the residents of the island may need and having to just turn around and leave? Don't know what the minister is thinking--if he is. The tests should be done at point of departure.

If they can't get them for their own people...

Maybe I’m wrong, and I will openly admit I’m a ‘what if’ kind of person but I think there will be a lot more preplanning needed before anyone is allowed to return as a vacationer. There’s still a lot of unanswered questions and issues that need to be resolved before I’d be willing to come back and I really, really want to come back to St. Maarten. But I want to do it safely!!

Lots of time to acquire those needed if that is what is planned.

This sounds like a good idea on the surface, but from a practicality stand point I don't believe this will work. And, for how long of a period would they intend to do this for? Testing asymptomatic people in advance will be a waste of these tests that can be better used on symptomatic residents and visitors on the island. Presenting a negative test in advance might work, but a person could be infected in the time between their test and their arrival on St. Martin. I would propose temperature checks at all airports flying to St. Martin and follow-up temperature checks at PJIA. If a temperature greater than 99.5 Fahrenheit is recorded, then the possibility of a rapid COVID-19 test could be administered. Eventually, once a vaccine is available officials could and probably should require proof of vaccination in advance of arrival on SXM.

Less than 500 people here have been tested. If I can't get a test, why should you?

If someone tests positive on arrival, haven’t they potentially infected others on the plane? It doesn’t seem that this idea has been thought through.

It is my understanding that most other islands that have announced a plan so far have required a negative Covid 19 test no more than 2 or 3 days PRIOR to the flight. Therefore the cost of the test and the consequences, if the person tests positive, would be borne in the person's country of origin. While this doesn't seem like a perfect plan either, because the person could go from negative to positive in two days, (or the test could plain be WRONG), it seems to make more sense than a plan to test AFTER people arrive.

It could/should be game changer on all of these protocols if the announcement by the WHO yesterday that it is rare for an asymptomatic person to spread the virus, is correct and accepted as solid science.

Who knows, but the exact opposite was told By “official gurus” 2 months ago that asymptomatics were super spreaders in Korea and Europe.

This is a stupid idea... The rapid test is for those who have had covid 19 and recovered. How many here have had Covid 19?

Think about this. You come here, bring or get the virus and have to be hospitalized. Do you realize our COVID hospital is in tents? In hurricane season. With 12 or 14 ventilators.

My understanding is that the test they are talking about is the one that detects an active infection. It appears there are two different types of rapid tests.

Link

With all due respect think about this, I along with others come don't get sick and spend lots of money in the local economy thereby helping those on the island that are working everyday to support their families. If I lived in fear of what could happen I would never leave my house much less get on a plane to fly (plane could crash), rent a car to drive (people die daily in car wrecks), swim in the ocean (drowning- 320,000 deaths in 2016), walk under a coconut tree (150 deaths annually from falling coconuts), walk outside to get the mail or exercise (cardiac arrest). Reasonable precautions can and should be take to determine illness and then people can simply be smart about hygiene.

And that's a choice everyone makes. But you have to be aware of the situation here before making that decision. Believe me, many of our friends and neighbors are in dire straits and I hope, for their sake, a comfortable solution can be found.

Testing upon arrival showing positive means other passengers and the crew should be quarantined.

as far as getting documentation substantiating testing 2-3 prior....the diagnostic companies are so overwhelmed in the the northeast i couldn't get results for upwards of 7-10 days. kinda thwarts that recommendation.

Agreed, in many places it is very difficult to obtain a test, let alone to get a result in a timely fashion.

Not easy in Washingtonian State either.