Limited Quarantine starting Mon Apr 27 6AM-1PM

Ahoy Captains,

Good News - Limited Curfew open from 6 AM to 1PM starting Monday April 27.
Basic services opening Monday that includes Food Stores and Banks.

https://www.bviplatinum.com/news.php?articleId=31542
https://bvinews.com/internal-reopen...urfew-will-be-relaxed-for-7-hours-daily/
http://www.virginislandsnewsonline....s-the-new-regular-premier-andrew-a-fahie

https://bvi.gov.vg/media-centre/sta...iSiVP79nkqR7NnVNdjuCvcwtF_wBjmHRZaP7sl6g
https://www.facebook.com/BVIGovernm...45/10157560235512945/?type=3&theater

Fair Winds, Brent from thecaptainscompass.com

Brent, what’s your best guess on when charters might resume?
G

Ahoy Capt. George,

I do not know if I can Answer without becoming Political, sorry.
By definition, it should depend on each Individuals’ Medical Status, not a Generic Calendar / Geopolitical / Financial / Ethnic / etc. origin or destination.
The only hope is a Profitable (for the BVI Gov) and Highly Accurate Testing done Immediately Prior to boarding a flight (SJU, STT, or SXM) to the BVI, like the Abbott ID NOW test, then I would expect the Borders to open in weeks.
September, if Limited Quarantines and Limited Testing in Foreign countries leads to Secondary Waves.
Months, not Weeks, sorry, and as a Non-Belonger in the BVI I can only say that the BVI Gov is being Smart by being very aggressive in their Reaction to day to day developments based on their improving, but still limited, resources.

Sorry for all this …
Good News First, I stand by my claim that a Yacht in the BVI, meticulously cleaned, is one of the Safest places in the World right now.
Good News Second, I would expect in a few weeks from now the Major Airlines and Airports will have Cleaning Protocols, Parts/Labour, and Scheduling Formulas all finalized to insure they are one of the Safest Public Spaces in the World.
Certainly cleaner than your neighbourhood gas station or liquor store or food store.
Good News Third, some Northern European countries are scheduling an end to long term Full Quarantines based on Very Aggressive Testing and Nationally Managed Healthcare. And there are daily medical improvements internationally for Testing with results in minutes, clinical trials for Treatments with available drugs, and Vaccines being engineered with super computers.

Generically - The BVI originally had Immigration limits based on an Individuals Origin until the spread/severity of the Virus versus the statistical medical limits of the BVI became overwhelmed.
- https://bvi.gov.vg/sites/default/fi...cial_concern_and_high_risk_countries.pdf (March 13, '20)
Now, for travelling Internationally in the age of this Virus, your Nations Passport is only as strong as your Nations weakest link.
If an Individual comes from an Origin that has been Proactive with a Full Quarantine, an affordable coordinated Private/Public Medical ‘Safety Net’, and has a Digital Medical Passport certifying Immediate & Highly Accurate Testing (like a Medical Visa or an ETIAS or an ESTA), then I would expect their Borders to open in weeks. Please consider that 'Perfect is the Enemy of Done'.
If not, and the Individual is travelling from an Origin with a Politically Dysfunctional Medical system, Limited Quarantine, and potentially fighting an Unknown/Untested Second Wave of Infection, to the BVI Destination which has about 25,000 people and 9 ventilators, it should be months.

Having said all that – I am a Sailor, not a Salesman.
To avoid being Political, I see Covid 19 as another Cat 5 Irma. I worked for 2 weeks before Irma and lost 20% of my boats, as opposed to the average of 80%. Do literally Everything you can to be Prepared, Work Hard and Work Smart, and then ‘Hold Fast’. And then when it is all over, enjoy the Bacchanal of your first night back in the BVI in … a few Months.

Finally, please consider an Option such as –
https://www.insuremytrip.com/travel-insurance-plans-coverages/coronavirus-travel-insurance/
This helps take the Financial and Calendar factors out of the equation and helps focus on the Safety of your Crew.

Fair Winds, Brent from thecaptainscompass.com

Glad to see they are opening food stores partially anyway. Had to be extremely tough without any food stores or banks open.

Brent, not disagreeing with your analysis, but the "ifs"'are pretty large: not every charter boat will be meticulously cleaned and the airlines serving the BVI are not major and may not be properly cleaned. If you fly to STT, will the taxis and ferries be meticulously cleaned?

Then there's the issue of testing. If it's done in San Juan, St. Thomas and St. Martin, will anyone be willing to book a flight there and rent a house or charter a boat, not knowing if they can complete their trip? Heck, we own a house. Would we pay to get it opened, cleaned, boat launched, car prepped, etc., not knowing if we would actually be able to get in.

My guess is the first people allowed back will be citizens and residents, and after that it will be wait and see.

Thinking out loud …. Currently the United States has one-third of all confirmed Covid cases in the world (more than four times the country in second place) and one-quarter of all deaths from Covid. Additionally I remember a story regarding U.S. Customs recently (temporarily) confiscating medical supplies destined to the British Virgin Islands. Will there be an initial 'yin and yang' of U.S. citizens being 'persona non grata' and the need of tourist dollars? Once ready to open, will the welcome mat be selectively extended? I do have proof of immunity for measles, perhaps an immunity passport for Covid-19 is not so crazy.

Thank you for your honest insight. I have been impressed with the BVI response, has been effective. Unlike my own country of origin.....

Vastly different situations between the countries. Can you imagine if the President of the US banned US citizens from entering the country? I am not a Trump supporter in any way shape or form but when he suggested a ban on travel from China he was branded a racist. Comparing the BVI with the US in response to COVID is like comparing a Tricycle to a moon Rocket. They are vastly different and more complex.
G

Noel-

There is an interesting test of this going on in the US. We have a house in the Outer Banks (OBX) of NC and we live up in Virginia (note the Netflix show was not filmed there). The OBX non resident homeowners (NRHO) were banned for the last 6 weeks. This created a lot of ugly social media tension that didn't publicly help any group as "generally" the locals didn't want to get sick, the owners wanted to get to their houses to get them ready for guests and/or quarantine, and the businesses of OBX are trying not to go bankrupt as they make all their money "in season".

OBX was just opened up to NRHO this week (guests later) and the welcome has been great and the NRHO are bent on helping the local businesses survive and focused hard on the new social distancing rules and norms....so there may be exceptions but the rule has been quite different than the social media expectations.

I am hopeful that the BVI people will do likewise...the hard thing in BVI as you know you cant really drive "home" or to another hospital if you are sick or get sick down there and it would surprise me if you can get on a commercial flight...

I understand Diane's comment is to suggest the Covid response in BVI to be more 'aggressive' than in her own country, the United States, although I would agree Americans are less likely to accept many restrictions on personal liberty. The consequences are we now have 956,292 confirmed cases of Covid, more than four times that of the country in second place. We now have 54,175 Covid deaths, one quarter of all the deaths in the world. It can't be more obvious Americans and our government were not prepared for a pandemic. I think most sensibly minded folks agreed the movement of people between countries was not a good idea, a fairly common response. Our country had to bring a lot of American citizens home, and I'm not sure it went smoothly, nor was everyone virus free upon their return. I agree there are 'talking heads' looking for market share, and would say anything to grab attention. I don't think we can 'broad brush' American opinion based on some media comments. I don't know the 'end game', perhaps no one does.

Being a Trump supporter, I agree 100% with your analogy.

ENOUGH of US politics. This one is done. This forum is about the BVI.