Covid has claimed two more victims. St. Maarten has been forced to cancel both its annual Carnival celebration March 26 to May 2 and its 41st Heineken Regatta, which had been set for April 16 to May 2.
Due to fear of possible Covid developments and stronger strains of the Covid-19 virus, regatta organizers have eliminated the parties and social gatherings from this year's format and will host only four days of world-class racing.
Carnival was canceled due to challenges associated with enforcing social distancing and mask wearing while coordinating the rollout of the island's vaccine program, which coincides with the Carnival dates.
"The potential economic benefits of Carnival and other festivals do not outweigh the risk to the public health and the ability of the health sector, as well as law enforcement, to deal with the fallout, seeing the increasing cases and presence of the new strains of Covid-19 around the world," the Council of Ministers stated in their decision to cancel.