Gay Nagle Myers
Here's a suggestion for the New Year: Shorten quarantine times for travelers in the Caribbean.
The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) has called for a consensus of the region's governments to reduce Covid-19 quarantine times for travelers to avoid reversing the progress made by the tourism sector, which has been slammed by Covid-19 and the delta and omicron variants.
The U.K. and the U.S. already had reduced the isolation period for travelers who test positive to seven and five days, respectively, without requiring a negative test to exit quarantine. Portugal joined that group on Jan. 5.
CHTA president Nicola Madden-Grieg noted this in a letter to Antigua and Barbuda's prime minister Gaston Browne, the outgoing chairman of the Caribbean Community, or Caricom, a group that works to coordinate some policies and best practices on behalf of its 20 member countries.
In her letter, Madden-Grieg said that some Caribbean jurisdictions require up to 14 days in isolation, "which presents unnecessary financial and personal hardships to residents, visitors, destinations and companies and increasingly will deter travel."
The CHTA recommends a seven-day period, according to Madden-Grieg.
In the Cayman Islands, for example, quarantine requirements for vaccinated travelers were discontinued on Nov. 20, but current regulations now call for vaccinated travelers to take three lateral-flow tests during their stay on days 2, 5 and 10 and, if positive, to quarantine for 10 to 14 days.
Madden-Grieg said that while the omicron strain is contagious, it causes only a "low level of severe illness requiring hospitalization, and a low death rate, and has proven to be particularly less virulent for those who are vaccinated."
The CHTA argued that the faster recovery rates justify the moves made by the U.K. and the U.S. to reduce the periods of quarantine.
Cautioning against overreaction
The association also commended those Caribbean governments that have not closed their borders.
"Government policies coupled with the efforts of health and tourism officials to enforce health safety protocols have resulted in the restoration of employment and airlift to near pre-pandemic levels, higher vaccination rates for tourism-related employees and low positivity test result rates for travelers, preventing massive business failures which could be detrimental to our long-term recovery."
She also cautioned that overreaction over the coming critical weeks could reverse the progress made in the region towards recovery.
She called for "regional harmonization" for entry, testing and isolation/quarantine requirements, citing reports of confusion among travelers for the many, varied and often-changing requirements.
A call for the Caribbean to accept antigen tests
The CHTA also recommended that antigen tests, which are cheaper, be approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) for entry; the cost and availability of PCR tests can cost up to $600 for a family of four, it said.
The Bahamas, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Jamaica and the U.S. Virgin Islands accept antigen tests for entry and have not reported higher infection rates among tourists, according to CHTA.
The association recommended greater flexibility in sourcing the tests as local health authorities work with suppliers to reduce the cost of testing.
Finally, CHTA reminded Caricom that precautionary and preventive actions have thus far "steered our economies towards recovery and must continue to do so."