The Tribune

* Longer than five days for low infection countries eyed

* Domestic Travel Card awaits 'policy decisions' for go

* Exploding US infection numbers 'disconcerting'

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Cabinet minister yesterday said extending the COVID-19 PCR testing window for tourists from countries with fewer cases is "an idea that could be floated" when the present global spike is arrested.

Acknowledging that the present five-day stipulation for incoming travellers is "a tight deadline", Dionisio D'Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, told Tribune Business that "fine tuning" this procedure and and segmenting the market could be the direction ultimately taken by The Bahamas.

However, he conceded that public health officials, in particular, will likely want the "status quo" to remain given the present COVID-19 surge in the US that he branded as "a little disconcerting" for The Bahamas' tourism revival prospects.

Canadians, as well as returning Bahamians and other nationalities, have frequently complained that the five-day window in which they must take a COVID-19 PCR test and obtain a negative result is simply too tight for booking their flight with comfort

"We are aware of it. We are aware it's a tight deadline," Mr D'Aguilar told this newspaper, "but given what's happening around the world maybe it's prudent to leave a tight window right now, certainly for countries that are experiencing an explosion in case growth.

"If you look through the Caribbean, a lot of countries - Barbados, Belize - have a three-day window. There's three days, five days and seven days, and one or two are at ten days. Maybe we do need to fine tune it a little for those countries where the extent of community spread is less, and start to bifurcate it a little for those.

"That's an idea that could be floated - five days for countries experiencing a lot of cases, and seven days for those with less. We'll see. It's all a little disconcerting right now. We're minded to let the status quo remain and keep the number of days where they are now."

Mr D'Aguilar could not be contacted for comment later after it emerged that Atlantis, via its website, was telling prospective guests that they no longer needed to take the COVID-19 rapid antigen test when staying for five days or longer if they remained on property within its "bubble" for the entire duration of their stay.

"Atlantis registered guests are not required to take a second test if they vacation/stay in the Paradise Island Safe Zone for the duration of their stay," the Paradise Island mega resort's website said in bold text.

This raised immediate questions as to whether Atlantis and its guests have been given an exemption from what is one of the cornerstones of the Government's more frequent COVID-19 testing policy, which is designed to eliminate the mandatory 14-day quarantine seen as vital to tourism's rebound.

Mr D'Aguilar, meanwhile, revealed that "some tweaking" needed to be performed to the Domestic Travel Card that will facilitate inter-island Family Island travel by Bahamians. "There's some policy issues that have to be decided as it relates to that," he said.

"Which islands are travellers going to be required to produce negative PCR tests from - New Providence, Exuma and Eleuthera...We have to determine whether any follow-up testing is required, and if there's an online survey for persons travelling domestically. We just need direction on what the policy is, and be able to implement is. The programmers are willing and able to go. We have to make some decisions."

With the US recording more than one million new COVID-19 cases over the past week, and a daily peak of more than 180,000, Mr D'Aguilar acknowledged that this infection surge could throw The Bahamas' tourism rebound plans off-course yet again given the country's dependence on that nation for 85 percent of its visitors.

Voicing optimism, though, that The Bahamas' new testing system will sufficiently mitigate the risk this presents to the country's health, he said: "It is always a little disconcerting when your core market is experiencing a rapid intensification of COVID-19 cases such that the US is experiencing.

"Because of the economic impact of the US on The Bahamas, and because we're so close and there's so much interaction, naturally it's a concern. You cannot help but get concerned when you watch the news. It is very unfortunate that cases are exploding, but we remain hopeful that a vaccine is around the corner.

"However, if it was 50,000 cases, 100,000 cases, 150,000 cases or 200,000 cases a day, I think we would have adopted the same protocol. I feel we have put in adequate defences against the importation of COVID-19. We remain hopeful that it's adequate to mitigate against it. This is very different from July when persons could go and come back within 72 hours, and not take a test."