By Hilbert Haar The explosion of corona-virus infections on our island should not come as a surprise: it was expected. One reason is, according to a press release issued by Prime Minister Jacobs, the “systematic analysis of contact tracing” by the Department of Collective Preventive Services (CPS). The department managed to identify “more cases in a short period of time.” The latest number of new infections is unofficially reported as 69, including ten nurses. But are all these cases just the result of contact tracing? That is the big question. But maybe we know the answer already. Prof. Dr. Jaap…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG – Despite the official figures published, the latest reports indicate that there are now 35 active corona-infections on St. Maarten – and the number keeps trending upwards. Epidemiologist Izzy Gerstenbluth reacted almost immediately to this development: he will suggest to the government in Curacao to close the borders to visitors from St. Maarten. The government in Philipsburg is not doing anything: it is “closely monitoring the situation.” Elsewhere governments have reacted decisively to the (not unexpected) outbreak of new infections. Hubert Minnis, the Prime Minister of the Bahamas announced a series of strict measures that ought to give the…
Gustavia, Saint Barthélemy — In these difficult times around the health concerns caused by the COVID-19 virus pandemic, there are many confusing reports in the region and abroad about borders opening or remaining closed, and about the varying related restrictions. St. Barth takes this occasion to provide clarity on how it is handling the situation. “We want our guests in the region and abroad to know that we are very cautious to keep our island protected,” according to Bruno Magras, the President of the Collectivity St. Barth. “We know that our loyal frequent guests overseas, do their planning several months…
FRENCH SAINT MARTIN — The agreement reached this week at the European Council marks an important step in the recovery of Europe: the budget of the European Union for the period 2021-2027 is increased to €1,074 billion, and in order to support the economy, which faces a historic recession, a recovery plan of 750 billion euros has been decided, indicates the Minister of Overseas Territories in a press release. In this fund, 390 billion euros will be allocated to the states most affected by the pandemic in subsidies. It will be a common debt to be repaid by the 27.…
WILLEMSTAD – The Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten will install a new management team at insurance company ENNIA next week with Lesley-Ann Brodie as its Chief Executive Officer. Brodie spent more than ten years of her career at PriceWaterhouseCoopers as an auditor before she came to ENNIA in May 2010 as its senior manager internal audit. In October 2018 she became ENNIA’s Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operations Officer. In July 2018 an emergency measure was issued against the insurance company at the request of the Central Bank. The measure put ENNIA’s management under control of the bank;…
PHILIPSBURG – The COVID-19 crisis seems to be raising its ugly head again as reports came in claiming that initially three patients with corona-virus related illnesses were hospitalized at the St. Maarten Medical Center on Thursday. The numbers kept climbing rapidly, first to six and shortly afterwards to eleven. The Ministry of Public Health issued a press release late Thursday night, reporting that on Thursday one patient had been admitted to the hospital. On Friday morning Minister Richard Panneflek and the Department of Collective Preventive Services (CPS) will give updates at a press conference – an indication that the minister…
PHILIPSBURG – United Democrats MP Sarah Wescot-Williams questions the measures the government is taking to meet the requirements for receiving the second tranche of liquidity support. She points in particular to the Cft’s position that pension reform cannot be part of the package of cost-cutting measures. In fact, the Cft wrote in an advice to the Kingdom Council of Ministers that the demand for reforming the pension system is part of an instruction issued by the kingdom in 2015 that should have been completed by the end of 2016. The adjustments of the pension system and the decision not to…
PHILIPSBURG – United Democrats MP Sarah Wescot-Williams expressed her surprise about a press release from Justice Minister Anna Richardson about her effort to be informed about the process to arrive at the establishment of the function books for the justice personnel. Not without reason: the relevant draft national decree has been at the Council of Advice for more than six months – since January 3 of this year. According to Wescot-Williams, Richardson’s predecessor, Egbert Doran, issued a statement on January 7 saying that “the document was approved and has been submitted to the governor and will be forwarded to the…
GREAT BAY — The Council of Ministers decided to have a reduced schedule of flights from the United States to St. Maarten starting August 1. Minister responsible for Tourism Ludmilla De Weever stated that any changes to this decision would be based on the advice coming from the Ministry of Health. While the French Side’s representatives have threatened to close the borders if the Dutch side opened the airport to American flights, she said that a risk assessment is presently being done on a country-to-country basis. She explained that among the requirement is that the testing must be done 72…
GREAT BAY — At Wednesday’s Council of Minister’s press briefing, the minister responsible for Education, Drs. Rodolphe Samuel said the opening of schools on the island depends on the Coronavirus situation. According to Samuel, this information has already been shared with the relevant school boards. Consequently, they are looking at the different scenarios as to which will be best for the school. The minister noted that the pandemic had prioritized the opening of the schools, and the school boards have been given different approaches for their openings. These include opening the school as usual or going back to school where…
