In preparation of the repatriation flight from the Dominican Republic upcoming Tuesday, August 11th, the Public Entity of St. Eustatius hosted a meeting with the relatives and relations of the repatriating Statia residents from the Dominican Republic. The objective of this meeting was to ensure that both the repatriates and their relatives on Statia strictly adhere to the travel and quarantine protocol of St. Eustatius.
The Dominican Republic is considered a high-risk country due to the very high number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 and the high number of deaths due to COVID-19. The repatriating residents from the Dominican Republic must therefore go into central quarantine on August 11th, for 14 days, in line with the travel and quarantine protocol of the Government. Home quarantine is not possible, under no circumstances and without exceptions. Due to the small scale of St. Eustatius, the limited medical facilities and the fact that there is no testing capacity yet, the Government urges the repatriates and their relatives and friends to strictly adhere to the mandatory central quarantine, and to the hygiene and physical distancing guidelines. Full cooperation of all persons involved is obliged.
On the 12th day of the obligatory central quarantine, the repatriates will be tested on COVID-19. Persons that are tested negative, can go home after 14 days. Persons that are tested positive, will be put in isolation.
The flight from the Dominican Republic is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday, August 11th. The Government has decided to have maximum 11 persons on this flight, to be able to adhere to social distancing and due to the fact that St. Eustatius is a relatively small island with limited medical facilities and currently no testing capacity. Another flight from the Dominican Republic with repatriating residents is scheduled in 3 weeks. Only Statian residents will be permitted on these flights, with a valid Dutch passport registered at the Census Office and permit. All other requests will be denied and tourism from the Dominican Republic is not allowed until further notice.
Travel and quarantine protocol
The travel and quarantine protocol of the Public Entity of St. Eustatius dictates that all persons coming to St. Eustatius from high risk countries must go into central quarantine. High risk countries are the United States, the Dominican Republic, most South and Central American countries, the United Kingdom and St. Maarten.
Persons coming from medium risk countries, are also obliged to go into quarantine, but under certain conditions the government allows home quarantine. Under the category medium risk countries fall the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and France.
To be excluded from quarantine obligations, the traveler must have been in a low risk country for 14 consecutive days. These lists are valid until further notice and are continuously monitored by the government.
Persons that wish to enter St. Eustatius from a medium or high risk country, must submit a request via e-mail to info.covid19@statiagov.com.