Covid surging in Bonaire

[tursiops]

I'm the guy @Outbound is referring to who posted earlier in this thread about a member of our group boarding our flight based on faith that a negative test result would arrive by email/test in time for arrival on Bonaire. I note the following:

1) As I mentioned in that previous post, our airline, Delta, did not ask to see negative results as a condition for boarding the flight to Bonaire. However, I would not rely on an assumption that all airlines do the same.

2) As I also mentioned, when our friend could not produce a negative test result for the personnel checking at arrival, our friend was pulled aside and offered a rapid test. (I assume this was a rapid molecular test similar to the popular ID NOW test.) Our friend texted us that it would take about 20 minutes, and sure enough, 20 minutes later our friend, having tested negative, emerged from the airport and joined us waiting outside. Our friend was charged $125.

3) By boarding the flight without a negative test result, our friend potentially put others at risk. If our friend had tested positive, I would not have been surprised if the authorities had contact-traced the rest of the passengers down and possibly required some additional testing (or quarantine?!). While there is some chance that even people who tested negative within the past 48 hours could have contracted the virus before boarding, that probability can be minimized by careful distancing and masking in the two days before one's flight.

Please get tested before you leave for Bonaire as Bonaire requires.

I had 30+ arriving during August for separate weeks in Boanire.
Those on American were not allowed to board their initial flights (pre-connection in MIA) without proof of negative PCR test.
Those on Delta had variable experiences; they were not all checked, depending on their initial departure airport.

 

[Outbound]

I would prefer it if Bonaire extended the window for the NAAT test to 72 hours prior to departure, and then perhaps added a rapid antigen test within 24 hours of departure to help catch any cases missed by extending the timeframe. Certainly, as an American I have no say in how other countries want to set up travel in the time of COVID, and I'm not really complaining. But the 48-hour window makes it a little dicey as to whether you're going to be able to get a test. Around me, the sites offering the ID Now test are having a difficult time keeping up with demand, making finding a location and scheduling a test in the proper window very difficult. I can get a standard PCR test easily at many locations, but have to take a chance on the "most results back in 1-2 days" issue. Rapid antigen tests are very easy to come by. So a combo of 72 hour NAAT/PCR test and a 24 hour antigen test would be logistically much easier.

 

[tursiops]

I would prefer it if Bonaire extended the window for the NAAT test to 72 hours prior to departure, and then perhaps added a rapid antigen test within 24 hours of departure to help catch any cases missed by extending the timeframe. Certainly, as an American I have no say in how other countries want to set up travel in the time of COVID, and I'm not really complaining. But the 48-hour window makes it a little dicey as to whether you're going to be able to get a test. Around me, the sites offering the ID Now test are having a difficult time keeping up with demand, making finding a location and scheduling a test in the proper window very difficult. I can get a standard PCR test easily at many locations, but have to take a chance on the "most results back in 1-2 days" issue. Rapid antigen tests are very easy to come by. So a combo of 72 hour NAAT/PCR test and a 24 hour antigen test would be logistically much easier.

It was changed from 72h before arrival to 48h before departure on August 8.
Since the US is designated as "very high risk" they are taking tighter precautions.
Perhaps some day we will be "low risk" and fully vaccinated travelers will need NO prior testing.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Call me crazy, but the tighter the restrictions a destination imposes, the more comfortable I feel visiting. Not just Bonaire--anywhere. My thinking is that most visitors will be conscientious types who are willing to make an effort. Because I felt Bonaire was doing a good job trying their best to keep Covid in check (it seems the current cases are mostly locals), I am planning another trip for early next year.

 

[Outbound]

Call me crazy, but the tighter the restrictions a destination imposes, the more comfortable I feel visiting. Not just Bonaire--anywhere. My thinking is that most visitors will be conscientious types who are willing to make an effort. Because I felt Bonaire was doing a good job trying their best to keep Covid in check (it seems the current cases are mostly locals), I am planning another trip for early next year.

Oh absolutely. I wish that finding a ID Now test nearby was easier, but I don't blame Bonaire for that. I blame the situation on unvaccinated Americans who are driving this surge.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Oh absolutely. I wish that finding a ID Now test nearby was easier, but I don't blame Bonaire for that. I blame the situation on unvaccinated Americans who are driving this surge.

I think I already mentioned that I too had difficulty finding an ID NOW test--Walgreens was booked solid--and the one I found was offered at a suburban doctor's office, apparently as a lucrative sideline. Patients arriving for the ID NOW do not enter through the practice's front door but rather are directed to literally the building's back door, where there is a room with a nurse doing nothing but administering these tests for $180 a pop.

 

[tursiops]

Here we go again, maybe.
The pure numbers do not look good, but the authorities seem not too concerned.
Today the report is of 114 active cases, 2 in the hospital.
On Sept 1 it was just 13 active cases, and zero in the hospital. The data look like this:

The curve is beginning to look similar to the January surge.

The authorities said yesterday:

PUBLIC HEALTH HAS A GOOD OVERVIEW OF SOURCES OF CONTAMINATION
September 10, 2021

Kralendijk - The Public Health department has a good overview of the sources of contamination, despite an increase in the number of infections. In most cases, it concerns clusters, groups of infections: 1 cluster at a primary school, 2 clusters in secondary education, 1 cluster at MBO and a sports team.

The number of infections has increased. There were 13 new infections at the end of August, 47 at the beginning of September, while 71 new infections were added this week until Friday, September 10, 2021. The number of infections is expected to remain high in the coming weeks.

Until now, it is mainly children and young people who become infected with the corona virus. The delta variant is very contagious. Of the young people aged 12 to 18, 31.2% have only been fully vaccinated. Therefore, the virus can easily spread among this group. Children under the age of 12 are not vaccinated. Children and young people generally have mild symptoms if they become infected with the virus.

At the moment it is not necessary to take extra measures on the island to combat the virus. One adult has been hospitalized, care is not under pressure now. The Public Health Department is closely monitoring the situation. If it is necessary to take additional measures, the department will advise the Lieutenant Governor about this.​

Meanwhile, the vaccinations are slowing increasing. The most recent report is from Sept 4:
15554 (82.1%) of those at least 18 years old have had at least one shot; 13616 (71.9%) have had two shots.
And 44.2 % of the 12-17 year-olds have had at least one shot, while 31.2% have had two.

 

[Outbound]

Thanks for the update, @tursiops. I don't like the trend, but I suppose it was in many ways inevitable as kids go back to school. The concern, of course, is spread amongst school children who then spread it to parents, many of whom work in the hospitality sector. Delta is so transmissible, with the ill having such a high viral load, that transmission from unvaccinated to vaccinated is bound to happen amongst family members sharing a household. I'm still counting on the fact (hope?) that sustained chains of transmission from vaccinated to vaccinated is far less likely. At least that's what I'm telling myself as we prepare to head to Bonaire next weekend. In any event, I'll feel safer there than I do in the US.

 

[mattspiral8]

Ok this may be a dumb question but here goes.
since bonaire is requiring 48 hour PCR test from our first flight. are they strict about having the test within that 48 hours, my first flight is at 11pm friday night, and my appointment for a test is 4pm wednesday. so thats a few hours over the "48 hour" requirement, or would they base it one how many "days" so anything before wednesday would not be acceptable.

 

[DustyC]

Ok this may be a dumb question but here goes.
since bonaire is requiring 48 hour PCR test from our first flight. are they strict about having the test within that 48 hours, my first flight is at 11pm friday night, and my appointment for a test is 4pm wednesday. so thats a few hours over the "48 hour" requirement, or would they base it one how many "days" so anything before wednesday would not be acceptable.

No way to really know. My flight landed minutes after a KLM flight Wednesday and we were through in minutes. They for sure looked at everything, how thoroughly, I don't know. Nobody got pulled out of line that we saw.