Gov’t of Anguilla Holds Press Conference on Anguilla’s “Soft Opening”

On the morning of Tuesday, August 18th, officials from the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Health met in the Conference Room of the Anguilla Tourist Board to apprise the press on the “Soft Opening” protocols and the launch of a “Visitor Application Portal.” These protocols denote intricate procedures of a meticulously planned opening of Anguilla’s borders for qualified persons who would wish to visit the island over the next two months.

Barring restrictions due to the existing COVID-19 pandemic, this “soft opening” process facilitates visitors who would be entering Anguilla with the intent of spending a period of three months or more. Potential visitors would be required to apply online to the Ministry of Tourism by completing an application form devised by the communications consulting enterprise “Thoughtful Digital Agency”. The marketing pitch to the systematic reopening promotes the island’s hospitality sector through the theme “Lose the Crowd; Find Yourself”.

Over the past five months, Anguilla — like much of the rest of the region — has been deprived of economic sustainability on account of the closure of its borders. Anguilla is dependent on tourism as its main economic driver and, according to observations by the Ministry of Tourism, “being dependent upon tourism, we are now left with a turbulent way forward, as the glaring impact on the GDP for 2020 is inevitable. It must be noted, however, that the indirect and induced impact remains to be quantified.” Obviously, it is this impact that the “soft opening” is meant to alleviate at this time.

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Key Government officials at the press conference included: the Hon. Premier, Dr. Ellis Lorenzo Webster; the Minister of Tourism, Hon. Haydn Hughes; and the Hon. Parliamentary Secretary, Mrs. Quincia-Gumbs Marie. Also delivering presentations were the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Aisha Andrewin; Permanent Secretary of Health, Mr. Foster Rogers, as well as the Chairman of the Anguilla Tourist Board, Mr. Kenroy Herbert, and the ATB’s Coordinator of International Markets, Mrs. Chantelle Richardson.

In opening the conference, the moderator, Mrs. Quincia Gumbs Marie, recognized the government dignitaries present at the conference table as well as those in the audience. She then requested Pastor James Harrigan to invoke God’s blessings with a prayer.
The Honorable Premier, Dr. Ellis Lorenzo Webster, addressed the conference by stating: “In keeping with our promise to keep you informed on the latest development within our government, I address you today on the COVID-19 situation, and recent decisions approved in Executive Council towards the phased reopening of our borders. The World Health Organization has confirmed that there are over 20 million cases of COVID-19 infections globally — and about 1 million deaths. The region of the Americas accounts for 54% of these cases and about 53% of the deaths worldwide.”

He continued: “Some Caribbean countries are currently experiencing clusters, and there is evidence of community transmission in areas like the Bahamas, Belize, Turks and Caicos Islands, Jamaica, Trinidad and St. Maarten. It therefore means that Anguilla must be responsible, going forward, as we try to manage both the health and the economy of the island. In this regard, a balance must be found which ensures that there is a measure of a phased resumption of economic activity, while protecting the gains that Anguilla has made — and protecting the health of our residents by blocking the spread of the virus.”
Giving an account of the repatriation activity over the past couple of months, the Premier noted: “Thus far, 269 persons have been repatriated to Anguilla. There are currently 50 persons in quarantine — whether at home or at government mandated facilities. This level of repatriation, with no cases of COVID-19 in the country, is quite impressive and is a reflection of the strict protocols of repatriation and the highly responsible way in which residents of Anguilla have conducted themselves during the onslaught of the pandemic.”

Then, with reference to the reopening of borders and the reopening of the economy, the Premier emphasized: “As we continue repatriation efforts, and begin the reopening of the economy, the country will continue to have strict protocols to combat any reintroduction of the COVID-19 disease in Anguilla…With regard to the economic health of Anguilla, the reopening of our borders must be conducted in a controlled manner to ensure that the healthcare system is not overwhelmed with any undue risk.

“Thus, our approach until at least October 31st,” he stipulated, “will be to follow a phased opening to leisure travellers and long-stay guests with first preference provided to persons of low COVID-19 prevalence. In working closely with the Ministry of Health, the Health Authority of Anguilla, the Governor’s Office, and the Chief Medical Officer, the following regulations have been approved to allow persons to enter Anguilla:

1. Persons wishing to repatriate must obtain pre-arrival approval under the current repatriation program. They must undergo a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test upon arrival, at the end of a quarantine period, and prior to the end of that period if necessary.
2. The entry of leisure travellers and long-term stay visitors from locations with a low prevalence rate of COVID-19 will start under the following specific arrangements: (a) a negative PCR test result 3 to 5 days prior to arrival; (b) a PCR test on arrival; (c) mandatory restricted activity in a villa for a minimum of 10 days; (d) a PCR test on day 10 of quarantine, or before, if symptoms develop; (e) monitoring and surveillance and mandatory reporting by villa operators.
3. Visitors and villa owners arriving from high prevalence areas will be considered on a case by case basis. This will be done through the following specific arrangements: (a) a negative PCR test conducted 3 to 5 days prior to arrival; (b) mandatory quarantine of 14 days at a government-approved location; (c) mandatory COVID-19 testing on arrival; (d) mandatory testing at the end of the quarantine period prior to discharge or at any stage during quarantine if symptoms develop; (e) monitoring and surveillance and mandatory reporting by villa operators.”
   The Premier ended by charging: “I want to remind persons that these protocols exist to safeguard the Anguillian public. Therefore, we seek your cooperation in ensuring adherence to the rules and regulation governing the entry of persons to Anguilla, including the need for pre-arrival testing.”

Minister of Tourism, Hon. Haydn Hughes, responded by claiming: “What we are embarking upon is unprecedented. There is no other country at this time that is enforcing such protocols.” He compared two islands in the region with Anguilla’s method of precision: “If we look at our competitors,” he said, “we would realize that most of them are not carrying out these kinds of tests. Just recently, Jamaica implemented a PCR test before arrival from four countries; and in the case of St. Maarten, a PCR test is done prior to arrival, but that’s it.”

He stressed that in Anguilla, while the economy is being cautiously opened, the health and safety of the people are being protected — as far as COVID-19 is concerned.

Minister Hughes thanked the Parliamentary Secretary, the Hon. Quicia Gumbs-Marie, for diligently working on the preparation of the “Soft Opening” protocols with the team from the Ministry of Health, the Chief Medical Officer, Thoughtful Digital Agency, and personnel from the Anguilla Tourist Board — as well as the Anguilla Hotel and Tourism Association. He noted that arriving at the “Soft Opening” and the launch of the Visitor Application Portal were a collaborative effort, due to the dedicated work of the Anguilla team as well as by Public Health UK, CARPHA, and the Pan American Health Organization.

In her address to the conference, Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Aisha Andrewin, reported emphatically on testing procedures for persons arriving to the island: “I cannot state enough what has been said. Everything that we have done has not been done by preference or opinion. Throughout the course of the past five months we have done our best to stick to the science and international guidelines.”

She continued: “The protocols for this “Soft Opening” process is similar to the protocols for the repatriation procedure. The concept of the testing shows us that the one-off testing that was done by countries that had a false start can never be sufficient to safeguard the population. We have learnt that sequential testing is very important. Tests must be carried out prior to arrival, upon arrival, and on day 10 and on day 14 of the quarantine.”

“With regard to the ten-day quarantine, some people may wonder,” she said, “whether we are doing something different for locals than for tourists. However, that is not the intent. We are only acting on new knowledge which came to our attention in the past few weeks through work with our Public Health UK counterparts. Our experience, in this regard, has allowed us to conserve resources since we are moving from a 14-day quarantine to a10-day quarantine for person arriving from locations with a lower prevalence of COVID.”

Permanent Secretary of Health, Mr. Foster Rogers, appealed to the public for an understanding of quarantines: “Quarantines are constitutional and they are part of our laws,” he said. “Our constitution specifically states that persons at liberty can be curtailed in times when we have to protect our people from infectious diseases.

“Everyone would not be pleased with the protocols and procedures, but we have to look at the risks. We cannot take into account individual interests against the interest of our population of 14,000. We are looking at the interest of the public at large to decide how we can protect our people, so we solicit your understanding. We continue with our repatriation efforts, and we are taking measures to reopen the economy. We therefore ask the people of Anguilla to bear with us and to deal with us in a responsible manner.”

Parliamentary Secretary, the Hon. Quincia Gumbs-Marie, had been the driving force behind the launch. She sought to enlighten the public on important aspects of the “Soft Opening”, and she recognized the partners who worked with her, as a team, to get the unique programme off the ground:

“Primarily”, she said, “the ‘Soft Opening’ programme requires constant communication with: the Ministry of Health which guides our every step; the Ministry of Tourism which is represented by Ms. Gina Brooks who is responsible for creating the reopening protocols; the Anguilla Tourist Board who had the task of adjusting our marketing efforts to suit this fluid and dynamic situation; and Thoughtful Digital Agency whose responsibility is was to bring our vision of an online visitor application portal to life.”

In part, she noted: “The ATB, along with their partners in the industry have devised the tagline for this campaign: ‘Lose the Crowd, Find Yourself.’ Our marketing efforts will be primarily geared towards digital nomads and persons with the ability to work from home, but we are still looking forward to welcome our usual shorter term guests.”

Presentations were also made by Tourism Planner, Ms. Gina Brooks; Chairman of the Anguilla Tourist Board, Mr. Kenroy Herbert; the Partner of Thoughtful Digital Agency, Ms. Tahirah Banks; and ATB’s Coordinator of International Markets, Mrs. Chantelle Richardson. At the end of the session, many questions were fielded from the floor, and answers were provided for enlightenment.

• Staff Reporter, James Harrigan