PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of TEATT Ludmilla de Weever shed some light when asked about the second Ministerial Decree that was made for the Kim Sha vendors that must close their businesses by 10 pm.
Minister de Weever said the businesses at Kim Sha beach were not covered in the first Ministerial Decree since they were established on special conditions therefore the second MB was needed and had to be backdated.
De Weever said that should businesses resume back to normal as of August 31st a second MB will also have to be made. The Minister said that she has been championing the reopening of business since the COVID-19 outbreak on St. Maarten and will not do anything that will hurt businesses at this time.
The Minister of Economic Affairs said that even though the COVID-19 cases are climbing higher government may allow businesses to reopen to regular business hours especially knowing that St. Maarten will be in the slowest months of the year.
Asked if a definite decision has been taken for August 31st the Minister said that the government is actually waiting on the report from medical professionals before a decision is taken.
De Weever said the Council of Ministers will be meeting on Thursday where a decision will be taken and hopefully she will be able to fully inform the business community on the plans on moving forward.
In the meantime, Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs said that even though she has been receiving lots of messages with advice to shut down the island as the COVID-19 cases increase, she said that shutting down the island is not necessary and is not even recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Jacobs said when St. Maarten shut down in March 2020 there was not enough information on COVOD-19 and the island did not have enough material such as hospital beds back then. The Prime Minister said the situation has changed now whereby there are more beds at the St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) while there is more information on how to deal with COVID-19.
Jacobs explained that while more people are being infected with COVID-19, she said more people are also recovering from the virus.
However, the people of St. Maarten have to apply themselves when it comes to social distancing, using face masks in public spaces and hand sanitizing. Jacobs said that there is a new norm since COVID-19 and there are measures in place and if everyone applies those measures then the curve on COVID-19 will be flattened for a second time.
St. Maarten’s Prime Minister also made clear that the virus is spreading island-wide, both French and Dutch and residents just have to stop the socializing even at their homes or on private property.
