We need your ideas and questions today for Reopening!

[airswift]

Reopening is a very difficult decision. Once the borders are open You will have incoming flights from all over the world. Even with the best airport screening and all protocals in place, if one person slips thru. Well you know the rest.
I know the Jamaican economy is in trouble. Which is worse.

[Rob]

Reopening is a very difficult decision. Once the borders are open You will have incoming flights from all over the world. Even with the best airport screening and all protocals in place, if one person slips thru. Well you know the rest.
I know the Jamaican economy is in trouble. Which is worse.

Reopening is a delicate balance, but one that does need to be accomplished. The Jamaican economy, as is every other economy, is in trouble, but far from devastated. The store shelves are full, people are moving about more freely than they have in weeks. A major aspect of personal income, bar jobs are coming back as of the 19th. This will be a big boost to the local expenditure.

One person has "slipped through" on more than one occasion and the contact tracers have done a superb job in tracking down known contacts. Jamaica has had 9 deaths and 90 recoveries since the first case was found in March.

The main reason for the 505 confirmed cases is due to one building, one business. And even several have "slipped" through being tested there, yet the number of deaths remain steady and number of recoveries keep increasing.

The government is weighing all these factors in deciding on a day to day basis to fully open the economy.

[airswift]

Thanks for your input Rob
I will be there in Nov to help the local people in my small way

[Rob]

The meeting yesterday was relaxed and informal on Zoom, a nice change from the usual formal "Robert's Rules of Order" style meeting. It gave a clear perspective that we are all working toward the same goal, the reopening of tourism in Negril.

To the specific questions and comments from yesterday, I will address those in order.

Ronnie, there will be no mandatory quarantine of visitors. It was joked that would be a perfect way to completely ruin a week vacation.

Marko, it was brought up how pristine and big the beach has become. Nature at its finest! No need for man to interfere.

RyanP - we still haven't heard from the government about the opening of sit down restaurants. But social distancing and hand sanitizing will be the rule of the day. There is still debate on the number of people per table, if a group is already been closely socializing, does it make sense to separate them at dinner? All taxis will be required to carry half or less of the number of people their vehicle is licensed for. For instance a 5 passenger vehicle would be required to carry no more than two. This will be tough on the route taxis. Your airport question will be answered in Monty & Melo's.

VVHT - The hotels, restaurant and bars will be required to obtain their own supply of masks, gloves and sanitizing equipment. Apparently a new customs ruling requires a hired agent to clear all packages from the wharf, so that will probably add to the cost of importing sanitizing equipment. All tourism properties are to be inspected by TPDCo before they can reopen. And I was correct, your last questions were too existential for any real meaningful answer.

Monty & Melo - I think a cut & paste answer will be the best:

Maybe they could consider setting up a tourism sector...Enter at MBJ and then travel straight to Negril with no deviance from the path. According to The Gleaner, there are only 10 cases from St. James to Westmoreland. (St. James - 8, Hanover - 0, Westmoreland - 2). - Jamaica doesn't want to cut off from business opportunity the roadside stops, jerk huts, bars, etc. along the road to Negril. By having the local businesses use PPE and follow distancing and sanitation guidelines, the risks should be minimized. By the time you have left the airport, you have been screened boarding your plane and screened once again arriving in Jamaica.


What requirements will there be to enter into the country? Masks or other PPE? - Your airline will have their requirements which you will follow, once in Sangster you will see all staff using PPE (masks and gloves)


What will the screening process be? - Thermal scanners will be used to detect fevers. Anyone appearing sick will be directed to the medical staff. The usual detectors as well as the bins will be sanitized after each person using a high speed sanitation process.

Cleaning kiosks between travelers? It seems safer to use a sanitized kiosk as opposed to a face-to-face meeting with the immigration officer. - The touch screens will be sanitized after each use, screens will be used to reduce the face to face interactions.

Spacing between people in line for immigration and customs? - get used to those little round stickers on the floor spaced 6 feet apart...

Will restaurants be open? - yes, but no one is sure exactly what they will look like inside. But there will be more round stickers on the floor.

Will there be a curfew in place? - The curfew hours after Labour Day weekend will be eased to 9pm to 5am. With flights arriving at all times, by the time the borders are open, there should be no curfew on being out at night.

Flhrbill - masks will be voluntary for guests. For most workers they will be mandatory.

Airswift - 10 more recoveries yesterday, no new deaths to report. The Jamaican contact tracing is working!

[Monty&Melo]

Thank you for all this great information, Rob! Just a clarification on my suggestion regarding traveling directly to Negril...I didn't mean no stopping, just not going outside these parishes since their numbers are so low. Was there any mention of a reopening date they are shooting for? I know this isn't a governing body but I am assuming they are sending their recommendations and requests to the government who will be making the decisions.

[wrtiii]

Too late for this to be of help with your Chamber meeting, but it would be helpful to establish published, detailed, explicit sanitizing measures that are taken very seriously between occupants of hotel rooms and taxis. I have no idea how anyone could go about checking on things, but if I was a resort owner I would like to be able to say "We follow the published guidelines" and even "We have taxis available at the resort that we confirm follow the published guidelines". Personally, if I was offered the choice between "Do you want a taxi for the usual $5. or a certified taxi for $20." I would choose the latter.

[Rob]

Too late for this to be of help with your Chamber meeting, but it would be helpful to establish published, detailed, explicit sanitizing measures that are taken very seriously between occupants of hotel rooms and taxis. I have no idea how anyone could go about checking on things, but if I was a resort owner I would like to be able to say "We follow the published guidelines" and even "We have taxis available at the resort that we confirm follow the published guidelines". Personally, if I was offered the choice between "Do you want a taxi for the usual $5. or a certified taxi for $20." I would choose the latter.

This is already being done. A draft proposal went out about 10 days ago and guidelines are being finalized. The taxi point is interesting. Under the new guidelines, ALL legal taxis with red plates will carry the same certification and have to follow the same rules for explicit sanitation. Illegal (robot) taxis, white plate vehicles, should have never been taken or recommended and now this is all the more reason to only use legal red plate taxis.

[Odinson]

Appleton hand sanitizer would be great. 70% alcohol 30% aloe gel. Not sure if there are any plastic bottle manufacturers on the island but the other two ingredients should be in abundance.

[Marko]

thanks Rob

Cool Runnings, Marko

[Happycappy]

Thanks for the information