Tourists to be tested on arrival?

[Rob]

From the Observer:

"Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton has announced that all tourists and Jamaicans arriving in the island after June 15 will be tested for COVID-19.

This is a reversal of the initial decision that was taken by the Government for tourists to only submit to voluntary testing.

Dr Tufton said testing will be done to understand and manage the risk profile of visitors."

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/lates..._minister_says

The Gleaner desktop version is not commenting on the story yet, but a nearly identical story is on their mobile version.

Watching the press conference this evening, their seemed to be some confusion about the details and the logistics of the testing.

On page 112 of the 119 page Phase 1 manual, Appendix 1 is the Travel Declaration by Visitors. This is to measure a visitor's COVID risks. If the agent decides, the visitor would be given a test. It seems the press conference was meant to clarify this but may have just muddied the waters.

Let's wait for some time for the story to get described correctly - update tomorrow!

[Marko]

the reversal on such short notice will view Jamaica’s policy arrangements as confusing and potentially threatening airline confidence
500 - 1,000+ people a day entering Jamaica to test successfully and smoothly would be monumental task for Jamaica....
just the number of thousands of test kits required and the expense of providing workers would overtax Jamaica....
should be very interesting to say the least how this all turns out...….

Cool Runnings, Marko

[Rob]

the reversal on such short notice will view Jamaica’s policy arrangements as confusing and potentially threatening airline confidence
500 - 1,000+ people a day entering Jamaica to test successfully and smoothly would be monumental task for Jamaica....
just the number of thousands of test kits required and the expense of providing workers would overtax Jamaica....
should be very interesting to say the least how this all turns out...….

Cool Runnings, Marko

From the Observer:

"But at least one tour operator shocked by the news said the move would cause people to view Jamaica’s policy arrangements as confusing, potentially threatening airline confidence."

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/l...abbed-covid-19

[Rob]

More from the Observer:

"On Monday, seven flights are expected with approximately 1,000 passengers, and of major concern is the Ministry of Health’s capacity to manage traveller volumes. It took more than three hours for the ministry to fully test and clear close to 150 arriving passengers on the most recent UK flight into Kingston.

It is believed that the Montego Bay Convention Centre may be used to facilitate the testing of passengers.

“Moving persons from the Montego Bay airport to the Convention Centre for testing will be disastrous,” said one stakeholder, who asked to remain anonymous."


As mentioned, this is a logistical problem. Jamaica up to this point can process about 300 to 400 tests in a 24 hour period. On Wednesday they handled 325. It took 3 hours to just swab 150 Jamaicans returning from the UK at the airport. 1000 visitors are expected on the 15th. The math doesn't look good. And for those who don't know, the convention centre is a few miles past the airport heading east, away from Negril.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/l...abbed-covid-19

In another Observer article Dr. Tufton stated:

"He said there may be some ambiguity or lack of understanding surrounding the protocol for testing and results, pointing out that results are generally returned in 24 to 36 hours. However, he said a number of factors can cause a hold-up.

“This period may be lengthened on occasion for a number of reasons, including a delay in the transportation of samples, samples held as more processing is required, or retesting is required because samples may be compromised or an invalid report was generated by the machine… this process, even though efficient, does have downtime, and contributes to delays… it's not something that we are happy about; we don't want to inconvenience persons who are waiting for results, and we regret where persons have to wait, but it's not a precise science because of the mechanical and the limited staff that we have,” Dr Tufton said."

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...ng-home_196149


It looks like we will be hearing more about this before the 15th - keep checking back for the latest!

[Rob]

I am not sure how practical the Convention Centre idea is, with the maximum social distancing load of 40 passengers on the largest buses, June 15th alone would take 25 trips. Each bus would of course need to be sterilized afterwards. Logistics, logistics, logistics....

[flhrbill]

What are the tourist doing while waiting for their test results? Do we get quarantined? Do we go to our hotel? Who is paying for this mandatory test? If the government truly want to open the country to tourists this is not the way to do it.

I agree safety is of upmost important but trying to test up to 1000 people a day arriving at the airport is not practical. Let’s hope the policy can be clarified so that tourism can return.

[Rob]

What are the tourist doing while waiting for their test results? Do we get quarantined? Do we go to our hotel? Who is paying for this mandatory test? If the government truly want to open the country to tourists this is not the way to do it.

I agree safety is of upmost important but trying to test up to 1000 people a day arriving at the airport is not practical. Let’s hope the policy can be clarified so that tourism can return.

Those are all questions that were left somewhat ambiguous after the press conference last night. It was stated that visitors would be sent off to their hotel to await the results. If the test turns out positive, this seems a bit counter productive. And then of course there are the carriers who would test negative but develop COVID days later or simply spread it unknowingly. This is an mean virus.

No mention of who is paying for the test or that suggested trip to the Convention Centre.

The government truly wants to open the country to tourism, but they equally want the country to avoid a surge in COVID cases.

Many tourism workers are severely hurt economically, completely broke, can't pay any rent or bills or put food on the table. You have to weigh the economic problems in this equation, which includes starvation that will kill you vs. the chance of catching a virus the might kill you. It is an ugly reality, but a reality nevertheless.

There are no easy solutions - everyday will be measured and taken into account for Phase 2 starting July 1st.

Expect more of these nearly daily changes to procedures. Although there is an 119 page guide, there is no "MANUAL" on how to deal with COVID. The repeated contradictions at the WHO and CDC prove that. Everyday we learn something new.

[Miss Honey]

Rob do you know what these tests cost? I don’t . My husband had had 2 of these so he could do medical procedures. We pull used up in our car , rolled the window down they swabbed . The swan is 10 seconds. If people want to travel , would and could visitors pay for their test? It still doesn’t solve the 24 hour wait for the results. Just a thought .

[Miss Honey]

The swab is 10 seconds.

[Rob]

Rob do you know what these tests cost? I don’t . My husband had had 2 of these so he could do medical procedures. We pull used up in our car , rolled the window down they swabbed . The swan is 10 seconds. If people want to travel , would and could visitors pay for their test? It still doesn’t solve the 24 hour wait for the results. Just a thought .

The pre-flight "COVID Passport" as it was called was nixed by the airlines as unreliable and unmanageable. No mention here on who is funding the testing.