By Todeline Defralien From The Sun TCI

Although countries around the world are increasingly adopting measures to stem the spread of the new coronavirus, including shutting down airports, imposing travel restrictions and completely sealing their borders, the Turks and Caicos Islands borders remain open.

His Excellency Governor Nigel Dakin announced during a press conference on Wednesday March 18th, 2020, that the borders will remain open and flights will not be restricted from the United Kingdom where the virus is increasing by the day.

Aruba, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago and the USA, recently banned entry to all UK travellers.

The outbreak of the coronavirus has been labeled a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO).

He added: “When you hear people saying, we’re going to close down flights for fourteen (14) days, what is the decision point to the end of the fourteen days to open it. The decision point about closing a flight down is a really serious decision because to change it, you’re going to need an enormous amount of evidence to wind back.”

Asked by The SUN, why the TCI is reluctant to take that bold step to restrict flights from the UK, the Governor said it is a big step to switch off the link to the United Kingdom.

“Unless it’s changed yesterday there were flights from Miami to the United Kingdom. We can monitor, we can choose to quarantine and so on but it’s a big step when we choose to switch off the link to the UK but it is a decision that we are taking every day. When we look at numbers by the way of travellers coming in and when we look at the number of flights coming in, these decisions are being taken for us very rapidly,” he said
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Dakin added: “I think that is a very reasonable view and it’s a view in Cabinet that we literally worked through in detail with expert advice of the room and when you say we will close it down for a short period, then what is your decision point to open it up again. It’s a much bigger decision to close than to open and we are I think we are being very steady and very prudent of this and being thoughtful and mindful about it. we don’t judge at the moment that stopping the air bridge and stopping about 30 people coming from the UK who we can medically screen at the airport, significantly increases the risks but it does produce a whole set of other circumstances for us.”

Several residents of the Turks and Caicos Islands have expressed fear about being at risks as more persons from the United Kingdom are entering the islands in at least two flights a week.

In addition, The SUN asked why certain decisions are not made to close TCI’s borders in circumstances where you can easily open them back up. Governor Dakin added that it’s not a case of easily opening them back up.

“It’s not a case of easily opening them back up after because you have to have facts to do that. We are not doing it because we are a British Overseas Territory in the sense that I said to you that I don’t have to, Premier or Cabinet doesn’t have to ask London permission to do that. That is our decision and we take it alone. Part of it though, is that that is part of an air bridge that can bring us support and that’s an important thing to think through. It is also an important thing that while I understand that there is fear in the community, Cabinet and Government is not going to make its decisions based on fear. It’s going to make its decisions based on good judgment,” he explained.

He added: “You would go down the same route and you may think that this is the correct and logical route to restrict all flights to New York where there are similar levels. At the moment our judgment is keeping the connectivity to the United States and the United Kingdom, particularly because we’re monitoring very carefully the number of passengers coming in. It is one of our advantages that we can grip the number of passengers coming in and monitor them. We think on balance that that is the right judgment.”

In addition, asked if the TCI is prepared to call a state of emergency, the Governor indicated that it is a consideration but not confirmed.

“We have a set of considerations in Cabinet in whether we need to bring in a state of emergency or not is one of those and it brings us remarkable powers but what I would say genuinely is, at the moment Cabinet and Government in terms of unity is working unbelievably well if we were to bring in emergency powers there will be no change in that. It will be simply be Cabinet using the powers that are allowed and it’s very helpful to have those available to us if we need them,” he said.

Asked by The SUN, why the TCI has not restricted flights from the UK, Dakin said, “The really helpful point about the Turks and Caicos Islands which is one of our structural weaknesses but in this sense it is helpful, is that because we have essentially one major part of our economy, tourism. We’re in a very strong position in really understanding the numbers that are coming from the United Kingdom (UK) and they are falling off a cliff at the moment. We can monitor those flights coming in and you’re going to see quite a significant uplift at the airport in terms of medical screening as people come in, so it is then a genuine judgment and a difficult judgment to make.”

He added: “Whether you keep the air bridge opened to the UK, which means for example when I am talking about bringing in supplies for this disease in from the UK, that air bridge is open for bringing in police officers or support. It’s why I said that we are literally reviewing this every day. Cabinet sits again on Friday (March 20th); it will be one of the first things on the Cabinet agenda to look at this.”

The Governor further stated Cabinet and the Government’s decision to extend their list of infected Countries and the United Kingdom not being one of those countries.

“We’ve increased the list to thirty-five (35), we haven’t cherry picked them. We have taken the Schengen area with free movement through the Schengen Area is a block. It will be very difficult for us to monitor out of the Schengen area and it is very straightforward for us to monitor those flights out of the UK. It is a judgment you may if you were in Cabinet make a different judgment. Let’s just explore this for a moment about the judgments you have to make when you ban flights. Once you’ve chosen to stop a flight you then got to ask yourself what is the decision point you’re going to have to reopen and to start a flight again. It would seem to me, being logical on this, that it is also reading the literature that really you end up with a point where until you’ve got a vaccine or a cure for Coronavirus, the virus is still active and out in the world. What is the moment, it is not going to give up this virus because we’ve stopped flights,” Dakin explained. 

The Governor stressed that the virus will still be active and out there until there is a vaccine and a cure.

For more on this story go to: https://tcweeklynews.com/tci-under-complete-lockdown-from-saturday-p10493-127.htm