By YOURI KEMP
Tribune Business Reporter
ykemp@tribunemedia.net
Long Island’s Chamber of Commerce president is hopeful it will be included in the next wave of COVID-19 re-openings but is calling for both air and sea ports to remain closed to domestic and international travel.
Cheryl de Goicoechea told Tribune Business: “It would be nice to get back to some normalcy. It would be great that everybody would be able to get out and move around like they normally do. They can go fishing and they can go farming, and they can go to other jobs that are not considered essential.
“As long as they keep the borders closed in and out of Long Island, I think we would be OK. But let us move around and I think things will be good. Hopefully we won’t have any people sneaking on to the island some how or some way with all of these empty beaches and empty coves. But everyone knows everyone on this island, so if they see any strange faces they are going to start taking notice.
“It is always a concern of everybody on the island that people would come in on small boats from some of the other islands. Hopefully no one is coming in on the two mail boats that come every week, because I don’t believe they are authorised to bring passengers at this time,” Ms de Goicochea continued.
“We only could do what we can do, and we still have to stay on guard, so wear your masks and do your social distancing. Do all of the hand sanitising and the proper protocols. Keep them in place and we will be OK.”
Ms de Goicochea said of last week’s re-openings for Ragged Island, Rum Cay, Mayaguana, Inagua, Crooked Island, Acklins and Long Cay: “Those places are small, and they have a smaller population, so it doesn’t mean anything.”
Comments
sheeprunner12 3 years, 11 months ago
This is very confusing …….. Long Island cannot survive without links to Nassau via the mailboat. The mailboats have been coming every week ……. Thank God for the mail boats.
Secondly, the other more populated islands may be at risk because there are people sneaking back and forth to these islands ……… not a secret.
The_Oracle 3 years, 11 months ago
There was certainly a sudden and overshooting response to this Virus, and completely understandable given how little was known about it, and how poorly prepared our public health services were and still are. (and forever will be) However, economic suicide (or murder, as it is a Government created shutdown) will certainly be as painful, if not more so if this monkeying around with the economy continues. We seem stuck in COVID-Mode. No one else in the world is. All things in measure and moderation. The Flu is still out there killing people. Every single year. Car accidents. Heart Failure. Any number of other causes, including Murder. At this point, social distancing and hand washing, sanitizing and disinfecting is all you can do. Time to get off the God complex " we can win/we can beat/we can battle" BS and get with the big picture here. Inaction is an action, to do nothing.
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID