A wistful view off the northern coast of Puerto Rico as life plods along on our beautiful island.
It has been a very strange summer here in Puerto Rico. After an Easter which seems like decades not months ago, I suspended writing this column since I saw no reason to paint pretty pictures of places the reader was not permitted to visit.
That really hasn't changed. Non-essential visitors are still prohibited from landing on our shores, at least through September 11th as we cope with the mess a brief respite we allowed in mid-July caused, which sent Covid-19 cases surging, and forced our Governor to shut down tourism once again.
Puerto Rico is a dynamic place, and despite what you may read off the wires or hear on network news, is not nearly as desperate as you are led to believe. Tourism is only a small portion of the Commonwealth's economy (about 6%) so the financial effects of closing tourism are minimal. The larger effects are social, as swaths of Puertorican diaspora are discouraged from coming home to visit friends and relatives. Whereas I understand the angst and duress this causes, I also understand the reasoning behind it.
In July when we opened briefly, friends and families surged onto the island from Texas, Florida and New York, and brought their viral loads with them. One young man (whom I know personally) was here for a week from Orlando, and to be honest, I seethed every time I saw pictures go up on his Facebook page from a new location every day (no mask visible) even though this person works in healthcare and certainly should know better. This wanton disregard for both the letter and spirit of our restrictions caused a ripple effect we are still dealing with today.
To combat this problem, our governor expanded lodging restrictions to include home-stays, guesthouses and short term rentals, specifically naming one well-know marketing channel that begins with an "A"(that we severed our relationship with long ago). However, based on the number of calls we get, this doesn't seem to be sinking in. But how can it when these marketing channels are still taking reservations? We have had to personally contact guests and re-route them on several occasions, which is unfortunate for us but downright cruel to the prospective traveler.
Cruel as it may seem however, it is 100% necessary. Puerto Rico serves a valuable position in the medical care of the entire Caribbean basin. Our median population is already older than most mainland states, and we already have a high level of hypertension patients and diabetics; two groups particularly affected by this virus. Our governor is entirely correct in trying to protect this population, especially in light of the small contribution tourism makes to the overall Gross National Product of Puerto Rico.
And so a long, lonely summer fades into a long, lonely fall. We cannot know what the governor will do come September 11th. She is a lame duck, and as such-- we can expect her to follow her own careful conscious with little regard for those clamoring for liberalization of restrictions. Puerto Rico is also being called upon by the president to increase its already formidable pharmaceutical and bio-medial capacities; his task force on this matter meets with the governor weekly. Puerto Rico's first priority is to the people living and working here, and to protecting our elderly and our still healthy workforce; and to channel this health into returning pharmaceutical production to the level of its glory days to help not only Puerto Rico, but the entire United States and the world.
It was a long, lonely summer. But as is often the case... being a leader is a lonely business.
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