Throughout 2021, hotel workers and others in the tourism industry in the Pacific island nation of Kiribati had rigorous training on how to guard against COVID-19. The two-day course included lessons on proper hand-washing and how to put on and take off personal protective equipment (PPE). It ended with a test—to ensure everyone was proficient.
“It was almost like how you train surgeons when they do operations,” says Petero Manufolau, the CEO of the Tourism Authority of Kiribati.
On Jan. 14, the first passenger plane for 10 months landed in the country, which is located about 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii. It may also be the last for the foreseeable future. The plane brought the first cases of COVID-19 to the country; more than two-thirds of the passengers tested positive. The flight subsequently set off a wave of COVID-19 cases in the archipelagos, where 120,000 people live across 33 islands with land area smaller than Rhode Island.
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At the start of the pandemic, Kiribati slammed its borders closed. The government cracked borders open starting Jan. 10 to allow long-stranded citizens to return home, as well as workers providing technical assistance on the island. Manufolau says that although the government hadn’t announced an official reopening date for tourism, the partial reopening had been seen as a trial run for allowing tourists back in.
“For us it was the beginning of better things to come,” he says. But instead, “the priority for the government is to manage the current situation, so they haven’t gone as far as determining a resumption date for the flights.”
Kiribati’s outbreak after just one flight is emblematic of the struggle for many Pacific nations, which closed off to the world in an effort to protect their minuscule, or even nonexistent, health care resources from COVID-19. As the pandemic enters its third year, they are now weighing how—or even whether—they can restart tourism, which is vital for many Pacific…
Source : time
