@Fred13,
Here's an ironic story. In July, when the St. Lucian government re-started receiving flights and guests from the U.S. many St. Lucians were voicing their protestations, saying that it was too soon considering how the spread of the virus was surging in the US. They wanted to keep the border closed, and definitely didn't want any Americans coming down. I am very proud of how proactive the St. Lucian government was in implementing a pretty comprehensive mitigation plan to tackle the spread of the virus. They obtained assistance from Cuba with over 100 medical personnel, have a rigorous testing and quarantine protocol, set laws regarding to mandatory face masks, limited the number of passengers on a bus, set up a dedicated respiratory hospital, and the community health centers had dedicated COVID wings. To date, there have been only 25 cases on island, no deaths, and currently no active cases. However, the Bahamas had a significant increase in cases primarily from Bahamians returning from Florida. As did some other islands such as Jamaica, Antigua and T&T.
St. Lucia welcomes travelers from the US, Canada and the UK, but they are not allowed to leave their resorts unless to participate in a coordinate coastal boat ride, and they cannot disembark. Last week, the CDC announced a travel advisory, putting St. Lucia at a level 3, advise against travel. They stated that travelers have a higher risk of catching the virus in St. Lucia, and if they catch the virus, medical facilities are limited. The CDC sited their reasoning is based on the lifting of the curfew, and public transportation has resumed. Of course, the St. Lucian citizens felt insulted. Although in their uproar not a single person was quoted to have said, "Good, I didn't want them to come here, anyway." Instead, there were numerous cries, "How could the CDC make such a recommendation considering the way that the virus spread is escalating in the US, and the island has an impeccable record in comparison? We were one of the few places welcoming Americans.".
The Minister of Health said she was not consulted by the CDC prior to the announcement, but her guess is that the CDC just clumped all of the Caribbean islands together when the warning should have been only for a few of the islands. Basically, the CDC did not recognize the independence of each island, and declared the whole Caribbean region high risk. Nor, did they consider that the islands individually impose travel restrictions on other island, e.g., in St. Lucia travelers from the Bahamas must follow the same protocols as those from the US. Which is different that the requirements for travelers from within the Caribbean travel bubble.
I have my own theory about the announcement. To discourage non-essential international travel, the CDC is playing upon a stereotype of the unprepared developing country rather than highlight it's the US travelers who pose the real threat. If so, they would have said, "Real truth, we don't recommend travel to St. Lucia, an island with very few instances of COVID-19, because due to the delays with COVID-19 testing and non-uniform enforcement of public health guidelines in the US, you are likely to bring the virus to the island. If you get sick you probably will not have the money to pay for your medical care, because most people don't buy travel insurance and erroneously think their US health plans will cover them while abroad. Plus, the US government won't pay to medi-vac you back home.".
Regardless, I don't think that people who are willing to travel nowadays are reading the CDC's travel advisories, because they have already made up their minds. Similar to you, we're also going to make renovations and plan to re-open in the Autumn. Hopefully, this new saliva test will be readily available on the open market, because it will be the impetus to get people traveling again: https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/16/health/us-coronavirus-sunday/index.html.
