14-Page Document: Stay At Home Regulations
[Updated] The Government has just posted the official regulations — the Public Health [Covid-19 Emergency Powers] [Stay at Home] Regulations 2021 – which provide full details on the policies in effect for the ‘Stay at Home’ order which begins at 5am on Tuesday [April 13] for a period of 7 days.
The regulations state:
Except as permitted by these Regulations, no person shall be away from his home at any time of the day or night from 5am on 13 April 2021 until these Regulations cease to have effect.
A person may leave his home during the curfew for the following purposes only, and provided appropriate physical distancing is maintained at all times—
- essential visits to a permitted business, during the hours of 7am to 7pm only;
- essential medical appointments, during the hours of 7am to 7pm only (except for an emergency situation or scheduled appointment outside that period);
- for a walk or run, alone or with one other member of the same household, for a maximum period of sixty minutes per day during the hours of 7am to 7pm only, remaining at all times within a distance of one kilometre from his home;
- to assist elderly or vulnerable relatives or neighbours, during the hours of 7am to 7pm only (except for an emergency situation);
- to attend an appointment at a COVID-19 testing centre or vaccination centre;
- to embark a flight leaving Bermuda.
Parents of a minor child who do not live together may also leave home during the curfew, between the hours of 7am and 7pm only, to take the child to stay for one or more nights at the home of the other parent to give effect to an agreement between the parents.
In paragraph (3), “parent” includes a step-parent, a person who has parental responsibility for a child and a person who has care of a child.
Persons listed in Schedules 1 and 2 are exempt from the curfew, but only when on official business, working or travelling to and from work, and all such person.
Other extracts from the regulations include:
No person shall visit any other person’s home or allow any person to visit his home, except as provided by regulation 3(2)(d);
No person shall access any public beach, park (including the Railway Trail) or playground during the curfew.
No person shall operate a boat or jetski for any recreational purpose during the curfew, except for an emergency situation.
A person who fails to comply with any of these Regulations (other than regulation 4) commits an offence and is liable in accordance with section 171 of the Public Health Act 1949, to the following— a fine of $6,000, in respect of a first offence; for a second or subsequent offence, a fine of $10,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or both such fine and imprisonment;
Please note we ‘rushed’ this article up to give fast access to the full document which has just been released, and while we attempted to post the most important extracts, we do advise for full clarity you read the document itself.
Update April 14th: The Government has now posted a new version with the correct date, the initial one, as seen in this article, said “These Regulations shall cease to have effect at 5am on 20 April 2020, unless before that time they are extended,” and the new version [PDF here] corrects the date to 2021.
The full Stay at Home regulations follow below [PDF here]:
As the island and world deals with the Covid-19 pandemic, we are doing our best to provide timely and accurate information, and you can find more information on the links below.
- All: Our coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic here
- Official: Bermuda Government website here
- World Stats: Live graph of all cases worldwide here
- Bermuda Stats: Chart of the Bermuda stats here
- Vaccinations: Data covering vaccinations here
- Timeline: Visual look at the timeline here
- Comprehensive: BermudaCovid.com website here
- Live Updates: Continuous updates here.
Wow. Even with most of our vulnerable population vaccinated… were fined $6000 for stepping foot on a beach or park?
So many are sharing in the delusion that we should live a life without risk. Or that the risk from covid is the only risk. Otherwise smart people are consumed by fear, by some headline driven obsession to “keep the numbers down”.
People need to get vaccinated. If they refuse, why should my freedom by restricted because of them. We are all responsible for our own decisions and their consequences.
Free Bermuda!
$6000 first offense suggested by some overpaid chair warmer…
“No person shall access any public beach, park (including the Railway Trail) or playground during the curfew.”
Oh no, not this again.
This is pandemic theatre. Not only is it utterly ineffective at stopping the spread of Covid, it’s actively counterproductive, for multiple reasons. This Atlantic article does a good job of explaining why. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/04/closing-parks-ineffective-pandemic-theater/609580/
It’s foolishness. As is the damn restrictions to operating hours. All the rules lead to crowds and out of sight gatherings.
You can however stand in line with strangers then spend time indoors in a bank, pharmacy, grocery store or gas station.
It is nonsense. One would be forgiven for thinking we are being punished. No access to parks, railway trail or beaches is stupid. Alphabetical shopping is stupid.
But hey, 30-6
I think it’s fair to say that having all these places closed reduces the amount of places available for people to gather. It also reduces the amount of resources required to ensure people are complying with the new regulations.
As frustrating as it is, I support the decision to keep them closed during the shelter in place. It is not pandemic theater by any means.
Hey, I’ve got an idea. What if vaccinated people are allowed to move around freely, and those that aren’t vaccinated must stay at home? Carry evidence of vaccination; have police spot checks, with on the spot fines. QED.
Sounds like you’re advocating the creation of a second class citizen
That would make way too much sense wouldn’t it? I got things to do and I am vaccinated and don’t have pre existing conditions but feel like I am being punished for stupid people’s actions.
Gee, I don’t know, maybe because vaccinated people are no better than unvaccinated people? Just ask our COVID positive premier.
The CMO said we have to stay at home to protect vulnerable people who have not had vaccines.
So we are ruining the economy to protect a bunch of old anti-vaxxers.
I agree. It appears according to information videos and other, that vaccinated persons are sharing what they thought the vaccine would save them from.
I know it wasnt just me,, the update last nightt was PAINFUL to watch..
So anyway whens the next party??
Just read the Act and note the curfew ends on 20 April 2020 (sic).
That’s hilarious. Guess this means the rules are legally unenforceable, so we can all ignore them!
My question to the so called experts is: “If the Banks are open from 9am to 2pm, and we cannot go no further than 1 km from our homes, than how are we able to go and do our banking.(ie.check&cash deposits credit cards, car payments etc. are to be paid)What protocols are in place for arriving at bank and forming a line?”
I really don’t understand the “logic” to justify the restrictions around exercising.
Can we all agree that Bermuda has an obesity problem, or at least agree a large number of our population falls into the “overweight” category? Our diabetes epidemic supports this view.
According the the CDC, “Having obesity may triple the risk of hospitalization due to a COVID-19 infection.
Obesity is linked to impaired immune function. More than 900,000 adult COVID-19 hospitalizations occurred in the United States between the beginning of the pandemic and November 18, 2020. Models estimate that 271,800 (30.2%) of these hospitalizations were attributed to obesity”. In addition, the CDC also states “ Non-Hispanic Black adults had the highest prevalence of self-reported obesity (39.8%), followed by Hispanic adults (33.8%), and non-Hispanic White adults (29.9%)”. So, Bermuda, with a majority black population and overall weight problem (applicable to all races), explain why government is not ENCOURAGING everyone to get outside and exercise for as much time as they like, in any form they like, and where they like?
We are a year on, there is so much more information available, and yet government seems hellbent on applying the same ill-informed logic on us all again. Are they expecting a different result this time? Is that not the definition of INSANITY?
No one ever accused them of being smart.
@ CWB that’s what I was thinking… applying same OLD logic and expecting different outcome = insanity.
Bermuda and the world has become sooo scary. Dsytopian existence these days.
Will someone from government justify or explain WHY we cannot use the railway trails to exercise, instead of only the roads which in many places do not have sidewalks. This defies logic. And why is the public not making more fuss about it? Are we so brainwashed that we continue to accept these infringements on our liberty?
I totally agree. Instead of using the 15 foot wide railway trail, walkers have to use a 3-5 foot wide sidewalk thereby ensuring closer contact with other walkers and runners. When passing we have to step out into the road to physically distance ourselves from others. Even worse when there is no sidewalk. I just don’t get the “logic” of not allowing the railway trails to be used for exercising.
This lockdown is about trying to get people to reduce their physical contact. How hard is this all to understand? It’s because people can hide and congregate on the railway trails. Railway trails are not as easily policed as the roads.
No one should be driving anyway and so the roads are good enough for now. And this has ZERO to do with your liberties. You need to get over that real quick. It’s about getting this country back on its feet and these silly ideas that your “liberties” are being taken away need to stop. There are people in other countries on this Earth that have zero liberties even in normal times. Be a part of the solution please.
We can make all the fuss we want their in power not us. Only option is to move to a more sensible country. Because here we are expecting leadership and good decision making during a pandemic from the same people that couldn’t put together a bus schedule
If this stupid arrogant government keeps this up there will be more fires to put out and it won’t be just a playground next time!!
I totally agree. Instead of using the 15 foot wide railway trail, walkers have to use a 3-5 foot wide sidewalk thereby ensuring closer contact with other walkers and runners. When passing we have to step out into the road to physically distance ourselves from others. Even worse when there is no sidewalk. I just don’t get the “logic” of not allowing the railway trails to be used for exercising.
The definitions that the Gov give us are ridiculous. Shelter in Place means the airport is closed, while Stay at Home means the airport is open. Nonsense. Just like the ridiculous Mobile Quarantine. Look were that got us. They make up crap as they go.
Can we call for a snap election so we can get more smart people in government. Take a page; no the entire book from how Sweden handled the pandemic. Hopefully we can all vote electronically and use our passports as evidence of our voting right.
I seem to recall that Sweden didn’t lock down and tried to barrel through it with herd immunity. Everything was open. Then they found that that didn’t work. A year later, nearly 14k deaths later…..
Sweden’s outcome is about the same as many other European countries.
Yeah, terrible.
But no different.
April 15 2021 on Yahoo.
Michael Osterholm, a public health researcher and director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, said, “There is no way on God’s green earth that Texas is anywhere even close to herd immunity.”
Estimates of what it would take to reach herd immunity have edged up since the pandemic began, ranging from requiring immunity in 60% to more than 90% of the population to halt transmission.
No one is sure what the level should be, Osterholm said. “Anybody who will tell you exactly what the level of herd immunity is is also likely to want to sell you a bridge.”
A major factor in the relentless spread of the virus is the increasing proportion of cases caused by the coronavirus variant first identified in Britain and known as B.1.1.7, which is more contagious than the form of the virus that first emerged.
That variant “surely resets the meter” and makes herd immunity harder to achieve, Osterholm said. Additional variants could further complicate the forecast.
Bermuda has the UK variant yet Premier Burt and Minister Wilson are still touting 70% as the magical figure. I wonder which bridge they are trying to sell.