Holiday havens fear influx of fleeing wealthy

Nick Allen

David Millward

RESIDENTS of elite US holiday hideaways Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket have complained they are facing a wave of wealthy coronavirus refugees arriving in private jets.

There were fears of small local hospitals being overwhelmed by an outbreak, and shortages in local shops where food has to be delivered by ferry.

The two islands off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, are summer colonies where rich Americans from elsewhere have second homes. Brian Packish, a local councillor, said private jets had been “pouring in” to the airport on Martha’s Vineyard in recent days. Gordon Healy, an assistant manager at the local animal shelter, told The Boston Globe: “If you don’t need to be here, it doesn’t make sense for you to be here.” John Christensen, a local official, added: “I’ve never seen grocery carts so full.”

Authorities warned that the population was mostly elderly, and vulnerable to the virus. Those on Nantucket asked the Massachusetts emergency management agency to reduce the number of people allowed to travel there. The local hospital said it only had 14 beds, and no intensive care unit, meaning victims would have to be airlifted to Boston if there was an outbreak.

But rich people with second homes on the islands rejected suggestions they should stay away, and said they would practise proper social distancing. A former US ambassador heading to Nantucket, told The Boston Globe: “A lot of people are retreating. It’s hard to know the right thing in these times, but this feels like the right thing.”

Further north in Maine, the island of North Haven voted to ban visitors and seasonal residents, who spend the winter in warmer states like Florida. The ruling was intended to put a brake on the summer invasion which adds around 2,000 to the year-round population of 355. Gordon Bubar, 74, who runs the local grocery, said: “We don’t have a hospital. You have to get there by boat. It is a bad situation and it is a very bad disease.”