A spot on one of Forbes’s “30 under 30” lists has long been a marker of status and potential for a group that the magazine proclaims as the “boldest entrepreneurs” in the United States and Canada.
In a time of global crisis, they received an additional reward this week: a month-long trip to a five-star hotel and beach club in Bermuda, “one of the most desired destinations in the world”, to escape “monotony and melancholy” of the coronavirus pandemic.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention includes Bermuda at its highest level of Covid-19 risk level 4, classified as “very high risk” and states that “travelers should avoid all trips to these destinations” .
But just hours after the Guardian’s inquiry on Monday, a spokesman for the magazine said it “was not pursuing this initiative”. They stated that the purpose of the trip was “to create a protocol that would allow us to unite and build a safe community that would also serve as a model for the world”.
The invitation was posted to a Slack group used by some of the participants on the annual list and shared with the Guardian by two people. Recipients were told that “in a time of global chaos”, Forbes had “decided to undertake something unprecedented, something incredible, something magical”.
“We will do our first residency,” continued the message, sent by the Forbes editor and creator under 30, Randall Lane. “A program for the whole month of March, where people can work all day and then network, participate in a live program and have a lot of fun at night and on weekends.”
A Forbes employee added in a message that there was “an overwhelming response”. One recipient said, “I am incredibly happy for this opportunity.” Another said, “See you in Bermuda!”
The trip – which some suggested echoed Kim Kardashian’s birthday retreat on a private island, “where we could pretend things were normal just for a brief moment” – had 75 spots available. It was to be conducted “safely, with state-of-the-art tests, quarantine and bubble protocols that rival anything in the world,” said the invitation.
He explained that Bermuda was chosen as a destination for its “advanced security protocols” and said that participants should self-quarantine for five days, present a negative PCR test and be tested frequently on arrival.
The CDC says that those who must travel to Bermuda should wear a mask, stay with at least six feet of people who do not travel with them all the time and wash their hands or use disinfectant frequently.
The details of the plan were the first revealed on Twitter by Rachel Zarrell, one of those honored in 2018 for her work as a brand strategist at BuzzFeed.
Zarrell, like many other social media users who saw the post, questioned the reliability and wisdom of Forbes’ approach. “One person with a late Covid result or a false negative is enough to make everyone sick,” she wrote. “And as we approach half a million dead [in the US] it seems incredibly short-sighted to organize a grand privileged party on a tropical island.
“You can test your little heart, but you are living a fantasy if you think that more than 75 rich young people are quarantined.”
Dr. Vicky Forster, a British cancer research scientist who works at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, tweeted that she hadn’t seen the invitation, but if she had “I would have told them it was a stupid idea”.
But Glenn Jones, acting CEO of the Bermuda Tourism Authority, said Bermuda was the right choice for such a retreat, adding: “I hope you will come. Our business is safe tourism, we are prepared for that. “
The list of 30 under 30, which despite its title nominates 600 people in 20 categories each year, has a network of more than 5,000 people who have been included during its 10-year history.
While a place on the list is for some an award-winning achievement and promise badge, it has also been criticized as an elitist and arbitrary institution. He worked to better balance his honorees, after the first criticisms for lack of diversity.
Those who considered the invitation were instructed to “prepare to make lifelong friendships” before the planned eight days in “pods” of 25, a group size that would increase security, before merging into a single bubble.
Forbes has already held annual summits for honorees and others described as “entrepreneurial, visionary and disruptive minds”, with speakers such as Serena Williams and Sir Richard Branson. The 2020 iteration in Detroit was canceled as a result of the pandemic.
The Forbes spokesman said: “We are not continuing this initiative, but we are committed to exploiting the intellectual capacity of our global community, partnering with others and demonstrating a way forward. We wanted to find a way, with the help of the government of Bermuda, to create a protocol that would allow us to come together and build a community in a safe way that would also serve as a model for the world ”.