An American woman stranded in Bermuda because of the Covid-19 pandemic has applied to move back to the island through the Government’s “digital nomad” work programme.

Sadie Millard, a Wall Street broker from Manhattan, said that she was stuck on the island after a weekend trip to visit her boyfriend turned into a five-month-long stay.

But after she moved back to New York City in August, she decided she wanted to return for a year through the government Work from Bermuda scheme.

Ms Millard said: “I don’t really know how long it’s going to take New York to recover, but from a safety point of view I just thought ‘you know what, it’s just way better to be in Bermuda in the sunshine, being with my boyfriend and just being safe’.”

Ms Millard, the chief administration officer for the Roberts and Ryan Investment group, said that she came to visit Bermuda in mid-March for a chance to see her boyfriend.

She said that she planned to leave after a few days, but had to rethink her travel plans when “everything started hitting the fan” in New York.

Ms Millard said: “Andrew Cuomo — the Governor of New York — was coming on the news saying that things were shutting down.

“At that point our company closed the office temporarily just because we didn’t know what to expect, so to protect our employees, we just decided to work remotely.”

She added: “Bermuda announced that they were closing the airport and I only had three or four days to decide whether I was going to stay there or go back to New York.

“As I watched the news and saw what was going on in New York, and then my company said they were closing until the summer, I thought ‘well, there’s no point in me going back to New York if I don’t have to be there’.”

Ms Millard worked remotely while she stayed with her boyfriend at his Warwick apartment.

She only expected the lockdown to last for a couple of weeks, but realised that she was in for the long haul when the Premier announced the phased reopening plan for the country.

But Ms Millard said that she did not feel homesick over her extended stay.

She added: “Nothing was open in New York, so what could I miss?

“I would definitely miss New York if we were in the normal state of things where we could go to Broadway shows and concerts and this and that, but none of that’s open.”

Ms Millard’s story received worldwide exposure on the BBC’s website when she was featured in an article on remote working after her return to the Big Apple.

Ms Millard added that she was impressed by how well Bermuda handled the pandemic.

She said: “I did not feel threatened in any way while walking around in public — everyone was respectful of the laws and rules that Bermuda has put in place.

“As much as people griped about the curfew when it first started or matching days to your last name when going to the grocery store, I think that they really managed that properly.”

She added that she started to miss friends and connections that she had made during her stay.

Ms Millard said that, once she learnt of the Work from Bermuda programme, which launched in August, she decided to apply and become a resident for a year.

She hopes to move back to Bermuda in the next few weeks and get a new apartment with her boyfriend.