Airports to shut as Cayman closes border
(CNS): Premier Alden McLaughlin has announced that both airports in the Cayman Islands will close on Sunday for at least three weeks, giving people a chance to evacuate in an orderly fashion over the course of this week and avoid the horrific scenes in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport last weekend. People will be able to fly into Cayman until Thursday, but must isolate for 14 days regardless of their health status. After that, the only people who will be allowed into Cayman will be returning residents.
McLaughlin said Cabinet had approved the closure of Owen Roberts International Airport on Grand Cayman and the Charles Kirkconnell International Airport on Cayman Brac for international passenger flights for a temporary period of three weeks, beginning Sunday, 22 March, at 11:59pm until Sunday, 12 April. But the time period could be extended, he noted.
He said that with immediate effect, anyone arriving in the Cayman Islands will be required to be isolated for 14 days.
Inter-island flights will continue but flights from Grand Cayman into Cayman Brac and Little Cayman will be restricted to residents and essential personnel, such as medical staff.
“This is because, as we all know, Cayman Brac has a significant elderly population and we want to ensure that they are protected,” McLaughlin said, as he described it as being like a retirement island. He warned that younger healthy residents who do not take precautions to protect the elderly members across the Cayman Islands could be “subjecting them to a death sentence”.
The airports will remain open for medical emergencies, as well as cargo and courier flights, the premier said.
“We have not taken this decision lightly but it is in the best interests of the health of the people of the Cayman Islands. As a premier vacation destination of choice, this decision will help ensure that the Cayman Islands will be able to not only protect our people but to also protect the welfare of our tourism business and our guests over the long term,” he said.
He encouraged those on work permits who have been or are likely to be laid off to leave Cayman this week. He said that government does take a repatriation bond from work permit holders when they arrive here in case they are stranded, but people should be leaving under their own steam, as they would in any event when a permit is up.
Check back to CNS later for more on the measures government is taking to deal with COVID-19, updates on testing and the economic hardships on the horizon.
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Category: Business, Health, Medical Health, Transport
The question was if people leaving Cayman will have to do 14 days quarantine in UK.
@ Anonymous 18/03/2020 at 1:42 am – who knows, the UK government certainly doesn’t know!
Bet he uses these troubled times to support need for stupid port or else. Are bigger petri dish ships actually going to be the future?
We wouldn’t be in these troubled times if it wasn’t for cruiseships bringing the virus to our shores!
We should ban them altogether.
Forget about mass tourism and focus a lot more on attracting more overnight tourism, eco tourism and maybe private yachts. Those make much more sense for our economy and they’re better for our environment too.
They are celebrities with special priority access to scarce resources and both in hospital for a week. They have been sent to their rental home to self-quarantine for the balance of their illness. A bit soon to paint this as a full-recovery.
More 14 day whining. Everyone should be home, everywhere. Make realistic plans to stay there for the next 2-4 months.
There is a study out of Imperial College London, which caused my US govt. to suddenly change their guidelines to no groups of ten or more and no restaurants or bars open. It is very sobering. The MIT Technology Review used this study in this article: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/615370/coronavirus-pandemic-social-distancing-18-months/ Either 2 million people can die here, and then we will have “herd” immunity, or we can practice social distancing UNTIL a vaccine is ready for all – 18 months. Cayman may be able to isolate the virus fully and get rid of it that way, and I pray you do. But for the US and most of the world, it is too late and unfortunately the implications for your tourism industry are dire.
To all the heartless idiots who keep saying “so what, it only kills old and unhealthy people.” Have you looked at the public around you? Have you looked in the mirror? UK experts say diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity are serious high-risk factors for COVID19.
Obesity and diabetes are pandemics that hit Cayman 30 years ago. Look at 90 percent of the MLAs, observe the people shopping at Fosters. We do not have a healthy population.
It is the height of hubris and ignorance for some Jaba-the-Hut-looking goof to scoff at this pandemic while snorting donuts and wheezing in a recliner chair.
Some of you may soon have a change of attitude.
Stop watching Fox News and start listening to medical experts.
#lame
Since when you became “our” mother? Stop shouting! Nobody is saying that. NOBODY. Except one single comment from a millennial.
Big difference between Coronavirus and obesity. Coronavirus is contagious – most obesity cases are a result of personal choices.
From the comment you didn’t read or understand but replied to anyway:
“UK experts say diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity are serious high-risk factors for COVID19.”
And you said obesity was a pandemic. It’s not a pandemic if it’s not infectious.
Sounds like you need to reread. There was no mention of pandemic, just high-risk. Two completely different things.
Everyone can get it and it materially damages lungs, in some cases permanent scarring and lifetime reduction in lung capacity. There are young people that must be medically intubated to survive. Incomprehensibly difficult triage is being done where people over 80 don’t even necessarily get access to the very limited medical ventilation machines. How are there still people that don’t know what’s happening in the world, where are they still getting their happy go-lucky news from a month ago?!?
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-italy-hospitals-doctor-lockdown-quarantine-intensive-care-a9401186.html
I hear you, you are worried of lung scarring and young people dying. But you can’t put all world’s problems on your shoulders, unless you’re a Hercules. You will collapse sooner than you think of you continue and people won’t stop dying.
I wish you well.
Number of deaths for leading causes of death:
Heart disease: 647,457
Cancer: 599,108
Accidents (unintentional injuries): 169,936
Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 160,201
Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 146,383
Alzheimer’s disease: 121,404
Diabetes: 83,564
Influenza and Pneumonia: 55,672
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis: 50,633
Intentional self-harm (suicide): 47,173
(source: cdc.gov)
“10:27” You don’t understand pandemics. All those deaths you listed above are spread out over a year. Healthcare systems and hospitals are set up to handle them. But a pandemic means too many people getting sick at the same time. Healthcare systems can easily become overwhelmed, meaning many ill and injured people–not only COVID19 patients–can suffer and even die.
if you go to the ER with a ruptured appendix during the peak of a pandemic you may find that your local hospital has no bed, no doctor, no nurse available for you.
I hope the masses of BVI people that Alden let in here are going to be gone now and forever.
Idiot. They went home a long time ago, after government reinstated work permit fees and restrictions on them.
8.50 sounds like you have a personal something against someone from BVI….took your job, husband ,wife , boyfriend , girlfriend ??
A death sentence? Where are you getting your info? Fox news? For most healthy people it’s like a cold. Most people will be fine. Older and unhealthy people are the ones at risk as they are already at risk for anything. Everyone else is at risk from panic, job loss, crime, and unworthy politicians. In other words normal stuff. Relax, take a breath and have faith. This will pass.
CNS: There is an unsettling number of comments that seem to indicate that a very high risk of serious illness and even death to the elderly and those with underlying health conditions is fine because the young will be OK. Shortening someone’s life by any amount – a year, two years, ten years – is a pretty big thing to that person and those who love them. I know many people are frightened by the economic consequences but the ‘let them die, they’re old anyway’ attitude is a little scary (the most polite word I can think of). Faith is fine but we also need to take proactive measures to stop the spread.
Yes to CNS comment.
Love you CNS, but disagree with you. What people indicate is that elderly and vulnerable must be protected, NOT that people don’t care if they die.
Many comments say JUST THAT: the focus must be on those who are vulnerable.
Home, no contact groceries, medicine deliveries, separate shopping hours, like many countries did. Hot line just for them, should they need anything else. Perhaps Meals on wheels deliveries to those disabled and living alone.
And yes, using “death sentence” is inappropriate, because it is not true. Even for elderly.
CNS: And yet, a percentage of them may well die. If that happens and how big that percentage is will depend on what measures are taken to protect them. So while “death sentence” might not apply to any one specific person, it is appropriate to get the message through to those who are not yet taking this seriously – and they are still out there.
To your first point, I think that you are absolutely right, most people are discussing how to best protect the elderly, etc, and I agree with everything you say on that point, but there are other comments that are callous in the extreme, and they should be called out.
Lombardia, two weeks ahead of us, is using a grim 65-year old pre-existing comorbidities cutoff for scarce ventilation allocation. A sincere good luck to the commenters here that have no idea or sensitivity to the extreme real-life horror/practitioner choices unfolding across the ocean. There’s lots of confirmation flowing from there…not sure how people can stumble through life waiting for their household to be punched in the face like it’s not happening. It’s a special kind of stupid.
Please don’t assume that “commenters here.. have no idea or sensitivity to the extreme real-life horror/practitioner choices unfolding across the ocean”, because they DO HAVE an IDEA.
They have elderly family memeber who they deeply love, they have family members who are doctors and nurses and hospital staff who daily exposed to al kind of contagious stuff, not just coronavirus.
Majority of people are loving and caring souls. But there are also sociopaths.
Thank you for underlining the risks to older people CNS I did not mean to tell anyone to act irresponsibly or compromise others. My Mom is 90 with heart problems. I will act accordingly not to get it or spread it.
Good job Mr Premier and CI Government.
Wow. Maybe you need a reminder that this same untrustworthy regime spent >KYD$9,000,000 fighting its constituents and suppressing truth. Even now, they suppress and delay.
$9 mil. would go a long way in times of hardships. What about money spent on traveling? Monaco? Jamaica agricultural event? Hollywood?
“It is important to note that our agriculture sector is perpetually evolving,” O’Connor-Connolly said in the release. “We must continue to be active and intentional in our strategies towards implementing agricultural best practices, and understanding how it plays a crucial role in the life of our economic system. (August 7, 2019)
I thought I understood the word ‘closed’.
Apparently not.
Government takes a repatriation bond in case work permit holders get stranded, but stranded doesn’t extend to when their employment is suddenly and unexpectedly terminated and they may not have had time over the course of their job to assemble the funds to fly out? Why isn’t he just honest and admit they have already spent all the “repatriation bonds” just like they spend the tire export fees and feel free to spend environment protection funds – like any cash that comes into their greasy fingers.
Because they can do it. They have the power. And stranded work permit holders have no power – even to speak. The very definition of abuse. Wow. Unbelievable.
Actually the governments failure is quite possibly unconstitutional, and therefore unlawful.
The reasonable, proportionate response is to get people home as quickly and efficiently as possible.
The government demanded and was paid fees for such an eventuality. It cannot now claim it has no responsibility at all.
Perhaps the monies should have been saved for the eventuality. The fact that they have spent it on perks for themselves is not a good enough excuse.
12.24am Just like Cayman Airways spends all the departure taxes they collect but “forget” to hand over.
I think that the Premier is stating…….(like every other country around the world is doing at this time) that work permit holders are allowed to remain on Island long with the Caymanians…however they can leave if that is what they choose to do (and they will not be stopped or held here should they wish to) return home to their own country and be with their families at this time.
But on the other hand no one is allowed in for the duration set in the temporary band…and should you wish to remain here then you would have to comply with the proceedures and restrictions put in place to ensure the safety of the majority.
I do believe that he is also stating that those new arrivals here…before Sunday’s border closure must stay away from the populas…which is also fair as not to potentially spreed any virus if they are infected. And he is also being very considerate to those persons who come every year to stay in their vacation condos and time shares etc. For the next few months to escape the cold…and it is only fair to them as well who make Cayman their home this time of year.
Therefore i belive he has made a very considerate decision..for ALL given the current world situation and he has done no differrent than any country would and is currently doing…given his position as care-taker of these Islands.
And those who choose to return home will only find that the exact seem criteria is being followed in their very own country.
So please stop crying…just like your country’s leaders are looking out for it’s people by putting the same restictions in place, the Premier is doing likewise for his.
We love and want you to stay..but it is your choice to stay or go…the premier is simply staying..that that time now has a limit..and that will be Sunday..because we have to take precausions now before it is too late.
You can’t just get up and leave in 5 days after you have been here for years. You try and show that it is possible.
Expat’s lives are not less valuable than Caymanian’s.
To tell someone go to Philippines or Ukraine today, actually in 5 days,to be with your family” is an absolute nonsense, because it is practically IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!!!!!!
Explain how leaving after Sunday is a problem for the health and safety of those staying in island? Surely the more people that leave the lower the burden on our medical resources and the less human to human contact? Or social services and public safetyif we have large numbers of unemployed people who now can’t afford rent, food and utilities, but cannot leave.
I believe you are wrong – the Premier specifically said that expats who lose their job and HAVE THEIR WORK PERMITS CANCELLED BY THEIR EMPLOYER are required to leave. He was very clear on that point. Sorry as a Premier surrogate you cannot spin this one.
Is there a 14 day quarantine in UK after leaving Cayman?
And vice versa!
No to the first, yes to the second. At least as of now – who knows what the position will be in an hours time.
Did they say they have four (4) ventilators coming?? Guess we are not planning on too many people getting sick…
WHAT ABOUT AN INCREASED IN CRIME ???
With so many permit holders laid off from their employers who can not afford to pay them for nothing, and should the Airport lock down have to be extended, what will the government do to prevent looting, theft, robbery, and violence ???
I am very concerned now.
People have to survive 🤷🏾♂️
It’s definitely a worry, but it’s not just work permit holders. Many of them will get off the island before Sunday if they can because Cayman is a very, very expensive place to live if you’re not working. However, the young Caymanians who lose their income are facing a challenging road. Some will turn to crime undoubtedly.
This is Cayman Islands. There will be crime. Mostly robbing the empty expat homes.
Good point. And with that I would like anyone who will have an empty home especially with tp for my bunghole to please let me know. Thank you.
Seems Tom Hanks was able to survive the sniffles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVTgcIJFE3I Hopefully the rest of the world will be able to come out of lock down by 2021
Sniffles for some, death for others…including some who are perfectly healthy. Before opening your trap, use the few brains that you were gifted with to think a bit. In Italy there are many who because of a lack of ventilators were just left to die. Do you still think it’s just the sniffles?
A lot more people die from too many other diseases and accidents every day than the virus. A lot. Do you think it’s just the virus?
South Korea Sees Coronavirus Slowdown—Without A Lockdown, But With Nearly 250,000 Tests
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2020/03/13/south-korea-sees-coronavirus-slowdown-without-a-lockdown-but-with-nearly-250000-tests/amp/
They’re much more civilised and considerate than we are in Cayman. You may not understand this until you’ve been there.
Agreed 100%. In Japan, after the tsunami and nuclear reactor disaster, people lined up orderly, waited patiently, and behaved extremely civilized. Anything like that happen in Cayman, Canada, the US, etc. and you’d have riots, looting, rapes, murders, etc.
I have been there 4 times. Traveling through, but always spending few days. Love the country, love its people. Love Korean Air (not the one operated by Delta).. Fantastic airport in Seoul. Jjimjilbangs, or Korean bathhouses is not something to miss while there. You were never squeaky-clean unless you visited a bathhouse in Korea.
“While shoppers around the world strip supermarket shelves, South Koreans have been poised online every morning waiting for potato farmers in the province of Gangwon to post their latest crop for sale.
It has become so popular that the trending hashtag is PTS, a reference to the world famous South Korean boy band BTS.
The craze began after farmers in Gangwon province, on the country’s rural east coast were struggling to sell their crops as restaurants closed their doors to encourage “social distancing” during the outbreak.
To try to help, the regional government office started a social media campaign to sell the potatoes to consumers online. It worked. On the first day the website crashed with surging demand as buyers tried to get hold of one of the 8,000 bags of potatoes on offer.
On social media, buyers posted that they didn’t necessarily need so many potatoes, they just wanted to help the farmers.
One potato buyer, Miss Kim, told the BBC that she was hovering over her laptop ready to press the refresh button as soon as the market opened in order to get her supplies.
“People all want to help but didn’t know how,” she told us. “I can see this getting even bigger. Also, when the team gave the campaign name ‘PTS’, the BTSArmy (name for fans of the boy band) went nuts. There’s a competition going on amongst fans to try to post photos to prove they bought a potato.”(BBC)
And there you have it!….testing much more than the current CARPHA guidelines suggest! China and South Korea are the models we should emulate here!
Not possible, we’d have to shoot some people first.
Testing and quarantine stopped coronavirus in China, not lockdown
We have to lockdown because the incubation period is perhaps 2-3 weeks. Hospitals can’t be expected to divert energy and scarce expensive test kits to people who present none of the symptoms. Allowing sick and healthy to wander around cross-infecting and spreading the disease is what Italy and most of Europe did, weeks ago when they mischaracterized as “just a bad flu”. They are now overwhelmed and making horrific choices now about who lives and dies. You can’t even imagine. How stupid would we be to volunteer ourselves to the same? Stay home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa43FNUdpU8
You know what would give me a level of confidence would be if Alden brought in some of the country’s industry leaders like someone from the Banking Association, Chamber of Commerce, Hotels and Restaurants, Food Suppliers etc.
These press meetings are nice but scant on substance. We need to feel some level of comfort in times like these and being able to hear from the private sector rather than just these same four every time would be nice..
What is the plan? Now the airport is closing on Sunday can we go back to normal and allow gatherings of over 50? Beleive it or not restaurants and bars are already suffering, I know of a bar that is already down 55% a day I’m sure others are suffering, as for the supermarkets, they are laughing all the way to the bank, they are allowed to have over 50 persons, they have food halls were people are bumping into each other most likely place to catch this virus right now.
What’s wrong in catching this virus anyway, it a bad flu according to persons who have had it, oh wait, the elderly, haven’t they already had a good life? I’m sure they all hate how the islands changed anyway.
Surely it’s survival of the fittest, yes we’ll loose a few loved ones, I’ll probably die as well but that’s life.
Wait I know why we don’t want it becuase everyone in Cayman has been watching the scaremongering CNN and Fox news, who say we are all Going to die.
Has the Premier tried to contact Cuba. As they and China announced yesterday they have a vaccine that has worked on 15 people in China now.
Actually FOX news has told people to go out and eat and that now is the safest time to fly.
Yes they have. Sky, BBC and CNN are the scare mongers
CNS: This is the message from Trump and his cronies and echoed by Fox News talking heads up to this point. Finally, they are all getting the hang of it and you should check in (see here) so you can catch up too. They are not scaremongering, they are telling you what you need to know. It’s time for you to listen.
You’re an idiot as you’re probably well aware
LOL – but idiots are rarely self-aware enough to realise they’re idiots. That’s for the beholders to point out and I for one join you in your assessment.
I’m honestly not sure where to start with answering that post. Unbelievable, and I don’t think I’ve just been whooshed either.
If that guy is a troll, he’s one of the best because it would be near impossible to pretend to be a stupid as he is.
I agree with 6:01. What is your problem? Where is the freaking exponential growth of dying from the virus people? 3-4 months is not enough period to spread the virus? If you start testing everyone in Cayman 75% would be positive.
Scaremongering with FOX NEWS? Just the opposite, with some commentators even saying the whole thing is a Democratic Party hoax. Talk about being irresponsible.
Alden’s performance today was one of the worst by a politician I have seen anywhere, ever. It was dire. The only worse one was Dwayne Seymour, also today. These people we have as elected representatives – they could have stopped the cruise ships 4 weeks ago; They could have ensured we have testing equipment available; They could have restricted travel to Caymanians/residents only.
Now we have a “closed” airport, with no cogent or even vague plan on how to reopen it – in 3 weeks nothing will have improved, zilch, nada. No solutions, no ideas, just a “bolt the stable door after the horse has bolted”. The only silver lining is Alden cannot serve again as premier – too bad we cannot say the same about the rest of this abject, pathetic bunch of self-interested nose-in-the-trough failures.
Absolute car crash.
If you are a work permit in the hospitality trade go hustle. The words of the great Alden.
ie F off the island
Except come Sunday they can’t leave the island. Trapped here with no employment. Unable to get NAU help as non Caymanian. And what do we think will happen next? Are we the only jurisdiction that’s stopping people from leaving as well as arriving?
Give us Mario and Johann to replace Alden and John John!
Yeah, one fool leading another fool
Admittedly the best time to do this was a month ago, but the second best time is right now. But how Cayman gets through this is up to us, not the politicians. Be a good, tolerant and considerate person until this over and we’ll be just fine.
2 months ago.
The solution to this problem is simple. The people at risk are over 60 years old with a health condition. Younger healthy people get mild symptoms. The youth seem to have some sort of immunity.
https://people.com/health/coronavirus-relatively-mild-symptoms/
This is not the black death
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death
or the Spanish Flu, which had a peak of mortality at age 28.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3734171/
In addition, modern society is vastly more clean and inhospitable for viruses than those times.
What we need to do is focus on isolating the people at risk until the virus goes through the healthy community and disappears. In other words, don’t go and visit your grandmother, or your relative recovering from an operation if you have symptoms of the flu. In addition, people who have the flu should use common sense and stay home from work. Trying to get rid of a virus by isolating everyone has never been tried and has little chance of success.
Unless we as an island have become totally self-sufficient then there is little point in isolating ourselves this way. I recently returned from the US with a flight full of students flying in for spring break (returning residents I assume). It is now accepted that people with COVID-19 can be most infectious before showing signs of the illness. I believe it has also been established that the virus can live in a host for longer that the 2 to 3 weeks most people are self isolating for! The vast majority of high risk individuals have already underlying health problems. These are the people that the health services should be concerned with. The average healthy person will probably suffer no more that flu symptoms, which when they pass are unlikely to return according to the latest studies. I stand to be corrected on what I have stated but please reference legitimate sources not social media or marl road gossip.
Are new work permit employees allowed on to the island if their work permit date falls within in the restricted period?
Probably not.
If you need to ask that question, maybe you should stay where you are.
Restaurants and cafes could switch to drive through and delivery to keepthem from closing.
I bet modification to other businesses could be done to keep economy from collapsing, people occupied and workforce preserved.
Work permit fees must be refunded when you kick people out.
Health City might close permanently as well. They’re probably sick of your never ending vitriol.
Meantime no dying people lying on streets despite the virus being around since November.
What if the person cooking or delivering your takeout food has the virus? This part just doesn’t make sense, does it?
What if the picture by your bed would fall off the wall while you sleep and kill you?
Coronavirus is NOT norovirus.
No it’s not norovirus, but it’s airborne and the germ lives 12 hours on surfaces. Does it live on food if someone coughs on it? The packaging? Do we know?
CNS: Up till now the authorities have been saying that it’s not airborne, but I notice on the CDC website that they don’t sound quite so sure, quote: “we are still learning how it spreads”. Anyway, you might want to check what they say here for the latest on transmission.
6:24 pm why sarcasm? why hatred? are you smarter than everyone? If so, your comment would be constructive, not condescending.
Gas prices have dropped 30% over the past few months in America. Will they ever drop here?
No.
Do you think expats would come back? Do you think restaurants would reopen? Do you think ships and cargo planes would continue coming when you run out of food? Think again.
You might as well to fix your dinghy and learn how to fish so your family won’t starve.
Your economy might never recover. And they way you treat expats, your life blood, is deplorable. But you will reap what you sow.
I couldn’t agree with you more. If this isn’t proof in the pudding about how xenophobic The Cayman Islands have become, I don’t know what is…
You sound like you just bit a Cayman lime. Sorry we didn’t make it happen blame China or something. We all got issues.
Clearly you wernt he for ivan u muppet
Oh my. Have you not been around long enough to realize how short the memory of the average global citizen is?
9/11 was going to kill tourism.
Then SARS. Then ebola.
THen an earthquake.
Then a major Hurricane or 10.
Then a tsunami….
Tourists have returned to flying, cruise ships, destinations, and usually in much shorter timespans than you would imagine. And thankfully so.
People have short memories.
Expats will return to Cayman, and if those who leave don’t, there will be many lined up to replace those. People have said the stock market is doomed, not it is just on sale this year. We’ve seen this play out before. March 2009 it was at the low point of the crash. Fast forward to December 2019 and it was 4x higher than in March 2009.
This too shall pass. Until it does, follow the directives of the health professionals, and do your part to reduce spread. Most of all be kind, considerate, and compassionate towards others. It costs you nothing.
Please government, have enough sense to use this time to ramp up roadworks and fix the runway!
As much as I applaud this move, it also scares me as well as we still have no plan for what happens after 3 weeks. Obviously, it will not be business as usual and our economy will fall into recession.
The Premier did not speak to the question of the high prices of fuel in Cayman when the cost of fuel around the world has dropped to all time lows and we are still paying CI$4.54 still. CUC is still not giving us any reprieve and lord knows anything they cut now they will make it back up before the end of the year..
The Premier was also very scant on the helps from the banks. I wrote to my bank to ask for help and they in essence told me that my mortgage was current and to check with my loans officer if I get to the point that I can’t pay..WTF I am being proactive because I see that I won’t be able to pay it and they want me to wait until I default and then they will help me..My guess if they are looking for the foreclosures again so they can get some good deals for family and friends like they did before.
We need a proactive government not a reactive one. I know this thing is ahead of us but making tough decisions now will bring us out of this mess quicker, or at least that is my prayer..
4.59pm Perhaps you did not get to watch or listen to the whole press briefing but the Premier did say that Govt would be meeting with Rubis and Sol on Tuesday. I actually think that Govt is being very proactive, too bad you prefer to see it otherwise.
@4.59pm “The Premier was also very scant on the helps from the banks.” See this link:. https://caymannewsservice.com/2020/03/cig-makes-progress-economic-safety-nets/
4.59pm Politicians with chauffeurs and a hefty gas allowance don’t even know what the price of gas is.
So ex-pats that may lose their permit because of this just have to pack up and leave, oh and before Sunday please…. I guess despite the lock down and all the concern the heartlessness is still there.
#Caymankind so long and thanks for all the fish….
I hope the expat community is paying attention. Get out and don’t bother to go back.
It is paying attention.
#Hustle
Good!
Great, maybe if unna leave young Caymanians like myself can finally buy property or afford rent.
I’m an expat, so I get what you’re saying, but I disagree. It’s probably a good thing for expat employees who lost their job to get off the island quickly. There are hundreds – probably thousands – of expats working in the hospitality industry, which is getting crushed right now. You can’t expect places that can’t stay open to keep paying people – at least for more than a week or two. It is very expensive to live in Cayman, and if you’re young without significant savings and no job, it is going to be hard to survive here. You won’t have a opportunity to leave after Sunday for at least three weeks – it’s three weeks to start with but what if there’s a need to go longer. It’s best for those who can leave to leave. No one has said they can’t come back whenever things get back to normal, whenever that might be. It makes sense for them to leave and it makes sense for the government to suggest they leave and give them the better part of a week to get it together to do that. It also gives Caymanians who might struggle under the circumstances a chance to leave for a less expensive place to live at least temporarily, too, if they have family in other countries that they can stay with.
It is practically impossible to leave in 5 days ANYWHERE. They have possessions etc.
You want them to get stuck in Miami airport perhaps, just like ships no country wants to take?
Leaving is actually pretty easy. Buy a ticket, two duffel bags and a carry-on. Off you go. Grown-ups do it all the time, and often in a matter of hours.
10.22am these poor people dont have the money to buy a ticket home and even if they did all the seats were sold out a day after the announcement. Of course leaving can be easy if you are a Caymanian politician, your ticket in business class is bought for you and if you buy anything you jus jot it down on a piece of paper and claim it on expenses.
With confirmation of local transmissions, we’d be 2-3 weeks just to peak case load, and probably 2-3 months to an all-clear. If you can weather that, feel free to stay in your home, otherwise, book your flight fast before your homeland closes it’s airport too. Think hard and decide where, and with whom, you’d like to go through this. People really need to get up to speed with what is happening globally.
I DONT HAVE MONEY FOR A TICKET TO GO HOME BECAUSE OF THE FACT THAT THIS PLACE IS EXPENSIVE, I DID WHAT I HAD TO DO WITH MY LAST SALARY, NOW WHAT?
Stop yell posting!
@ Anonymous 17/03/2020 at 12:04 pm – so why are you here if it’s so expensive and you have no money left? Surely living in your home country with the various social benefits in place would be a better option for you?
good they can give cayman airways planes a little break lol
That’s if CAL doesn’t go bust first.
One can only hope
9.29pm It goes bust every year but the taxpayer always bails it out.
Self-isolate? And how exactly can that be enforced? Follow everyone home from the airport?
It’s call common sense
Build our damn port!
Not happening bobo…………ever!
What i want to know is what you gonna do about bars ??
I bought me three kegs from the brewery.
Of greater concern are the churches.
We need emergency legislation for alcoholics NOW! We demand our sauce!!!
What about public buses? They are a biological hazard during normal times, as are many of the bars and restaurants.
Make sure they’re well stocked for the victory celebration next year!
What happens to Air Mail post for he next three weeks ?
Air cargo and courier flights can still operate..non-issue
Does air mail come in on a courier or cargo flight or is it hold cargo on commercial carriers?
Likely to be a lot quicker than normal.
Nobody under the age of 70 uses Air Mail Post anymore.
Has the CIG checked how many work permit employees will need to get out before next Sunday – in an orderly fashion…….
It has not got a clue, and it is not far fetched to anticipate that many may die in consequence.
Light on detail, but a brave and necessary move.
Overreacting!
Excellent Job Premier!!
Now focus on THE DUMP. This should be your #1 priority.
Actually, I would prefer he concentrate on ventilators and food security first.
America does not have enough ventilators why should we expect to have enough? The priority in America is America not us. Does U.K. have any ventilators they don’t need?
4.03pm… excellent job!? this shit with all these people on this Island should not have happen. we are under a national threat daily…. now what?
We need a leader who can understand just two words “WHAT IF”. This explosion of people is unacceptable. We just can not accommodate these people and solve their problems!
Tough decision, well done.
Excellent job Premier !
Can’t stand the guy, but have to agree.
Same here – on both counts.
Where is The Speaker Of The House today?
In the lockup 😂😂😂😂
In West Bay with his constituents along with Rollie and the Capt!
How long before the border closes between West Bay & George Town?
Question for people cheering this on as some huge victory
What is the long term plan here?
This is a couple of weeks of reprieve, at some point we will have to start accepting flights
Do we think this virus is just going to go away in the next 3 weeks and all will be well?
This isn’t a hurricane, where we can just hunker down and wait it out and once it passes for the most part its over
This virus will spreading for months if not years
Is the plan just to shut everything down till they have a vaccine? That is at best a year and a half away and that would be a best case scenario.
People are being ever increasingly shortsighted and panicky, at some point we will have to reconnect with the world, whether its this month, next month or the month after, we can’t just keep people trapped on this 2×4 Island
This closure does not solve any of the underlying issues or resolve the overarching problem
So what do you suggest ?
Government should factor in all elderly people to stop working in the tourism, Banking business. They are the most susceptible people to get this virus. But who pays their retirement? Government should give them $2500-3000 per month for any that have reached sixty-five years old and have no other income. Which includes medical,dental and eye care, this would be a fair amount in todays cost of living. Then stopping all taxi, bus and boat drivers or jobs where they have more than 50 people. It would be cheaper than paying for all the bills left at the hospital and elsewhere. The average life span is eighty years old, they wouldn’t clog up the road. We must think for the future. Suppose we don’t find a cure?
4.28pm Call an immediate election with the elderly using postal votes.
and just as a followup to this comment because I know people will say I am just disagreeing to disagree I have no issues closing down travel to limit our exposure, but if it doesn’t come along with an organised plan for reopening and reestablishing our links with the world in the near future it isn’t a precaution it is just a reaction with no substance and no merit
Show us the plan for Cayman, otherwise admit we are flying blind, as I have said this virus will not simply go away in 3 weeks, in fact in 3 weeks America (the country where most of our supplies and travel originates from or goes to) will likely be in a similar situation to Italy or many times worse and we seem to have no plan for that very likely occurrence either
Nothing makes me more worried than people saying don’t worry we have it handled and then not being able to produce the long term in depth plans
This closing down delays the problem and allows the authorities time to produce plans. It is the right call. We aren’t ready for this (nobody is). This is meant to delay to give time to try to get more ready before the worst hits.
Particularly Alden and the PPM
If Donald Trump can fly blind we can to. He has no answers so why should Alden?
18 month lockdown then we will all have a vaccine.
There never would be a vaccine for corona. They might test on mice, it might lower fever, but this would be all so called vaccine would do.
Many who had flu vaccine this year got it.
Another moron spouting off on something he knows nothing about.
Might have one sooner, scientists are using human antibodies from recovered patients.
trying to save the lives of the elderly and sick comes first, plan comes later
It’s a smart move.. We need time to get medical teams, ventilators and medical and sanition equipment in. That probably the plan so that this place does not turn into the next Italy
Its amazing how people are more critical of me asking for the long term plan than they are critical of the people who have a decades long track record of piss poor planning simply saying we have this, don’t worry
Says a lot about human nature, people would rather have a false sense of security than actually take more than a surface level look at something and realize these plans are just repeated reactions to pressure not an actual series of steps being taken with some productive end in mind
I have yet to see one feasible plan of action for the months and months effort that will be needed to contain this virus
We much like the UK seem to be flying by the seat of our pants in terms of planning
and we see where that is taking them: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-51915302
Same question was put to the PM in the UK today during PMQs, the only really plan the world has is a vaccine which is at best a year away, so what is the plan, to just spend the next year banning public gatherings and having people stay in their homes
When Caymanians finally gain the political maturity to ask the tough questions of their representatives we might finally be governed effectively and be truly prosperous