‘Stay at home’ order abuse worries officials
(CNS): One single traffic-cam reader picked up over 10,000 unique vehicles in just five hours on Saturday, and government officials are frustrated over the scale of the abuse of the ‘stay at home’ soft curfew after the lockdown was lifted. Police Commissioner Derek Byrne said it was unsustainable and Premier Alden McLaughlin said he was really worried about the supermarket problem, after the public completely ignored his appeal on Friday not to go unless it was essential.
Speaking at the COVID press briefing on Saturday, convened to report on how Cayman was reacting to the lifting of a 58-hour curfew and transitioning to the daytime softer restrictions, Governor Martyn Roper, the premier and Commissioner Byrne all expressed disappointment. They also repeatedly reminded the public that the restrictions were in place to save lives and stop the spread of this pandemic in our community.
From dozens of people sunbathing on beaches, which may now cause them to be closed, to drinkers congregating in groups outside liquor stores, the abuse was widespread, officials reported.
The commissioner said there had been “a lot of movement” on Saturday which was not justified. He warned that it was challenging for his officers to keep a check on this many people and whether or not they were out for legitimate reasons, and made it clear that he would prefer a return to full lockdown if the police are to have any chance of enforcing ‘stay at home’ measures.
The premier spoke specifically about the supermarkets and his concerns over the long lines outside, as the store owners tried to maintain social distancing measures inside.
He said that people in the queues were not keeping their distance and warned that the person “you are queuing besides may be infected… and you will contract it”, adding, “We have to treat everyone around us as though they were contagious.”
He urged people to take the threat seriously and not to take the negative test results for granted or believe that the threat has dissipated.
“It has not gone away. We still do not know the extent to which there is community transmission of the virus in these islands, and it will be some weeks before we can be anywhere near certain about what the status is,” he said.
Having urged people not to go to the supermarkets unless they absolutely had to and not to panic buy, McLaughlin said those words had gone completely unheeded. He said some lines were snaking for best part of a quarter of a mile from supermarket doors, undermining efforts to try and check the spread. While the government does not want to shut the grocery stores, he said the situation was posing a real problem because of people’s behaviour.
“It is clear that we are going to have to find a better means of ensuring that everyone gets adequate access to the food they need but where we don’t wind up with these excessively long queues,” the premier stated, noting once again that the supermarkets have plenty of product. He said government was in discussions with the owners to see what could be done to better manage the situation.
McLaughlin also pointed out that people should not be spending so much money on things that they are unlikely to really need. He said we do not know how long this situation is going to last, after acknowledging that this situation has, of course, crashed the economy. While it will recover, it will take time, he warned, and panic buying will see people running out of money before this thing ends.
While everyone has to eat or get out for essential things, he said, for the soft curfew to work the public had to cooperate and follow rules. The premier railed against businesses that refuse to shut, saying that he had had reports that some construction sites were operating and landscapers were seen working in yards.
These businesses were breaching the law “and carrying on as though it was business as usual. It is not.” All businesses are closed except those that have been exempted, he said.
McLaughlin was also very concerned about hundreds of people sunbathing on some of the beaches, a sentiment echoed by the governor, who said this was an obvious breach of the curfew.
“That is not going to work,” McLaughlin said, as he once again reminded people that we do not know the extent of the community spread. He said that, although he was reluctant to do so, he would close the beaches as a result of this type of selfish behaviour if it did not stop tomorrow.
“We need people to stay away from each other. We need people to stay home,” he said, and warned of more restrictive measures in general if people did not stop abusing the soft curfew period.
“We don’t know how long we are going to be in this state,” he said, stressing that people must change their behaviour to get through these next few weeks.
McLaughlin urged people to look at the news and see what is happening all around us and understand the serious nature of this pandemic. The restrictive measures are all about saving lives, and until we have a better understanding of transmission rates, we have to believe that this coronavirus is in the community, he said.
The premier said he did not want anyone in Cayman to die of this disease, pointing out that even a single death was someone’s loved one. “Or it could be you,” he added, as he repeated the plea for people to stay at home.
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Category: Health, Local News
The banks are leaving everyone from the East to travel all the way to town, and in my case (Scotiabank) all the way to Camana Bay. I praise much of the work government are doing but this is insane. I am lucky as I now have a car, but I spent 7 years travelling by bus. It was difficult before Covid-19 to travel by public transport just to get to town, but it’s just irresponsible to close the branches East of GT. I implore banks to open one branch each (where available) on this side of town. People need their money to buy food.
There’s no wonder so many people are on the road. Funnelling everyone through town like this, I am not surprised that the cams are recording so much traffic. Please rethink this. And again, close the supermarkets and use delivery and collection instead with free delivery. The supermarkets rip us off enough already and I am sure, doing very well throughout this crisis. But their staff should not be getting exposed and neither should we. They could be sorting and packing shopping for delivery. This would considerably reduce exposure risks. There are plenty on island to assist delivering.
What are all these dump trucks filled with marl doing heading from the Pease Bay quarry towards George Town? I see full lockdown coming if they keep this up.
Hopefully piling it on the dump.
It is for CIAA on going project…..expanding the runway.
So what are the ones up and down Northward doing?
Yup I am seeing (and hearing them too). Not one day has passed yet when I haven’t heard them. Clearly working despite the soft curfew order.
Only God does not make mistakes. Thank you Chris for standing up as always and using your name. We appreciate your standing up for us Caymanians.
I hope the government is preparing contingency plans if these lockdown measures have to stay in place for an extended period of time. This is what’s happening in Italy
https://en.as.com/en/2020/03/29/other_sports/1585449524_787653.html
Not good.
Excellent job, Premier. Thank you for keeping us informed. I pray for continued strength for all the tough decisions you have had and will have to make to spare lives.
Because over half the population owns guns, what will happen in the US over the next month will make Italy look tame.
Hence the panic buying of guns. Who wants to be in the half of the population without a gun.
Accordning to RCIP crime statistics in 2018 (most current year available) the murder rate in Cayman was 4 per 60,000 which translates to roughly 6.5 per 100,000. The murder rate in the U.S. was 5 per 100,000 according to FBI stats.
Violent crime in Cayman in 2018 according to RCIP stats was approximately 525 per 60,000 which translates to roughly to 875 per 100,000.
Violent crime in the U.S. in 2018 was 383 per 100,000
So what you’re saying is per capita is not a good way to illustrate the relative levels of murder, violence, and safety in the two jurisdictions. Consider for example that there are about 30 serial killers operating in the United States at any one time, and there has never been one in the Cayman Islands. The violent anti-social psychopathic traits necessary for many heinous crimes are found in such small quantity that Cayman is statistically not likely to ever have such a person. Your odds of being carjacked, kidnapped, strangled, shot, tortured, buried alive etc. in Cayman are zero. There’s no one here angry enough, nowhere to hide, and nowhere to run, so in a whole lifetime the mind never wanders to such things. That’s why Cayman is safer than the US; the US is not safer than Cayman because of the statistics you cite.
Correct, It’s not a “good” way to illustrate relative levels of murder and violence in the 2 jurisdictions, it’s the *exact* way.
Yeah, right, paradise!
People were kidnapped, buried alive, burned, shot, chopped and disappeared in the Cayman Islands. Animals were sodomized and perpetrators never found. I do not even bring into this discussion domestic abuse, rapes and sexual abuse of children.
In 2019 Police were alerted to 2,218 allegations involving domestic violence, 400% increase in five years. The increase in the number of victims, largely but not exclusively women and children,
Hot damn, imma coming home in a box!
You wish. If you have to make some else look bad just to make yourself look good…..America has Americans, Cayman Islands has Caymanians.
Just query
Could you find out when the Minister of Education will be joining the panel to discuss education and the way forward?
I know they are all busy discussing social distancing and all but what is the plan of for education? We need concrete information not just a list of websites being used.
1:52 who have the CONCRETE INFORMATION!
3:01 I’d love to know who has the concrete information regarding education as well. Is it MEYSAL or DES?
This can’t continue!
Agreed. As a parent of 3 who is also working from home, I find the schoolwork to be overwhelming. Not to mention 2 computers in a household of 5. Give us a break, we are doing the best we can.
I’m an essential worker, I work from home mostly but I still need to go in to the office here and there for a few hours. I have two kids at home and it has been very hard to help with their education and work at home, as well as sanitizing, cleaning, and home cooking. Kudos to the schools for providing packages but I’m really struggling to keep up. Not to mention the anxiety I’m dealing with in regards to this virus. My main focus right now is staying clean and corona free and doing the same for my family.
One of two things should happen: Either the government restricts all motorised vehicles to the driver only, or the RCIPS should start pulling over every vehicle with two or more occupants to find out what they’re up do. Either option stops a lot of the nonsense going on right now.
Well if you shut the supermarkets at the drop of a hat why do you think people won’t rush them the moment they are open? There is a natural fear you will simply shut them again, which becomes a self fulfilling prophecy when a crowd turns up. Saying they would be open on Sunday as a well as Saturday may have taken some of the panic out. I noticed by 5 pm there were no queues as panic had died down. Now going around saying you are furious at the queues and considering tougher measures means you will have a mob again on Monday – assuming you let them open- or the first day you open them. No one trusts the government not to shut them so runs to buy weeks worth of food.
Grocery store hours have been reduced by 24 – 30 hrs per week due to the curfew. Allow the grocery stores to be open on Sundays for the remainder of the curfew policy. This would demonstrate that Govt is acting on behalf of citizens instead of telling people what they CANNOT do.
Just read the Forbes magazine article on Cayman. Premier, you have made us proud!!!
https://www.forbes.com/sites/daphneewingchow/2020/03/29/how-a-little-island-in-the-caribbean-sea-is-standing-up-to-the-goliath-of-coronavirus/?subId3=xid%3Afr1585479207780jgf#562c6e8235e9
Hard to stand behind a government that supports violence against women.
11:34 pm: I am not particularly for against this government, but let us not draw red herring across the argument. I think that the issue of violence against women is irrelevant to what is happening right now.
Further, I don’t think that any one among the government supports violence against women.
But none of them speak out against it either. And that is just as bad.
So you meant that statement should read ‘commits’ instead of supports? Clarifying for a friend.
Propaganda
Inaccurate information in the Forbes article.
12:02 pm. I actually saw no inaccurate information. Could you please say what was inaccurate?
70% of GDP coming from tourism for starters
That GDP figure remains to be correct no matter how many new studies the financial services sector pays for…
Sorry
If it weren’t for the financial services industry, Cayman would be just another poor, insignificant (globally speaking) island in the Caribbean. There is absolutely not statistic you could come up with that changes that fact. Sorry.
BS. Look at the EOS. True, GDP is far wider than just the generative businesses that bring in income from overseas – it includes all our domestic businesses like retail, the civil service etc. So in a total GDP basis financial services is only 33% of total GDP. You can argue until the cows come home how much of the rest of the GDP is generated in turn by that 33%. But it’s 6 times bigger than restaurants and hotels ( there is no specific stat for the whole tourism industry). And you cannot say that tourism is 70% of GDP either. Simply no statistics to support that.
Suspect you believe that GDP = contribution to CIG revenue
didn’t mention the fact the cig let a banned italian cruise ship dock here….and the attempted cover-up afterwards….
And then quoted that the very DP that pandered to the cruise lines and took the chance to let the virus in despite outcry from the public and undermining the previous and correct decision by the Minister of Health to block them, valued lives before money!!! (Right!)
Here some hints to arrogant individuals who believe everyone was warned therefore must have purchased enough food to last.
Some disabled people receive small benefits which they can’t stretch too far. They have a certain amount of money allocated for food. They can’t buy loads simply because they don’t have money for that.
Some disabled people can only shop when their symptoms allow. They could be homebound for a week or more and one day might get few hours window that allows them to step outside. They can’t stand in lines at all, let alone few hours. They need shopping scooters. Even when they made to a grocery store they may still have cognitive issues, brain fog, fatigue, be dizzy and or have vertigo episodes, sensory overload, etc. But many look absolutely normal from outside, some even say to them “ but you look so good” . So they only have few minutes to grab essentials and get home as soon as they can before symptoms flare up.
If you think only old people have chronic condition that make them disabled, think again. More young and middle aged people have unexplained and undiagnosed conditions. MS, chronic fatigue syndrome, orthostatic intolerance, vertigo, fibromyalgia etc. You have no idea what it takes for them to function.
So don’t assume everyone is stocked up because they knew or supposed to know. Some simply unable to get up and go when they pleased. They can’t afford delivery either, the prices marked up significantly.
And if they had families and friends to help them they would have helped them. It is only in the beginning everyone is sympathetic, then they’re are forgotten. Human compassion has a short life. Every person with chronic debilitating condition would tell you that.
Thank you so much for your comment. This is for all suffering from cancer who may “look fine” but are struggling not only with the awful ravages of the disease, but the fear of COVID-19 now too. And wondering what bleak future lies ahead with treatment postponed indefinitely and fear of cancer meds supply vanishing.
If you have more than you need, from hoarding, share it. If your high end fridge looks like Cost u Less, someone out there may need your help. If you can shop for someone who is housebound, reach out and make the offer.
Meanwhile those of us who are worse off than you will not stop praying hard for you and all of us.
Unlike in the aftermath of a hurricane, our supply chain remains absolutely unchanged and fully intact. What we have here is a human response to the “red light green light” game being played by Cabinet Ego. They have created unnecessary distribution disorder from the uncertainty over likelihood of another short notice edict. The resulting scrambling from those with poor household inventories, was entirely predictable and understandable. Add to that, there are no commensurate rules over price-gouging vendors, nor crisis-level performance requirements for those given the special hall passes to honour contracts and perform critical services.
This is about more than some families scrambling because they have “poor household inventories”. That may be the reason for some of this hoarding mentality, but stupidity, selfishness and resistance to authority is driving much of this response. Government tells everyone to send one person to the grocery store. Look at the pictures; Caymanians refused to obey. Is that the government’s fault? Government tells people to stay 6 feet away for each other and Caymanians refuse to obey. Is that the government’s fault? Government tells people to go out only if they have to and yet people by the thousands come out to the grocery store. And that was less than three days after they did the same thing before the full day curfew was imposed. Is it the government’s fault that the people are too stupid, too selfish and too lawless to obey requests made for the safety of the community?
I seriously object to this reference to Caymanians. I think you should have made reference to residents. Clearly you are an expat which explains why you are anonymous. On identifying yourself I will buy you a single ticket to Miami once flights resume.
Go take a look at the article about the individual who died in the car accident where I go into length about this exact thing. Everything bad that happens in Cayman is automatically “a Caymanian thing”. They come to our home just to stereotype and speak about us badly behind closed doors. Sad to see people who chose to move and live to a place called “Cayman” have such a distaste for Caymanians.
Exactly the point I was trying to make. His mail is racialist and unacceptable. I am surprised at my two thumbs down. What kind of society are we living in ?
Racialist? Put down the Courvoisier Chris.
You driving a mark truck ?
Don’t worry man! It’s a society where people who can’t form a solid argument against your point can just dislike your comment. You stated truth, and the fact that nobody has said anything further proves it.
Objection overruled. You are required to make an argument against what you’re objecting to if you want to be taken seriously. I guess you’ve become a true Caymanian by resorting to the “don’t let the airplane door hit you in the arse when you leave” comeback.
Stop insulting people. They are not robots to obey commands with a push of a button. There is 7 bil. people on this planet and all have their own unique opinion about everything. That doesn’t make them “too stupid, too selfish and too lawless”.
Obeying without objection is for prisoners and soldiers and sheep. In a democratic society calling people who disagree with your view of things “too stupid, too selfish and too lawless” demonstrates, at least, your lack of communication skills.
People follow good leaders voluntarily because they trust them, because they are treated like humans, not a herd of sheep.
If a leader of a tiny island is angry and has to resort to threats, armed police to get his message across, he is doing something wrong. Assuming everyone has food and restricting access to supermarkets is FUNDAMENTALLY wrong. Inability to understand that is even worse.
“People follow good leaders voluntarily because they trust them, because they are treated like humans, not a herd of sheep.” Maybe so, but we haven’t had “good leaders” for a l-o-n-n-n-g time!
I think you have it, 3:09 pm. I’ve been here 20 years and it appears that nearly all of the “leaders” are more interested in getting richer than anything else.
“You” are one angry individual.
My word 12:30pm
these thinly veiled stabs at Caymanians are so wrongly aimed at Caymanians only as if we are genetically predisposed to “being stupid selfish and lawless”. Which is clearly how you see us, which is sad to see since you chose to move to a place called “Cayman” yet hate Caymanians. EVERYONE is in a panic, there’s no specific nationality or ethnicity at blame here. This is happening everywhere in the world, because the whole world is having a crap time with this virus. I’m surprised the recent earthquake wasn’t blamed on us as well “those fat Caymanians stomping around again”, the birds could all leave one day and it’ll be “those ugly Caymanians scared the birds away”.
I am Caymanian and I don’t hate Caymanians. It is hard to argue that some of our people don’t do us any favors with their actions. It is, in many case, a product of bad parenting or bad education, or both. I wish it were different.
Honestly, if you dislike and have so much contempt for Caymanians, why are you still here!! Clearly you have not liked them way before the borders closed so you should have gone home to your country where everyone is perfect.