‘Nothing short of lunacy’ to open economy

| 15/04/2020 | 338 Comments
Cayman News Service
Premier Alden McLaughlin at Wednesday’s press briefing

(CNS): Demands from the business community to open up the economy continue regardless of the government’s aim to prioritise saving lives over economic concerns. At Wednesday’s press briefing Premier Alden McLaughlin stated yet again that this is not going to happen until the coronavirus has been contained. He said, “It would be nothing short of lunacy to contemplate re-opening the economy until we… believe the virus has been contained,” and they are only now in a position to start the mass testing part of the strategy.

McLaughlin said it is only in places that have been able to “test, test, test” and then trace contacts, in combination with strict ‘shelter in place’ orders, where the virus has been contained. Until that happens here, it will not be safe to re-open the economy. He warned that if Cayman opens up now, we would look like a mini New York or Italy or Spain, as “the virus will fly through this community” and hundreds of people will die.

The worst case scenario for the Cayman Islands if no interventions had been made, according to Public Health England, was almost 1,000 deaths, the premier said.

He said the experience of other countries indicates that if you open up and let the virus spread there will be mass tragedy, and warned that we would be watching funerals streaming online from the funeral homes.

“I know I have earned my title as the grim reaper,” he said, as he hammered home the message about the sacrifice required to suppress the virus before we could open the community and economy again.

The premier said he hears all the pleas for access to everything again. But for the time being, we all need to make sacrifices to stop the virus from getting into sustained community transmission. If that happened it would require a near complete lockdown, he warned.

McLaughlin said the measures were not to make people’s lives difficult but to tackle the virus. He said there was no evidence of real sustained community transmission yet and tracing was working well, but there were still concerns that people were not taking things seriously, which poses the main threat to the virus taking hold in the community.

But that said the premier said he believed we could still “snuff out the virus” as he begged people to stay home.

See the full press briefing on CIGTV below, set to start at the premier’s remarks, immediately following his “grim reaper” world stats on the coronavirus:


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Category: Health, Medical Health

Comments (338)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    More people are going to die in Cayman from the fallout of Covid then Covid itself. To bad the government did not try to strike balance vs going completely one direction with this.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Completely agree with you.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Please cite the study that shows more people are going to die from the economic fallout than COVID-19 – or are you just repeating scare mongering you heard from talking heads on TV?

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      • Anonymous says:

        You cannot place a study on something that hasn’t occurred yet. Speculation is not scaremongering. But you can make a thought experiment of it.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Ok – I just conducted a thought experiment and I am now speculating you are dead wrong about the number who will die from the economic fallout of Cayman’s lockdown in comparison to the number that would have died of the government didn’t lock us down.

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  2. Anonymous says:

    After watching the American press conference, I think the Cayman people must feel depressed. While they have a specific well thought out plan, we have a Premier who reads death statistics. Great plan! I don’t think the Premier has any idea what to do. He quotes Bill Gates and prattles on about irrelevant things, but continues to have no real strategy to save this island. Believe you me, he’s in way over his head. People forget that this so-called country is barely more than a small town compared to most places, even Cuba or Jamaica and it’s not exactly being governed by Ivy League graduates who understand the intricacies of a modern economy. I suppose they’re trying as best they can, but it’s a failure in many eyes. Unfortunately, because of all the mistakes, this government has done nothing to inspire the people, or protect the infrastructure that actually provides the standard of life we all enjoy, or give anyone confidence in their ability to emerge from this salvaging any kind of viable business environment. The press conferences make that obvious. Let’s all just hope this lockdown ends before Cayman looks a lot like St Lucia, where people work for $1.50 an hour because there’s no economy left to speak of. Also, I don’t have a problem with people who have faith, I have faith myself, but the way they carry on with reading scripture but not having anything of real value to say is very embarrassing. The Education Minister was a disaster. It’s not the place for it. Leave your sermons at home. The modern concept of separation of church and state exists for a reason. They teach it in year one of Political Science school. Most educated people in government don’t need to be told why that is. Anyway, there’s no use trying I guess, nothing anyone says will influence this guy and he really doesn’t care about any of us. This is a legacy play. Expect a big statue to be commissioned.

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  3. Anonymous says:

    Ludicrous keeping the beaches shut and not allowing people to drive to their exercise spot.

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    • Anonymous says:

      The problem is the same excuse can be used for anyone to drive anywhere at all for any reason. If the actual objective is exercise, the road outside your front door serves that purpose. It many not be as pretty as SMB, but at the end of the day its still exercise and its still outside. You may not like it, but its not “ludicrous”. Thinking that you have some god given right to only exercise where you choose or to stroll on the beacjh in the face of a public health crisis is ludicrous.

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    • Anonymous says:

      The good news is there are now flights to leave. You, I or anyone else can go to all the places the beaches are still open… yup, all of them, except that most other places are closed too…

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      • Anonymous says:

        Jacksonville Florida. Beaches now open. How you will get there remains a mystery. The airport is closed after all.

  4. Andrew says:

    Parents complaining about school being cancelled until September…

    People who squatted out four children by the time they were 30 years old are now complaining that they, get this, have to be home with their own spawn. They’re so protective of them, if a mosquito lands on them it’s mayhem! However, when a virus comes around that could actually kill some kids (asthmatic children), it’s “WHY ARE THE SCHOOLS LAST TO OPEN?! OUR CHILDREN NEED EDUCATION!!!”. Your children don’t need education the same way they need oxygen, what you mean is YOU need a BABYSITTER. It’s time to actually parent your children, so that when school is back in session they go back and actually appreciate the services provided. Stop moaning, mumbling and whining…you made your bed, slept with someone in it, now lie in it.

    Prayers…

    If you want to host a Sunday sermon, then do it. There’s no reason for us to have to sit through hollow prayers to get to the meat of the conference. Have a dedicated 15 minutes at the beginning or end and that’s IT. I’m having to listen to the stuttering obese guy in the corner try to be cute by “speaking Latin” and saying “we pray for no more transmissions”. Have someone edit the conference for brevity, boil it down to the bare essentials. Curfew updates, new transmissions, questions from the press, and new discoveries about the virus.

    Exercise…

    Now we can’t drive to exercise points because the “roads are too congested”. There’s no gyms open, and now we can’t drive to our exercise places. My overpriced 1 bedroom apartment isn’t even big enough for me to sneeze without head butting the other side of the room, and I live in a crap area of West Bay, now I usually walk outside of the neighborhood along the main road but I don’t feel safe walking out of the neighborhood with all that’s going on. Call me a snowflake, but with people out of work and tensions rising there’s no telling what people are willing to do to get a few bucks. I’m not fear mongering, I’m just expressing my own fears. I’m pretty sure it’s fine but like they say better say than getting shanked by a crackhead.

    Hardware stores…

    Some people need to fix some things around the house, it’ll allow the pool people to buy some chlorine and the handymen to have something to do. For me, I want a machete.

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    • Anonymous says:

      They would have to be pretty high to mug a jogger. What are they going to steal, your running shorts? I am a distance runner, and have run all over West Bay for hours at a time, including glamour spots like Birch Tree hill and Watercourse Road. Never had a single issue. No sure I would do it after dark, but that’s not the issue, is it. The most dangerous place to run in West Bay is probably Mt Pleasant, and not because of the risk of being mugged but because of the narrow road, blind corners and poor sight lines for drivers.

      Perhaps the issue is not the actual safety of running through West Bay, its your (ever so slightly bigoted) view of how safe it is. There is a difference. Snow flake? You aspire to be a snowflake. Grow some and get out there and run through your neighborhood instead of whining about how your fear of your neighbours means you have to drive to a “safe area” exercise.

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      • Andrew says:

        First off, me saying “shanked by a crackhead” was hyperbole, and I assumed people would have half of a brain to realize that. Second of all, you do realize it’s now the norm to walk around with your face covered? This isn’t the “regular” Cayman we’re used to right now. Thirdly, because you’ve had a good experience, does this mean everyone else will definitely have the same exact cookie cutter experience? Did I not say “I’m pretty sure it’s fine”? That’s because I know it’s 99.9% safe to do so, but this is where me and your experiences differ. Ive had a friend who was kicked off his bicycle, and got the shit kicked out of him. Had everything stolen off of him, came back swollen and bruised. You think he could call the police on them? You think it was nice for him to them ride his bicycle around? I’ve lived beside a dealer who stabbed my brother over some black & milds, you think he’ll go to jail for that? I’ve seen a kid order a pizza to the neighbors house, tell the driver they live around the back, then jump in the drivers car and loot it. He’s now in jail for attempted murder.

        I’ve lived in the shitty parts and I aim to distance myself from them, not because I think I’m any better or somehow superior to them I just want to stay away from the black hole of negativity that sucked me in before. You may like to go frolicking through the shitty because it’s gives you a “thrill” but you go right back home to your cozy , sheltered lifestyle. I finally am able to live in a decent neighborhood but it’s just around the corner from the same bullshit I try to avoid. So if not wanting to go prancing around the negativity that I was raised in is being a “snowflake”, then call me JACK FROST. BUT…before you assume I don’t have “some”, check your ego and see if you running through the “glamour spots” means you have balls or (99% sure is the case) you’re so sheltered that you’re now delusional to the real life shit that goes on under the radar on this island. So yes Mr. “distance runner” who “runs through the glamour spots” with your nose in the air, continue, I’m sure you’ll be fine. Just don’t fault me for not wanting to do so myself.

    • Anonymous says:

      Idiot!!! You have the option to evacuate if you don’t like the rules, government or its people, no one forced you to be here.
      You are not in any one’s seat to see and feel the pressure that they have to deal with, and I m pretty sure if you are qualified to be in any government position seat you would be there working your ass instead of complaining about ur small Apartment. We are a Christian island you like it or not and if you dont value that get the XXXX out of here.

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      • Andrew says:

        So very Christian of you. I’m a born and raised Caymanian so try again to spew your hate of expats on me. “Get the XXXX out of here”, do you pray to Jesus with that mouth?

    • Lomart says:

      Andrew…..you’re outright nasty and mean. You are an angry person and I don’t trust you. Hope I don’t meet you on my walk.

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      • Anonymous says:

        LOL – I don’t want to meet that guy anywhere!

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      • Andrew says:

        Nasty for…speaking the truth? Sometimes the truth is mean, but nothing I said wasn’t 100% the truth. Now could I have said what I wanted to in a more nuanced and kind way, yes, but that would mean I wouldn’t get the satisfaction of making people like you angry. Am I angry? As for you not trusting me…okay…you shouldn’t? I don’t trust you either. Rightfully so, as we both shouldn’t trust strangers on the internet. As for meeting on your walk, thank you, I don’t want to meet you on my walk either, because social distancing should still be practiced while exercising.

        • Anonymous says:

          I agree with what Asndreis saying. If you don’t you should read it again. His arguments make sense whether you like them are not. Try not to take everything personally.

    • Anonymous says:

      To 5.40pm A machete for what. So that you can complain that it does not come with a motor.?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Andrew youre smart… I’m from and live in a crap area of West Bay. I won’t get shanked and you probably get bit by a dog or begged from..

    • Anonymous says:

      West bay you say?
      Use the bypass. Its great for exercise.

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  5. Anonymous says:

    There are people facing a real crisis, most of whom have ZERO help from Marie Alden-ette.

    We as renters, are losing are homes, we are being evicted during this crisis. Losing our our phone accounts and having our internet cancelled.

    We have no leadership. We are being held down from any possible chance of saving our selves. The gates are locked for the working class. We cannot even fight for our children. It is wrong as our leaders quote Bill Gates. One of the greatest philanthropists of our time. They keep all of their dollars. They do not see any need to mitigate their greed. I do not see any real effort to financially assist the country.

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    • Anonymous says:

      5.26 you say “” I do not see any real effort to financially assist the country ” That means that you have been living in La La land or you are a bare faced liar.Why don’t you ask around before you type such falsehoods.

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  6. Anonymous says:

    It takes no act of government to protect you and your loved ones from the coronavirus. All you have to do is stay home until you feel it is safe enough to come out. Go to the grocery store in a full hazmat suit if you must and if it makes you feel safe. Are you willing to do that? Please stop dragging the rest of us down this road of insanity.

    We need to get back to work before you people inflict damage that will never be repaired.

    What we are doing now is not just completely unsustainable it’s untenable.

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    • Anonymous says:

      You should be World Leader since what you know is so much more than all the other leaders in the world who have instituted very similar – or even harsher – measures. Why don’t sensible people realize everyone in the world should listen to you? I am dumbfounded.

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  7. Anonymous says:

    Absolute lunacy is pushing the port deal down our throats Mr. Premier

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    • BeaumontZodecloun says:

      I don’t know if you listened to today’s CV Press Update. The Premier said that it wasn’t going to happen within his term. It will be up to the next government to pursue that or not. I don’t think we’re ever going to be voting in a Cruise Berthing Referendum. The deal is undone, and thank GOD CPR and everyone who signed the petition was able to force a referendum.

      Can you imagine the horrible place we’d now be in if not for that process?? Waiting for construction on a train wreck to resume?

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  8. Anonymous says:

    Um, the stagnant green pools are becoming more of a health hazard….

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  9. John says:

    Two weeks ago I praised the premier for his action, making the point in comparison to the U.K. where they had 100 hundred people die in one day but were still allowing flights to arrive from countries with extremely high infection rates, my view in those circumstances the UK were playing Russian roulette with peoples lives.People arriving without checks to freely enter society.Outcome two weeks later 1000 people a day dying, now they are going under lockdown for three weeks.About 13% of people in U.K.whom develop the virus die.This virus is an unseen sinister killer, prevention is better than the alternative.There is not an alternative other than to try and and eradicate this killer.I wonder what the people in the U.K. that were asking for relaxation two weeks ago are saying now that a thousand people a day are dying.It would be insanity to repeat the U.K’s action of two weeks ago here.
    Who thought in the U.K. two weeks ago 100 deaths a day would increase to a 1000, surely a lesson to be learned.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Your timelines are all wrong and your fatality rate is ridiculous; they are only testing hospital admissions. In countries that are testing more widely like Germany the case fatality rate is 0.37%.

  10. Anonymous says:

    Zero evidence of community spread. Open the gates Alden.

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  11. Anonymous says:

    A) Count of statistics of overseas countries at Press Briefings: Daily

    B) Count of statistics of people in Cayman that have lost their jobs, income and ability to pay their bills at press breifings: ZERO

    News reports regarding B? Zero

    New reports on hospital emptiness status? Zero

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    • Anonymous says:

      We NEED to know who has this virus! It is better that we isolate them if they cannot and will not isolate themselves! The majority in this case should RULE!

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      • Anonymous says:

        Covid offenders register?

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        • Anonymous says:

          The offense is THEY are not at home! If we knew who they were, we would most certainly not be meeting them for coffee or at the market! If they cannot police them, the community would out of necessity.

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          • Anonymous says:

            @3:57 – you’re not supposed to be meeting ANYONE for coffee or at the market. You want to be safe? STAY HOME.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Referendum!

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          • Anonymous says:

            Like a vote of NO CONFIDENCE?
            There should be an annual vote of confidence in these damned 4 year terms so we can get rid of the liars, fornicators, wife-beaters, thieves and general nuisances masquerading as intelligent people.

        • Anonymous says:

          Like Tom Hanks and Boris Johnson?

    • Anonymous says:

      Whine, baby, whine!

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  12. Anonymous says:

    The only lunacy is what I hear and see from Alden and his band of bobble heads at every press briefing. The guy is constantly Justifying his insane strategy by quoting old mortality data that seems to be very inaccurate (1000 Potential deaths!? Come now…) – not at all in line with what we’ve seen in other places, especially with widespread social distancing. Devise a strategy to protect the vulnerable, but stop this idiotic police-state lockdown of people who are not at all at risk. His answer to that of course is that we’re all at risk, but the truth is that we’re not and only measures to isolate and care for the sick and elderly are required, much like for MANY health hazards. None of his knee jerk decisions make ANY sense. You can pick up a Vanilla latte at the Starbucks door, but you can’t pick up a bucket of pool chemicals at the pool store door to sanitize your pool – the perfect illustration of just how confused their strategy has been from day one. Closing the beach was just another example of how this bizarre zealotry has infected the Cabinet echo chamber, as they congratulate each other internally for every new nonsense they devise. Maybe remove the dozen police staring blankly at grocery shoppers in queues and patrol the beaches? How is that not obvious? Between the Health Minister and Education Minister, there isn’t any sign of competence in that bunch, just the same empty often religious babbling aimed at their little clique. What is especially shameful is the fear mongering and constant idiotic reading of deaths by the Premier, without any context or intellectual honesty provided – just scaring the uneducated who don’t understand scale or statistics whatsoever. Maybe the problem is that he doesn’t understand the numbers himself? I think he does and it’s manipulation and pure politics. In fact, all The hyperbole they use, like using words such as « lunacy » is carefully crafted to keep people, many who are too uneducated to know better, worshipping at his feet and how the panel discredits those who dissent – many of whom are probably far more educated and qualified than this panel. The Premier should probably step down and let someone with better perspective and better qualifications manage the crisis. Don’t hold your breath. This isn’t a job for a lawyer with a forked tongue. This needs someone with proper public administration training who can understand the long term impact of actions.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Out of Africa. Truly frightening what is happening here

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    • Anonymous says:

      You people are too much. Just go wash your hands and stay home. I won’t tell you to shut up because I realise there are pent-up frustrations, but there will be a time in the future, if you live through this, that you will look back and remember the kind of nonsense you are writing now and feel embarrassed, even though your name isn’t attached!

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    • Silent majority says:

      @1:08pm…perhaps we should have 2 clear lines formed.
      One (1) line for those who value life and wish to get back to some kind of normalcy once its deemed safe to return; and
      Another line, which you would be in most definitely, for those who have no regard for life, especially those of our most vulnerable, due to irresponsible behavior such as you propogate in your churlish rant!

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  13. John Perkins says:

    I think this is getting completely out of hand, people seem to think that COVID-19 is the pneumonic plague! If you get it you are mostly likely to have either no syptoms or very mild syptoms. The seasonal flu is also a Corona Virus and infects over 1 Billion people every year and 260,000 to 690,000 die each year from the seasonal flu. We don’t shut down the economy every winter and we all know the ‘snow birds’ bring us the flu each year.
    I understand the need to flatten the curve in the event of a surge of infections needing hospitalization, but we have not had any strain on our medical services, we have more ICU beds per capita than most countries. In fact, so far only one person is in ICU.
    What is bewildering to me is that only a few short weeks ago our cruise port and airport was welcoming hundreds of thousands of potential spreaders without any concern. The data is showing that COVID-19 may have been spreading globally from November 2019 and with the global connectivity millions of people would have been infected prior to Cayman closing its borders and very likely hundreds or thousands of infected people possibly visiting our shores. The percentage risk of infection was 100x greater two months ago, than it is now!
    After our boarders were sealed, with no one coming or going, a 14 day lock down would have massively suppressed the chance further transmission – but due to the non-compliance of those infected from Health City means the CIG has no idea if the virus is now spreading in the community. Without testing everyone the CIG has no clue if there are asymptomatic people still spreading the virus who returned to Cayman prior to sealing our borders. The likelihood of testing everyone in a timely manner is going to be a real challenge.
    In short there is no real possibility to rid the Cayman Islands of COVID-19 – nor should we. What, you ask? Yes, whether or not you like it either now or some time in the future COVID-19 will reenter the Cayman Islands and without a vaccine our only option is to have enough health resources to cope with the small percentage of elderly or infirm people who may need medical invention – or have ‘herd-immunity’. There’s no known cure or vaccine.
    Closing down the economy cannot continue indefinitely and is doing more damage than good. Some could argue that the cost of supporting our elderly and infirm would be a lot less costly than the loses of a shuttered economy.
    And let us not forget that as soon as we begin to get back to what ever level of normally the risk of transmission will go up – which makes this whole process moot.
    I ask that we (CIG) take a practical and pragmatic approach to what is realistic and what is achievable. It is honorable to want to have zero fatalities and be completely CORIV-19 free – but this is completely and utterly unobtainable. As they say, “the road to hell is paved with good intention”.
    We have now had four plus weeks of isolation and lock down, completely closed our borders and instituted health measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19, if these have not achieved the desired results then clearly this needs to be reassessed.

    I would suggest that we lift the curfew and monitor for any uptick in hospitalizations from COVID-19 and then track and isolate those.
    Anyone who is at an elevated risk should take extra precautions or self isolate. That would be the most logical and pragmatical process.

    Lastly, just remember that COVID-19 will come back in several new waves over the coming months and years. Just like the Seasonal Flu.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Mr. Perkins, you weaken your own argument but calling the flu a coronavirus in the first paragraph. It isn’t one. If you want people to give your opinion any weight you need to do your research. Otherwise I agree in principle with your arguments.

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      • John Perkins says:

        https://www.webmd.com/lung/coronavirus
        SARS-CoV-2 is one of seven types of coronavirus, including the ones that cause severe diseases like Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and sudden acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The other coronaviruses cause most of the colds that affect us during the year but aren’t a serious threat for otherwise healthy people.

        http://www.emro.who.int/health-topics/corona-virus/questions-and-answers.html
        Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are known to cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

        https://www.healthline.com/health/coronavirus-types#types
        Most people around the world will develop at least one of these viral infections over their lifetime. Those who contract these viruses are able to recover on their own most of the time.

        Please allow me to further elaborate. This is an animal flu and a zoonotic virus transmission (jumped from animal to human) and can affect the upper respiratory tract and in a small percentage it can affect the lower respiratory area which is worse. Predominately the symptoms are the same as the flu with over 80% of people experiencing either no ill effect or very mild symptoms. 15% of people experience symptoms which could warrant medical attention (similar to a bad case of the flu so not everyone goes to the hospital) and of those who do 5% end up being admitted to ICU for ventilation.
        I guess what I am trying to say is that when I think of the deaths recorded by dangerous drivers, or something as innocuous as snorkeling – should we ban everyone from driving or snorkeling?
        I am more concerned about the CIG Mount Trashmore and mosquito spraying and if that has had a deterimental affect over the years?

        • Anonymous says:

          Thanks for those links. None of them say influenza is a type of coronavirus which is what you said in your first comment. The seasonal flu is a different virus. If you meant to say they are similar in many ways that would have been correct, but that’s not what you said. Yes, there is some overlap in the symptoms people typically experience.

          If the figures you posted above were true, only 80% of infections being mild with 15% actually potentiallly needing medical attention then this virus would actually probably warrant the extreme measures that hace been taken and counterfeit your final point about driving, snorkeling and mount trashmore. The lethality of this virus may be overstated and we will know in time.

          If it is true that the death rate is closer to that of seasonal flu, I agree with your point which is that there are many risks we all take every day we leave the house. It is not government’s job to lock us up. If people want to exercise social distancing when there is a bug going around they are wise to, just as they are wise to not live next door to a dump, smoke cigarettes and eat fast food three times a day.

          The government needed to flatten the curve to make sure our health system wasn’t overrrun. They did that because of the figures you juat quoted. When rhe sciemce becomes clearer let’s hope they are willing to change course and reopen things gradually.

          • Anonymous says:

            Healthy people should be allowed out and back to work. People with health conditions, immune deficiencies, recovering cancer patients etc are all high risk individuals that would need to stay home.
            Persons over the age of 65 would need to stay home, due to the high risk of their age.
            Sweden has done well. Look at their model, please.

      • Anonymous says:

        Bubonic John, Bubonic.

    • Anonymous says:

      The problem is they are listening to themselves in circles, hence arriving to the same conclusions regardless of any facts or data, while frozen in indecision. They are the knowers of all things. Where have we seen this before I wonder…

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    • BeaumontZodecloun says:

      The seasonal flu is not a coronavirus. It is an influenza, and one for which a vaccine has been created. Each season, the CDC guess which of the plethora of influenzas will be prominent, and make a cocktail of the top ones, which we call the vaccine. At the very best, it is 60% effective. Most years much less.

      We have an opportunity — a slim chance, given so many people with your outlook — to corral the virus and quarantine those on the islands which have it. After confirmation of that condition, the government could safely open up our islands to normal trade and commerce, while still keeping the borders closed.

      The alternative is to take your stance and let ‘er buck, in which case the first wave will likely overwhelm the health services and unnecessarily cost the lives of hundreds of people, if not more.

      You are likely right in that CV-19 will make a few rounds, much like the Spanish Flu of 1918-1920. We may not ever acquired the beloved “herd immunity” given that CV-19 doesn’t necessarily present a hard enough assault to provoke a lasting immune response. About 25% of what we call the common cold is caused by a coronavirus, and often it involves a shifting antigen, which produces several strains. It is why there has never been a vaccine for the common cold.

      If we can get through this first wave, we will be more prepared medically, psychologically, and FINALLY get our supplies in order. We are one of the places most often hit by hurricanes, and yet how many of us stock up in advance of that season? Why do we always see a feeding frenzy in anvance of a tropical cyclone. Human nature, yeah? We can do much better.

      It is the right thing to do to lock down now, then, after it is appropriate to do so, get our local business flowing again. It may be some time before it is appropriate to invite outsiders, but at least we will be more prepared for the changes necessary to protect our people.

      We will all likely be exposed to and 60% or so contract Covid-19. It is MOST important that we not take a broadside shot in the initial wave.

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    • Anonymous says:

      To John Perkins so you say let the people move freely until large numbers show up with the virus THEN we try to contact trace.Brilliant. We are sure lucky that you are not our Premier.

  14. Anonymous says:

    Given the high rates of obesity and diabetes in Cayman, our population is especially vulnerable to this virus.

    If it starts to spread through the community it would be expected that the percentage hospitalized would be quite high.

    I see where Alden is coming from on this, it could really be a disaster.

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    • Anonymous says:

      I think gov is well aware of the limitations of our healthcare here as well.

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    • Brown Freeman says:

      A catastrophic one of thousands of people dying. I have pointed it from early March. Forget about the models, come down to the reality, the medical common sense, our limited, insuficient, not well trained medical and technical staff fir an Epidemic of this nature and magnitude, our very limited equiptment to deal with a massive need for ICU admission. I understand that most of the people -including but not limited to Politicians- have not the knowledge (Medical-Epidemiological) to see it. But I do. Trust me, an ugly mess, seeing in other Epidemics in Africa. Be realistic people.

      As the saying goes: Is not the same to name the devil that to see him arrives.

      Dr. Freeman.

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      • Anonymous says:

        I agree with the competency issue 100%

        The competency of this goverment PALES AND IS DISMAL in comparison to the competence of our healthcare industry and workers.

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  15. Anonymous says:

    Who authorized purchase of “Stay calm and stay home” cups? Do money grow on trees here?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Yes it do.

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    • Anonymous says:

      They were gifts

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      • Anonymous says:

        From Bill Gates?

      • Anonymous says:

        The irony mugs as I call them. “Keep calm..” says the mug while the speaker behind it spouts off hysterical nonsense figures to this day of 1000 dead if his draconian lockdowns and beach closures and pool cleaner bans don’t continue. Hey calm down and read the mug. The other irony of this unused keep calm mug is sat right beside it, that being yet another daily disposable paper/styro cup, 30+ and counting now, bound for Mt Trashmore as fuel for its next conflagration, that other less sexy public health emergency the cups’ drinker has been content to ignore for a decade now.

    • Anonymous says:

      Where can I get one?

  16. Anonymous says:

    OMG just when I thought the PB could not get any worse with Jon Jon’s ramblings now comes Ju Ju with her frantic long sermons. SMH!!!!

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    • Anonymous says:

      Please stop having Dwayne Seymour and Juliana O’Connor Connolly involved at all – they are embarrassing amateurs. Personally, I think the Premier is coming across as pretty statesmanlike in his presentations but these two jokers, are appalling!

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    • Anonymous says:

      Be careful, you may get arrested.

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  17. Anonymous says:

    Mr Premier, – what are we 4 weeks in so far and with an ambitious strategy that also has significant shortfalls. As many have posted already, continually moving the ‘mission complete full eradication’ goal posts is futile and cheating the people of Cayman Islands of a fundamental necessity to develop immunity. Let’s hypothetically assume we pursue the course and eradicate the virus. The achievement has been no more than creating an isolationist jurisdiction to be put in a similar frame as the indigenous people of the Amazon susceptible to being wiped out by illnesses from missionary’s trying to reach them. In our world of constant inbound flights and global travel there’s no way it can work, there has to be a long term realistic solution besides complete reliance on a potential vaccine.

    Dealing with a new virus has put everyone on their heels with no previously established measure/system of medical protocol in place to tackle cases as they appear. We’re learning though, it leads to a respiratory disease which it appears in some cases can be overcome with respiratory treatment, ventilators etc. but being ‘new’ overwhelms health facilities with a sudden burden of cases and moral desperation (not to be condemned) to save lives. A real underlying issue and psychological tax with this disease is nobody in the Western Hemisphere has mindfully been afforded a removed distance to come to an acceptance that it’s permissible to accept mortality from a potentially fatal virus.

    Every year 3.5 million people die from poor water related diseases. Air pollution is responsible for an annual 5 million deaths and another 9 million die from hunger. That’s 17.5 million people dying from preventable causes but because it’s not in ‘our neighbourhood’ that’s the marker deemed as tolerable in our modern world, – its not happening here and therefore a subconsciously dismissed for convenience.

    What’s more jarring and also considered tolerable is almost 1 million children under the age of 5 die as well from preventable pneumonia or acute respiratory infections, – COVID 19 is not preventable but is an ARI. With consideration to the entire age spectrum against tested results to date, COVID 19 has claimed 130,000 lives worldwide against 1 million similar preventable pediatric deaths. Yes the mortality rate of COVID 19 is sure to increase but when scaled against a broader spectrum of approx 18 million preventable deaths due to the lack of basic human needs the 130,000 COVID 19 deaths considered as not tolerable with a current ‘not in our neighborhood’ perspective to dismiss fatality when convenient, surely we should be having another look at the juxtaposition presented if nothing else but a moral responsibility.

    So where does this leave us. Cayman is in a unique position to drip feed the virus into the community adhering to a modified model of soft curfew which was previously in place. With testing now available, additional respiratory equipment soon to reach us and Govt briefings indicating we are in a good place as far as preparedness to not be overwhelmed, it should be relatively easy to isolate those more susceptible to complications from the virus and therefore create overall immunity. Following any plan which achieves a similar result would also put us in a position of readiness in a global context rather than hinging on the wait and promise of a vaccine for us to enter the world again. Yes its a tough choice but also consider our Govt was ready to spend $250 million on a cruise pier that would put cruise ships in close proximity to the majority of the population when its been estimated that 50,000 Europeans die prematurely every year as a result of ship based air pollution. That was a compromise our Govt is willing to make along with a percentage of the electorate that are adamantly willing to vote for the port and therefore simply demonstrates the ability to follow a perspective when convenient. The perspective now should be what’s the best long term effective plan to pick up the pieces moving beyond isolationism and at the same time strengthening our community with the knowledge and acceptance either way will accrue casualties in some form or another.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Lots of expert criticizers out in force, but very few realistic unique solutions if any at all. Most of you have the right idea by staying home, now just stay away from the keyboard and find something more constructive to do than constantly bashing the government and the people who are trying to keep us alive.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Yes, God forbid should un-predigested information enter your brain

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        • Anonymous says:

          I normally love me a good conspiracy theory – jfk is my all-time fav, but aliens at Area 51 are a close second – but most of these COVID-19 narratives are just lame, except for the one about the virus coming from the Chinese bio lab – that one has some legs. The local stuff here tends to be illogical or pitiful whining from malcontents and entitled people. So… you got anything on the Chinese bio lab leak you’d like to share?

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          • Anonymous says:

            I gotta tell ya, 9/11 takes the cake for all time low of government coverups
            That one was really horrible.

            • Anonymous says:

              Yeah, but I kind of put that one in the same category as Pearl Harbour – it was more gross incompetence of know-nothing bureaucrats who thought they knew a lot. Fahrenheit 9/11 did shed some interesting light on the Bush family’s connections with Arab leaders though.

              • Anonymous says:

                How about this, – it’s likely you think you came to all of these clever conclusions by your own free will, – there is however a very strong argument that you probably didn’t.

              • Anonymous says:

                Thank you. But the average American mind can’t comprehend this.

    • Anonymous says:

      The Caymanian people are prepared to shut our Island down for 18 months, and await vaccination, rather than lose our loved ones to the virus. It is not worth losing lives for money.

      We are not like other places. We actually stand a reasonable chance of ridding our shores of the virus. We would then be a unique sanctuary in the world, and then able to charge a high price of admission for those who want to come and are willing to submit to tight quarantine and testing controls.

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      • Anonymous says:

        “It’s not worth losing lives for money” but you’re happy to “charge a high price of admission” for “sanctuary”

        I don’t think I can type anything else without being rude, so I’ll stop here……

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      • Anonymous says:

        You do understand there are other causes of death? Many of those being related to not having sufficient funds and Cayman has no social net. Clearly we’ve been spoilt too much for too long. You wait till people get hungry.

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      • Anonymous says:

        While I disagree that we can wait 18 months I feel we may starve to death, I do agree their maybe a few with the money that would submit to the tight entry requirements and would pay to say there and sit this out. There is a BOT that allowed wealthy people to come and stay for this and they are even in some luxury hotel apartments. Yes there is no restaurants for sit down BUT there is takeaway from the restaurants.

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      • Anon says:

        11.53 Spoken like a true Caymanian. Our Leader would be proud of you.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Sorry, but the world is going to move on from this and so will we, we have no choice, you just don’t know it because at the moment, your refrigerator is still full.

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      • Anonymous says:

        The flu vaccine is only 60% effective. Since Covid-19 is closely related, any vaccine will likewise be only 60% effective.

        The government is losing millions every day in tax revenue from the reduced economic activity. Once the government is bankrupt, and starts firing people then the pressure to remove the lockdown will increase dramatically.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Another goverment worker who is still getting the nice fat paycheck!

      • Anonymous says:

        An injection for bacterial infection for serious cases is welcome, but unproven vaccines can be shoved where the sun don’t shine. You get the vaccine and let me die in peace. So bloody illogical.

    • Anonymous says:

      I didn’t fully read your epistle, but I congratulate you on the optimism shown in thinking that someone would.

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      • Anonymous says:

        this is for you 12:47 – a reflection through applied time genuinely respecting your comment, OP 😉


        $$$$
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        $ $$$ $$$$
        $$ $$$$$$ $$$$$$
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        $ $$$ $$$
        $$$$$$$$$$

        • Anonymous says:

          apologies 12:47, it didn’t work, was supposed a ‘text art’ thumbs up : (
          at least you know I care

    • Anonymous says:

      Or a vaccine could be discovered.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Why not OUT the people who have the virus! We can as the public isolate them much better than they can themselves! Better that the few are isolated by the many, than the many isolated by the few!

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    • Anonymous says:

      11.10 is campaigning for the position of Chief Complainer. I would say he has a very good chance.

  18. Anonymous says:

    Wendy, thank you for asking the hard questions!
    I’ve just heard about resilience.ky which is apparently chamber backed and sponsored by “private organisations”. Apparently it wil help people who are falling in teh cracks, and not eligible for NAU.
    Great initiative. However, i took a look at the Privacy Policy .. OMG.
    https://www.resilience.ky/privacy-policy
    ….
    What personal data does RESILIENCE CAYMAN collect?

    RESILIENCE CAYMAN collects various personal data about you which may include the following (this list is not exhaustive):

    name and address
    date of birth
    telephone number
    email address
    details of phone usage including numbers called and duration of calls
    general Internet traffic data related to your IP address
    details of your downloads using peer to peer file sharing software
    financial information such as credit card numbers or certain banking information
    information voluntarily provided to RESILIENCE CAYMAN by a data subject on a social media platform such as Facebook, Twitter or a chat application such as WhatsApp.

    Seriously??????

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    • Anonymous says:

      “…. details of phone usage including numbers called and duration of calls
      general Internet traffic data related to your IP address
      details of your downloads using peer to peer file sharing software …” ????!!!!!!

      For signing up for a 30 day vitamin C supply or for info on local produce???

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    • Anonymous says:

      i read the link, unlike many others and you slipped a few things in. Here is what it says. Please stop with the disinformation:

      What personal data does RESILIENCE CAYMAN collect?

      RESILIENCE CAYMAN collects various personal data about you which may include the following (this list is not exhaustive):

      name and address

      date of birth

      telephone number

      email address

      information voluntarily provided to RESILIENCE CAYMAN on a social media platform such as Facebook, Twitter or a chat application such as WhatsApp.

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      • Anonymous says:

        I did NOT “slip a few things in” .. I copy pasted directly from the privacy policy! And I made my concerns public.
        Which means that it has been amended after I wrote about it. WHICH WAS THE POINT!

        Wendy, thank you for this forum to bring such matters to light.

  19. Anonymous says:

    I don’t disagree with the Premier. That said, the real lunacy will be seen when the depression takes hold in a few months time.

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  20. Anonymous says:

    Or fix or replace a broken appliance.

    What if you have a broken fridge or freezer and need a new one ?

    What if you have a broken washing machine and can’t do laundry ?

    There are necessities in this day and age.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Those are essential services and you can call a repair man to get it fixed… ummmm….

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      • Anonymous says:

        And pay someone $150 I don’t have to do something I could do myself for $25? You found crack to smoke?!

  21. Anonymous says:

    Alden has lost the support of the majority. Time to step aside.

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    • Anonymous says:

      This regime should not have been accepted by the last Governor. The Unity coalition government was not a construct that any people voted for. Majority voted for non-CDP and non-PPM members last election. The PPM LOST their mandate at the polls, and CDP was almost completely eviscerated, returning only 3 of it’s signature district seats. Go to elections.ky to see the counts.

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      • Anonymous says:

        These comments questioning the legitimacy of the government are ridiculous. It’s been years already. Get a grip. And honestly to suggest that there are viable alternatives amongst the other MLAs is really a stretch.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Actually, us Caymanians and other retirees here, and anyone with elderly parents here, think he is doing exactly the right thing. The only thing potentially better than what he is doing would be a full 3 week lockdown, to next to guarantee we rid ourselves of the virus.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Right. Hide from the virus. Until it disappears. Lmao. Damn. What a solution.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Works for me, and the multiple generations of my family that live here.

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          • Anonymous says:

            Your forefathers had more backbone than you. Do you quarantine for a week when you see a mosquito?

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            • Anonymous says:

              No, and I am old enough to remember when cattle choked on them. I am also educated enough to know the difference between a novel Coronavirus with an R0 of 3 and a fatality rate of above 1%, and no effective treatments, and an irritating tiny insect that has no prospect of giving me malaria.

          • Anonymous says:

            Who are going to to pay for their food with what? Even the government will come to the point where it runs out of money. They stop paying the civil service and funding NAU and I bet your tune would change.

      • Anonymous says:

        Be prepared to never leave again. It’s not going away bobo.

    • Anonymous says:

      Accidentally thumbed down. so deduct a thumbs down.

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    • Anonymous says:

      ppm bots are back…..you noticed this cns??

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    • Anonymous says:

      What are all the other 15 MLAs doing?

  22. Anonymous says:

    I feel like the Premier could let a hardware store open one day a week, for at least a half day.

    They can take the same measures as the supermarkets are doing, to protect everyone.

    That way, if you have to buy plumbing, electrical, a.c. filters or maybe paint ( people have a lot of time on their hands, they might want to do some painting).

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    • Anonymous says:

      Could you imagine the number of people who would go in… CHAOS

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    • Jotnar says:

      To be fair, its additive risk. If you stand in line at Fosters and stand in line at ALT you are not only doubling your exposure, but because you are encountering a different group of people in each store you are exponentially increasing the risk – social distancing reduces but does not eliminate it – of virus transmission. And whilst you have to eat, you don’t have to do DIY – its a nice to have, not an essential.

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    • Anonymous says:

      How could hardware stores not be important? I find it hard to understand the reasoning. If plumbers can do emergency repairs where are they to get their supplies?

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      • Anonymous says:

        They really should have been designated essential from the onset. It would have been crazy busy initially but would have subsided like the grocery stores.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Absolutely!! Close the liquor stores and open the hardware stores and pet supply stores.

      Latest news from USA Today warns of alcohol raising risk of COVID-19.

      https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/04/16/coronavirus-alcohol-who-says-drinking-beer-wine-may-higher-risk/5143321002/

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      • Anonymous says:

        Can I give several thumbs up on this. It boggles my mind how we are constantly reminded during the press briefings that “we are a Christian Nation” but yet the decision to have liquor stores open every day remains “essential” but not a hardware. not everyone can afford to hire emergency plumbers etc. to come out to make our home repairs or simply can just do the repair themselves. Or possibly just be able to buy a gallon of paint and do some small DIY!

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    • Anonymous says:

      Three guesses which hardware store that would be.

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    • Anonymous says:

      The hardware store on Cayman Brac is open, along with a general store which really doesn’t sell any necessities that the grocery stores don’t.

  23. Anonymous says:

    Observation- In Canada and the US, (and likely most European countries), when Government mandated closures of businesses and most of the economy, they accepted the responsibility to support the people and businesses financially through various safety net programs. That is the missing piece here and an important one.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Alden and everyone in the civil service couldn’t give a shit because they continue to get paid. He thinks the private sector is the same. That they can just dip into their magic money bag. We’ll see if he is singing the same tune when the looting starts.

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    • Anonymous says:

      All they are doing is giving back the money the citizens have already paid in taxes in some cases up to 50% of income. You can’t have it both ways.

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  24. Anonymous says:

    Tye USA i supposed are heading toward lunacy. They have managed to CONTROL the virus like the rest of the world. Not good enough for this government, he have to eliminate it. Everything else be damned

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    • Anonymous says:

      The USA has managed to control the virus? News to me

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      • Anonymous says:

        The US is doing surprisingly well under the helm of Donald Trump.
        Very shocking results. Expected the country to be burning to the ground at this point. Maybe it’s still to come.
        Cayman on the other hand. Oh boy…no plan in place.

    • Anonymous says:

      Yes because they know they won’t be able to handle the outbreak if they don’t. THINK

    • Anonymous says:

      Wow. 137k deaths worldwide is considered controlling the virus. Wow.

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      • Anon says:

        9.49am out of 7.8 billion and 50 million deaths from the Spanish flu.

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      • Theresa says:

        And they only count those from tested individuals more than 2 times actually have virus and dying

      • M McLaughlin says:

        9:49 am continue buying into the hysteria! 157,000 persons died YESTERDAY globally of non Coronavirus causes! Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

    • Anonymous says:

      You think the USA or Europe has this under control?!? You can’t be serious.

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  25. Anonymous says:

    Relax folks, this will get much much worse. They are hell bent on havin their way and the economy or your welfare is not a conderation. They want a knotch on their belt of the great virtuous accomplishment of bein the only place in the world that has “eliminated” the virus, all else expedable including your livelihood.

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    • Anonymous says:

      8:21 ya hear ya self, there is no condemnation in welfare. Ewe

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    • Anon says:

      8.21 am As has been pointed out by many, no matter if everyone is out of work and below the breadline, our tin Gods and all their thousands of civil servants and govt related henchmen will NOT suffer, they have jobs and gold plated perks for life.
      As for Alden claiming he will eliminate the virus, we need the Minister of Health to say a prayer for him.

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  26. Who is John Galt? says:

    “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

    We have benevolently, and without resistance given CIG absolute powers in the name of urgency and fear.

    Why would they, without our resistance, give us back our freedom when it was so easily taken away in the first place?

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  27. Anonymous says:

    I wonder what the outside world would think of the sad way of life in our little dictatorship.
    An dose of common sense worth reading.

    https://theweek.com/articles/908468/why-cant-fishing-during-pandemic

    And the people of Michigan are not remaining quiet about their plight which is much like our own.

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  28. Anonymous says:

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-52303859

    Check out the above, stop complaining, especially about your frikkin pools, get off your backsides and do something useful!

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    • Anonymous says:

      How about you?

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    • Anon says:

      4.02pm It wont be long before we will all have to run around our gardens or condos as the next edict from our Leader will be no exercising outside our homes as the roads are becoming too “crowded”.

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    • Anonymous says:

      About the pools. Guys if you have a pool get some chemicals. Maintain it yourself for the time being. If you don’t know how to use google or youtube. If you have a pool it is assumed you have access to the internet.
      Just do it yourself as it would appear the pool man is not coming by for a long time.

      • Anonymous says:

        WHERE ARE THESE CHEMICALS? You lot keep telling us to do it ourselves…. well, we can’t get any. We can’t buy them to support the economy, we can’t ship them in, we can’t fart them out. Wtf do you suggest?

  29. Anonymous says:

    I suspect that the 1000 deaths mean nothing to the local business community and their lobby groups. Any impact to their businesses can be easily replaced with minimal impact on their bottom line.

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  30. Anonymous says:

    I say this with all sincerity, I am not a wealthy person and I have been out of work for over a month. I have no income, I have very little savings and I have a wife and two children under 10 who all depend on me financially. I need access to my pension funds to help me feed my family and pay my bills..Please Mr. Alden, make this a priority. I don’t want to be a burden on the country and go to NAU. I want to work and pay my bills and I need funds to bridge the gap until I get back to work…

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  31. Anonymous says:

    I think what Alden doesn’t understand is that unlike him most of us have not been paid in a month and we have mortgages, utility bills, school fees, groceries and the list goes on..You are collecting your $20K check every month and have a car and driver..

    We need our pension money now. I am sick and tired of hearing excuses everytime we ask about this? Please give an answer and a solid one on this tomorrow..Give us some hope Grim Reaper, we are hurting and hurting bad…

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    • Anonymous says:

      Agreed. The government should show solidarity similar to some other countries and elected politicians take a %cut in salary. I doubt it would hurt them much.

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  32. Anonymous says:

    Alden, what we want to know is if you have a plan or at least working on one..Have you met with any of the industry players as yet, ie Chamber of Commerce, Construction companies etc? You can wait until everything is dried up and people can’t wait any longer and pack up and leave or shut down because they are tired and bankrupt waiting to hear something..

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    • Anonymous says:

      Lol. It’s a strong no. He doesn’t want any expert advice so he keeps yes people and idiots aboard (see John John and Ju Ju).

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    • Anonymous says:

      This would make absolute sense. We need a plan on how we are to move forward

  33. Anonynous says:

    I take great exception to the way Alden threw out the 1,000 deaths comment. He knew the media would pick up on it and that it would be widely reported but it is completely misleading. 1. It is a worst case scenario. Whenever bureaucrats say this you know the figure is meant to frighten you. 2. He qualifies it as “when no interventions have been made”. It is important for the whole Cayman population to understand that the interventions made by this government have been a lot more restrictive than anything in the UK or USA and most countries in the EU. 3. The numbers simply don’t add up and he knows it. 1,000 deaths would be something like 1.5% of the total population of the Cayman Islands. As an example Italy which is one of the worst hit countries in the world has a Covid 19 death rate of approx. 0.035% of their population. Yes there is a 0 in front of that 3! It is that small. The USA has a current Covid death rate of approx. 0.008% of the population. I am not stating these numbers are good but it is important to put them into context.
    Alden stated this number deliberately to shock the public into thinking that there could be 1,000 deaths here when this is simply not true. And its so not true that you begin to wonder why the Premier would resort to these kinds of theatrics. This is classic fear based information dissemination. The only reason I can come up with is a justification of the current restrictive practices to prolong them further.
    Wake up Cayman. Your government is not telling you the whole truth but is selectively giving you the information they want you to hear to justify their past, current and future actions.

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    • Anonymous says:

      “The USA has a current Covid death rate of approx. 0.008% of the population. I am not stating these numbers are good but it is important to put them into context.”
      Oh come on! That is a ridiculous statistic. That’s like measuring the number killed in a hurricane in the first hour and forgetting the ones killed over the next 10 hours. The COVID-19 storm in the US probably hasn’t even reached it’s halfway point. Maybe it has for NYC, but hot spots are starting to pop up around the country. And, the other key point is that more than 90 percent of the US population is currently under “Stay at Home” orders. The death rate would be MUCH, MUCH, MUCH higher if that weren’t the case. Have you not watched/listened to the stories coming from frontline medical personnel around the world? Or heard the stories of the survivors and those who lost loved ones about the hell they’ve gone through with this? For God’s sake, man, this is real and not some global conspiracy to take away basic freedoms from people for now reason. Stop your petty whining and just stay home!

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      • Anonymous says:

        Im in the USA in FL and can tell you that in a lot of places we have many more stores and businesses open than there. We have a lot of industries that are in fact open. Yes Bars, restaurants non essential shops BUT we have hardwire, Food stores, take away stores, drug stores, mechanics, pool services, gardeners and lots more including lots of businesses that are sending supplies your way.
        Yes people have been out sick or say home only go to and from work ect.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Concur! I just picked up white pizza from Pizza Pub. Delicious! 🍕🍕
          My a/c maintenance technician is coming for the semi annual inspection.
          People walk, mostly in pairs, ride their bicycles and quietly sit on benches by ponds. Publix installed protective shields for cashiers and reorganized its traffic flow. Touch-less option is also available to pay for the purchased stuff.

      • Anonymous says:

        The point to you and to the other repliers is not that stay at home is the wrong policy. Up to now it has been an effective way to flatten the curve and to reduce the incidence of Covid 19 in the community. My point is simply this – we are now being misled by false and dramatic statements about 1,000 deaths in Cayman from the Premier himself. Everyone should be asking themselves why? What past, current or future policy would be assisted if people believed this false narrative?
        And it is a false narrative. The point about the death rates in other countries is not to be flippant to how serious it can be but to show the vast difference in actual numbers between the false narrative number of 1,000 dead in Cayman and the reality of what other countries have seen. Looking at it as a ratio of a total population allows you to compare different countries over time and is perfectly reasonable.
        The next steps that the country takes in the coming weeks are crucial to the overall damage done to our community over the long term. The Premier has made it clear his intention is to eradicate the virus which to many people is completely the wrong way to go as it will likely require another 2 to 3 months of lockdown to achieve his target of 14 days without a single case being reported. And at the end of it the virus would still be present in the world community. This is the debate we should all be having but right now the government is not listening, it is issuing orders only. It is time government engaged the community in this debate.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Italy gave up weeks ago, bodies piling up in american hospitals, Whatever the government ain’t telling us is probably for the better. This is a lot worse than reported, so put the conspiracy books down…

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    • Be the first to go says:

      Hey.

      Since your so eager to downplay someone dying of this virus I would like to suggest that you and your WHOLE entire family test the stats to ascertain the real numbers and stats.

      I implore you and yours to go to GTH and share the rooms with those patients who are there now with this virus.

      Undergo the above and stay for three weeks. Afterwards submit a research paper with your corrected findings.

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    • BeaumontZodecloun says:

      You speak as if either of those countries are finished with Covid. Everyone hopes Italy is passed or at least TO it’s peak of deaths; it is not known. The U.S. is likely not even close to its peak.

      A more significant figure is number of infected vs. deaths and recoveries. Without any mitigation whatsoever, the 1000 figure for the Cayman Islands could well be very low.

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  34. Anonymous says:

    i only want to here from the governor and dr lee. the rest of them are a waste of time.
    governor…i urge you to bring in top economic advisors from overseas asap…..this issue is beyond the grasp of no-plan-alden. he will destroy this economy beyond repair.

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  35. Anonymous says:

    another day of waffle from alden…..no-one is saying re-open the economy. no-one.
    but we need a plan and we need you to realise what is happening the people throughout the community…alot of whom are being layed off and have no income.
    no income!!!!!!…repeat that alden over and over until it gets through your skull.
    you will never get it as you and rest of the civil servie are on easy street for life….

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  36. Anonymous says:

    lunacy is to close beaches to families but keep liquour stores open
    lunacy is to let entire economy fall off a cliff with no plan to mitigate the effect
    lunacy is to not reform the civil service despite all reports making the recommendation
    lunacy is to keep disposing of garbage in landfill within a couple of miles of your best tourist attraction
    lunacy is try and build a port without the backing of the people
    lunacy is to ignore the actions of the speaker of the house
    lunacy is to appoint jon-jon as health minister and keep hime there for 4 years….despite being out of his depth from day 1
    and most of all…
    luncay is to let an italian cruise ship dock here that was already banned from other locations

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    • Anonymous says:

      Amen to that!

      Lunacy is to buy 200,000 Covid 19 tests, but have no personnel that meets the appropriate moderate or high complexity CLIA testing personnel qualification requirements.
      (CLIA: Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments)

      Obviously handling thousands of dead iguanas a day at the Dump is physically and practically possible, but testing 50 people a day is an arduous task.
      Remember the aim was 500-600 a day

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    • Anonymous says:

      lunacy is the fact that you can’t spell him

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  37. Anonymous says:

    Alden McTrump just wants to be the hero. His big opening back up speech is not far away.

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  38. Anonymous says:

    I have to say…I’ve often criticized Alden before on various issues. But I must say, I am impressed not only with how he is leading the country but also with how he is standing up to the pressures of the people who do not see the far-reaching implications of short-sighted desires. Mr. Premier, I do not agree with everything you say and do but it is in crises like these that real leaders show their mettle. Thank you sir for leading us in this crisis.

    – a proud gay Caymanian

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    • Anonymous says:

      proud that he is destorying peoples lives and families?? and has no plan for addressing the issue?

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      • Anonymous says:

        The plan 8.50 is to keep us all alive and healthy .

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        • Anonymous says:

          How healthy will people be when they can’t afford to keep their utilities on or to buy food or get medical care because they lost their job and their health insurance with it. We’re not saying open everything. We’re saying come up with a plan to address the financial disaster many people are facing before the social unrest begins. When the mass looting of the grocery stores starts everyone will suffer. Not just the unemployed. Do you really think the police will prevent that or stop it when it starts. They can’t even manage people drinking beer on the beach.

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        • Anonymous says:

          How healthy will people be when they can’t afford food, medication, doctors visits because they lost their jobs and their health insurance with it. We’re not saying to just open everything back up. We’re saying come up with a damn plan to address the financial disaster that many families are facing.

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    • Anonymous says:

      I’m wondering why this port issue even still exists now that we’ve seen the true nature of those environmental and public health disaster ships. And unna gays still haven’t got your legislation yet for your union or marriage? Smh.

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    • Anonymous says:

      So you think a leader is supposed to “stand up to the pressures of the people”. Do you understand democracy at all?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Oh no a gay Caymanian – quick get Julie & Jon-Jon on to it!

    • Anonymous says:

      Well, pride before the fall, as they say.

  39. Anonymous says:

    Notwithstanding the title of this article, based on comments on other articles on CNS, sentiment seems to me to be shifting slightly in the last week or so toward the idea that it might be a good idea to start thinking more seriously about a plan to gradually open up the economy. I absolutely don’t expect the government to blaze the trails here but as the rest of the world starts to go back to work in May I think the government’s current position will soon become harder for them to defend.

    I realise there is risk in partially opening the economy. Of course there is. And everyone will be able to point to some countries that have relaxed too much, and others will point to countries that never had a lockdown and were successful etc. I think the point is that with inconsistent data, testing methods and questionable disclosure in many places, everyone can find examples to fit their own narratives. But we have to look at what works for us here. Ultimately, if there are very few people in the hospital here, then that’s a fantastic result and it and it means we are doing a great job. It’s apparent now that 1000 deaths wasn’t a realistic estimate. But had we not taken these steps, could 50 or 100 people have died? Possibly, and in that case of course saving those lives is worth these sacrifices.

    But we can’t hide in our houses for months longer because when we emerge, many people will have no jobs to return to. There has been some damage that is already irreversible, but there are many more jobs that can still be saved. So we are going to have to take some risks in an imperfect situation with imperfect data.

    Let me make it clear that I believe, based on the initial information, the government thus far has absolutely made sound decisions based on the data and the recommendations of UK and local experts. But as more and more data becomes available it is slowly becoming apparent that the actual death rate from the novel Coronavirus is likely to fall far below the initial estimated death rate of ~3% and end up somewhere closer to .1% – .4%. Those figures are no longer restricted to the fringes but are starting to permeate their way into mainstream media. Indeed I have seen articles in the last few days both from left and right-wing media sources starting to acknowledge that there are many, many more cases out there than initially realised.

    This puts this virus closer to “bad flu” territory than many people initially thought. This is not to say that this virus is “just the flu” or that it only impacts old people or that its effects on many otherwise healthy people, young and old alike, are not sometimes deadly, which is heartbreaking and tragic. But if decisions are going to be made that restrict people’s freedoms and their livelihoods, it is only fair to say that these decisions should be made with the best possible information and most recent data. My personal view is that once we start testing more broadly, cases will turn up. Hopefully the people testing positive can be isolated, contacts traced, and those people who test positive can also be isolated. The problem is that even if this is done effectively, eradication of the virus is absolutely impossible. A test is only a snapshot in time and there will be contacts of positive people tested who appear negative who may later end up positive. There will always be a few cases that slip through the cracks.

    So the virus is here to stay. Hopefully in a relatively controlled manner that, as now, results in few hospitalisations and very very few deaths. So what now?

    This isn’t another “the government has no plan” post. I think they do have a plan, it’s just no longer the right one. I think the following should happen from the 1st of May:

    1. Pool men – Congratulations. You have been freed to save us from green pools and Dengue fever. Working alone, you may go forth and chlorinate.

    2. Retail – If the social distancing rules work for the super market and liquor store then they work for every other store. Open them up with the same rules that apply to the supermarkets now. There is no good reason not to do this.

    3. Restaurants and bars – too risky right now. They should remain as takeout and delivery only while we see how the rest of these changes go. At some point they will be able to open again perhaps with spaced-out seating. We have few enough restaurants and enough civil-service person-power that the government can make reopening contingent on a government approved seating plan.

    4. Construction, service people, trades – these activities can resume. People should be wearing masks and keeping their distance as much as possible.

    5. Churches and places of worship. Must remain closed a little longer. I realise this isn’t going to be popular, but people crammed into a church is a nightmare for transmission. And, as the Minister of Education pointed out in her prayer today, despite the devil’s plan to close the churches, a thousand churches have popped up in people’s homes. Indeed. Let those home churches remain open until it’s a little safer for the main branches.

    6. Exercise and group gatherings generally – no more than ten people and you should stay six feet apart where possible. You want to get out and play tennis or five-on-five on a soccer pitch – go for it.

    7. Beaches – open for groups of two max. The police can patrol this with the helicopter and ATVs. It shouldn’t be that difficult to police.

    8. Schools – closed for the rest of the school year. There is almost no point considering whether this is logical or not. There is nothing in it for government to try and rush this. It may be that 99.9% of the kids will be absolutely fine but one kid on a ventilator splashed all over the headlines is all it will take for this to look like a terrible decision. Absolutely not worth the risk.

    9. Airport – we’re not there yet. June 1 would be great, but this will depend far more on what other countries are doing than what we want.

    10. Evening curfew – torn on whether we keep this for now. Maybe for the first couple weeks or month of this new system. Maybe move the curfew a little later, to say, 8pm The nice thing about the curfew is that it discourages large gatherings in homes and makes it easier for police to keep an eye on crime from the usual suspects or any newly unemployed person looking for a new career as a burglar.

    I am open to changing my mind and interested to hear other people’s viewpoints about any of these suggestions and constructive criticism about why you think this approach is right or wrong, generally or specifically. Stay safe.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Well said

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    • Anonymous says:

      Id seriously question why people are not allowed exercise on a Sunday. If the beaches are such a problem then allow 15-20 minutes for a swim.

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      • Anonymous says:

        You are probably a person that never seen a beach until you came here, so if thats true you lived without the beach before

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    • Anonymous says:

      great stuff. it would be lunacy to ignore these valid points….which no-plan-alden will do.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Agree with most of what you say except for keeping schools closed and airports reopened. Keep borders closed till July or August or until major gateways sort out their virus transmission rates. Kids need to return to some normalcy and they have very low risk.

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    • Caynonomouse says:

      So, let’s say for instance you work in construction then. Safety measures are sure to break down very quickly without extra measures in place and a different way of working and living. Besides, new expelled air particle research recently undertaken suggests anyone 65’ downwind of an affected person will be at risk. What, is everyone on site going to wear N95 masks, don’t think so. Most on job sites don’t wear masks even when the job mandates it.

      The only way I see construction happening soon is if all workers and contractors for a job are virus free, kept in temporary on-site housing away from friends & family till they are no longer required on the job. Food will need to be brought into the site compound or cooked on site for the duration on the job.

      This is how they do big construction jobs in the China “outback” and not so recently there were established man camps full of Indian nationals building the first phase of Camana Bay. These guys were living essentially under the same conditions.

      So my question to you in the construction industry is, do you feel lucky? The economy can start but it’s going to be operating very differently to cut transmission to a bare minimum. Sort of like how 9/11 changed air travel, but with impacts on the broader scope of daily life.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Perfect.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Viruses aren’t the devil. It’s ability to transmit is a demonstration of tural selection at work.

      I asked my pastor to explain dinosaur fossils, and he copped out to say they were put there by Satan to make evolution lead humans astray from creationism.

      Please don’t be this dense to ignore emperical facts over superstition.

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      • Anonymous says:

        The fact that you have a pastor says something…

      • Anonymous says:

        I think almost all sensible people understand this. That reference was a nod to the fact that many people here, including many voters and the primary decision makers (i.e. the Cabinet) actually do believe in these superstitions and will care more about whether churches can open than any of the economic concerns we are discussing here.

    • Anonymous says:

      You make some good points and some I have to constructivly disagree with. Here are my counter arguments (which I hope you feel I have put across in a polite and constructive way).

      The first issue I have is number 1 in relation to pools. As a young Caymanian who has lived through hurricane ivan and who had a pool that was black with debris and algae for 3 months after I don’t see the logic of them being labelled “essential”. During this time there was no significant increase in the mosquito population and there were no deaths linked to water borne illness. If people keep there pool pumps running (a luxury we didn’t have after ivan due to power cuts) mosquitoes physically cannot breed successfully. They need stagnant water that in un-chlorinated. If people use chlorine if they have it and keep the water flowing in the pools there will be no risk to peoples health. You may get a bit of green algae but it will not be the health risk people are claiming it to be.

      Another thing that I feel we cannot risk is group gatherings of more than 2 individuals. The more people who interact with each other the more this will spread. 5+ is definitely too risky. These people will go to the supermarket, bank etc and all have a chance of contracting and acting as a vector for the virus. Keep exercise and other activities limited to households and no more than 2 people at a time. I miss my friends more than I can put into words but i have not seen any of them since the outbreak. It is not easy but thanks to video calls it is bearable. We can never be sure that our friends and family don’t have underlying health issues that they are unaware of. If they do and we accidentally pass it on to them and visa versa we could end up killing the ones we love most. That would be heartbreaking.

      Im afraid construction sites are also too risky atm. There are often hundred of people working on some construction sites and even with protective gear (which the WHO and our government are still unsure about – in regards to how effective they are). Another thought is what do we need new buildings for at the moment!? When this is over there will likely be a drop in demand for new housing as many people will likely leave if they can. Particularly those in the service industry which will likely be negatively affected for awhile from the drop in tourism and the global market. this reduction in our population will likely result in allot more variety of places available for rent and to buy. This may lead to a drop in demand for accommodation.

      Again these are just my view points. I am not a doctor. I am studying for a BSc in zoology so I am confident on my pool argument. The sooner we can reduce the spread of COVID19 the sooner allot of your other suggestions could be put into effect. We just need people to listen to the government as for once they are doing an amazing job of managing Cayman and this serious situation. A job that cannot be easy and that i would not wish to do in a million years!

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      • Anonymous says:

        Thanks for this thoughtful reply. I take your point about allowing gatherings of more than two people. It may be that this would be a better option to start with before relaxing it to more people assuming things stay reasonably well controlled.

        Regarding pools I agree that they might not be “essential” and that the danger of untreated pools may be overstated but I think the bigger point here is that people are at home and would like to use their pools, and the risk of transmission from a pool person working outside alone is negligible. Allowing pool companies to work benefits the economy. I think the point is trying to look at how we can allow activities which are not inherently risky, not how to block them because they are not vital to survival. Liquor stores were never vital but we allow them without question. Why is that different? That said this also becomes less of an issue if you allow people to buy their own chemicals to maintain their pools.

        Construction is trickier and it may be that there is no major harm in letting some projects sit idle alonger. But as to whether or not those buildings will be needed, I think the bigger issue is the negative falllout and bankruptcies that will result if these projects are abandoned or allowed to fail. Most of the residential units being built are already sold so it doesn’t make sense to stop constructing them. I am sure there will be a temporary slowdown in the housing market but it will come back. Just like it did after Ivan and the 2008 recession. It might take a few years but it will be back.

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        • Anonymous says:

          11:40 I can see why many people think alcohol shops are unnecessarily being opened. One of my good friends has a mum who is a GP and she told me that the reason they cant risk shutting them down is there would be an increase in people with alcohol problems needing medical attention due to withdrawal symptoms. This is a common problem in the UK and one that diverts allot of medical attention which we cant really afford to have atm. You would also get health issues popping up with people who consumed homemade alcohol (moonshine) which can be very dangerous. I think that alcohol should be delivery only which i know both black beards and Jacques Scott offer. At the end of the day though i could do without it.

      • Anonymous says:

        The issue with the pools is that without supplies you can’t keep the pump running or the water clean
        The local pool supply stores are smaller than liquor stores with less visitors or could run home delivery

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        • Anonymous says:

          My pool service is coming regularly. They just come in a car instead of a truck.

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          • Anonymous says:

            We’ve called all around and can’t get anything for our pool. Cig holding all shipments hostage as he is the economy.

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          • Anonymous says:

            I sincerely hope that you get arrested for this. You are either a Troll or an entitled POS.

      • Anon says:

        9.36pm There is no risk of pool maintenance spreading the virus as there is no contact with the public. Perhaps the pool owners should save on electricity as there is no benefit to them to run them 24 hours a day. The reason they will become a source of breeding millions of mosquitos is the Premier’s ego in decreeing they should become stagnant foul smelling swamp water while at the same time encouraging alcoholics.The only similarity with Ivan is that both of these situations have been created by an act of a God.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Parents can’t be productive members of society without some child care. All those workers cannot return to work if there is no day care or school

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      • Anonymous says:

        This is a fair point. I am going to assume that even when businesses are permitted to reopen many people who are able will continue to work at home for the next several months, so hopefully at least some families will have someone at home to watch children. People will have to figure out some child care arrangements with friends, relatives etc. Agree that this a challenge but I doubt that the government will risk opening schools. They will happily do nothing about a giant toxic mountain of garbage next to a school for decades but that doesn’t make the same headlines. Unless it’s on fire. But that’s ancient history now.

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        • Anonymous says:

          And this totally defeats the purpose of keeping schools closed as kids are still being grouped and together.

          • Anonymous says:

            That’s because there are so many lazy parents around who can’t bother to watch their own children or be with them. If you don’t want to around them, why did you have them??? I know many like someone else to raise them, so they got screwed here, but think before you reproduce.

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        • Anonymous says:

          If you place kids with friends or relatives, or not live in nannies, wouldn’t that exponentially increase the risk? That means isolation and social distancing would not be abided by anymore. You’re not being productive when you’re Working from home while taking care of a small child.

          • Anonymous says:

            No – it’s not entirely the same. One sick kid can infect the particular family he or she is with. That same kid in a school infects 15 or 20 kids in his or her class – which is the exponential increase.

            Agree it’s hard to work with kids, especially small children in the house, but we have to make do. People with means to do so get nannies, other people rely on help from family.

            Just out of curiosity, what do you do with your small children in the summer when there is no school? Daycare?

            • Anonymous says:

              My kids are too little for school. Day care runs year round. I usually have a nanny but I don’t have space for her to live in so now I’m “working” from home as best I can because I have no access to my wonderful nanny. There is no question that I would not be able to work productively if this no nanny situation continues. I’m crumbling already.

              • Anonymous says:

                My kids are now old enough for school but I remember the first 3 years well. Actually that’s not true, I don’t remember the details as I blocked out most of them from the trauma!

                It’s tiring enough to take care of multiple toddlers never mind trying to work at the same time. You have my sympathies.

    • Anonymous says:

      Most of your remedies are based on people behaving perfectly and us knowing the evolution of the virus, both of which are not possible – but I did enjoy reading it and clearly saw your optimism in the post. We have started to learn what community really means and I think the best thing we can do is be as careful as we can because let’s face it the choice between health and finance is an easy one. I’m not sure about you, but I would rather be alive and broke instead of being on a ventilator with money in my pocket.

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      • Anonymous says:

        The choice between health and finance is an easy one? Perhaps superficially but go live in Haiti with no money and get back to us about how easy it is to stay alive and healthy… after cv19 healthcare will still cost money!

        • Anonymous says:

          So you would rather be dying with money instead of alive and broke? Maybe great for a nihilist…

    • Anonymous says:

      Eminently sensible, also need 11. targeted gov’t measures and services to protect the most vulnerable persons

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    • Anonymous says:

      The scientific consensus is that the greatest weapon against Covid is social distancing; the effect of almost every other measure is small in comparison. Government should be trying to give the people and the economy the greatest possible freedoms without increasing the risks of local propagation unreasonably.

      The difficult question is what loosing of current restrictions might cause an unacceptable increase in propagation risks? To take a simple example, is the current total ban on any water sport activity necessary or reasonable? Some water based activities, such as kayaking, paddle boarding and snorkeling are intrinsically solitary sports and with social distancing in force, must create little or no additional risk to society.

      On the other hand, large motor vessels lend themselves to partying (such as an average Sunday at Rum Point, pre Covid) , are difficult to police and enforce distancing. My conclusion is that government should allow non-motorized water sports, but continue to ban motorized ones.

      As regards non-food shops, would allowing, say, ALThompson to deliver hardware and supplies raise unacceptably increased propagation risks? The benefits would be huge and enable housebound residents to maintain and improve their properties. In my opinion the risk reward of allowing such deliveries is clearly in favour of opening up these services. Government may disagree, but there should be a reasoned discussion why Jacques Scott can deliver, but hardware stores cannot, since the risks are essentially identical.

      Any business activity which does not involve frequent or close customer contact is a good candidate for opening. These could include the much maligned pool services, landscape gardeners and iguana killers (or else the $5million spent on culling iguanas will be wasted). Everybody will have their own ideas, but once again there should be a logical discussion of the risk/reward ratio of opening them up. It is not sufficient to say that pool servicing is not an essential service. To continue to ban it, government needs to show why the very small increased propagation risks of the service outweigh the obvious benefits of having clean pools and getting some of the workforce back in action.

      I will not continue to analyze all business sectors, but surely it is sensible if Government did so and produced a policy which balanced increased Covid risks against increased productivity, getting workers back in their jobs and keeping the economy ticking over. Relaxing current restrictions affect everybody and require advance notice so that businesses can prepare to reopen. Government need to be open about their plans for reopening and take into account the benefits to the economy in comparison to the increased risks to society of additional Covid cases.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Very sensible!!

      • Anonymous says:

        Absolutely. Clearly some services like pools and iguana culling represent a miniscule transmission risk compared to say shopping for alcohol. The more of the economy that is kept ticking over without raising the virus risk the better for everyone.

    • Anonymous says:

      Agree 100% social distancing is here to stay and its common sense
      Schools may as well stay closed till Aug or Sept
      International travel would invite trouble so see how other places fair
      Locally we have to fire things back up slowly
      Curfew and ban on large gatherings still makes sense in the short term

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    • Anonymous says:

      You forgot about health services, other than COVID19!

      Every other health issue people experience is put on hold. 60 positive people, many of whom have recovered, don’t justify thousands being prevented from receiving appropriate health care. There are no deaths in Cayman either. The unfortunate Italian gentleman had cardiac emergency first, and cause of death is most certainly complications of that.

      Alaska: Certain healthcare providers to open as soon as April 20, coronavirus case count rises to 293.

    • Anonymous says:

      4. Construction- obviously you have no idea what you’re talking about

      – Please explain how to assemble scaffold while standing six feet away from your fellow workers

      – Please explain how to secure the base of a ladder while another person is using it from six feet away

      – Please explain how to hold a sheet of drywall against a wall while another person screws it on from six feet away

      – Please explain how to frame a wall or block a wall while the workers are all 6 feet away from each other.

      – Please explain how to work above a different trade while they are doing a completely different task below you. Buildings are three dimensional. Gravity makes droplets go down.

      – Please explain how to interpret construction plans and delegate specific works from six feet away.

      EVERYTHING IN CONSTRUCTION REQUIRES MULTIPLE PEOPLE WORKING IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO EACH OTHER. IF CONSTRUCTION SITES OPEN, PEOPLE WILL DIE.

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    • Anonymous says:

      CNS: this post nails it, please put some of these points to Alden. Why are all other countries talking of how to gradually return to normal and we seem to have the only government that won’t even consider it.

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    • Anonymous says:

      I’m actually on board with MOST if your suggestions, but the problem is as we’ve seen from past experience SO MANY IGNORE and ruin it for the rest of us.

    • Anonymous says:

      “6. Exercise and group gatherings generally – no more than ten people and you should stay six feet apart where possible. You want to get out and play tennis or five-on-five on a soccer pitch – go for it”

      Disagree on this one. Staying six feet apart when playing soccer? Not happening. For non-contact sports it could work though.

    • Anonymous says:

      There is a plan!

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  40. Anonymous says:

    Lunacy is appealing the lost port referendum.

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  41. Anonymous says:

    You’re not “opening up the economy” by letting us get stuff to fix up and maintain our homes from some shops. Lunacy is keeping people stuck inside and not being able to access most items.

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  42. Anonymous says:

    Bankrupt by Bureaucrats!

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  43. Anonymous says:

    What part of the constitution allows government to shut down the country?

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  44. Anonymous says:

    Police State

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  45. Anonymous says:

    OMG….The minister for Health Jon Jon compared himself to Henry Ford and the Ford Car Company founder this is just disgusting Jon Jon you cant walk in that man’s shoes you need to go back to school and learn the basics of Education, ‘What a disgrace you are to us the Caymanian People”

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    • Anonymous says:

      Did anyone notice how he crowed down education but praised the medical professionals. I wonder if he realized that they are educated.? I guess due to the “positive feedback” he is getting from educated/ past educators and others thought to be brilliant, on his ineptitude he has fully embraced the notion that being educated is now unnecessary. I know Covid-19 is horrible but I had no idea it caused rational smart intellectuals to go bonkers.

    • Anonymous says:

      Jon Jon is more like the Edsel – a flop and discontinued!

  46. Anonymous says:

    Can we have our pensions already? Seriously, what are you waiting for.. You can snap your fingers and close beaches but you need to wait and read the reports. Bullocks, your trying to keep insurers in business off our backs.

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    • Anonymous says:

      I agree giving access to pensions is the most reasonable thing to do at this point, both for government and the people. I’m surprised they have taken this long.

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      • Anonymous says:

        They have to at least pretend to follow procedure…because the Pensions Law would need to be changed by the LA, which has no acting Speaker, or Deputy Speaker, and whose business cannot stand scrutiny if irregularly convened and voted….for starters. There’s also other necessary steps that shouldn’t be fast-tracked if a Law is being revisited. You have to look at the whole law, the double-dipping and so on, and I don’t think the LA members, the Speaker, or their friends want these feather-nesting loopholes closed forever.

      • Anon says:

        9.59pm Except our thousands of civil servants and govt acolytes.Explain why Govt need it.

  47. Anonymous says:

    Alden what are you doing for people who are retired and their pension is now rock bottom-

    What about us- you gave money to the taxi drivers why haven’t you included us we are the people who helped build this Island- Taxi drivers did not have to go cap in hand to NAU
    so please do not tell us we have to go begging to NAU

    We need help- We have nothing left in our pensions

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    • Anonymous says:

      The markets are down 20% but if you are on a pension you are either getting the monthly withdrawal amount mandated by govt ( not sure but $1200 comes to mind) in your private scheme, or you were lucky enough to work for a company/Gov where it was a fixed % of your final salary.
      Please explain why your pension is impacted. Thanks.

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      • Anonymous says:

        If I have to depend on my pension, then I have failed. Fortunately this is not the case. I have worked my ass off for years and now expect some greedy, money market people to have my best interests at heart.
        The Cayman Islands Pension Funds are unable to cover the liabilities. Why do you think they keep moving the goalposts?
        Please, stop crying and do something about it.

  48. Anonymous says:

    I’ve heard this rhetoric before. Another one who knows exactly what going to happen but never saw a thing coming.

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  49. Anonymous says:

    Sweden

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    • Anonymous says:

      Our beach situation last week proved we aren’t anywhere close to Swedish education, collective mentality, or self-restraint. FFS, there are still pinheads commenting on here that they demand a date on when this will be over…

  50. Anonymous says:

    I understand the rationale but I’m also wondering why more stores can’t get the permission to open delivery or curb side pick up like alt, books and books etc. It would provide at least a bit of stimulus to the economy and not increase the risk? When they allowed Buy Smart to open their doors, i lost all faith in the logic they use to determine what is essential

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