Brackers cleared to go fishing

| 07/05/2020 | 71 Comments
Cayman News Service
Sister Islands MLAs, Education Minister Juliana O’Connor-Connolly and Deputy Premier Moses Kirkconnell at Thursday’s press briefing

(CNS): Cayman Brac residents can look forward to an easing of curfew restrictions on Friday, after Premier Alden McLaughlin confirmed that the shelter-in-place order for that island was moving to level three, which means Brackers can go fishing again. With almost a third of the population on the Brac having been tested for COVID-19 and no cases of community transfer, the restrictions have been eased, allowing people to go back into the water.

Life for residents on the Sister Islands, while certainly not back to normal, will be a lot different to life on Grand Cayman. People living on the Brac will now be free to move around the island, go to the beach or the supermarket on any day, and many businesses will re-open during soft curfew hours. There will still be an evening curfew but the hard lockdown on Sundays will be lifted.

The results so far for the Brac coronavirus testing programme, which is still underway, show no trace of the virus. There has been only one reported case on the island, which was well over one month ago, in a patient with a travel history, and no one else has reported COVID-19 symptoms to the health services there.

Consequently, new regulations were drawn up by Cabinet and gazetted Thursday, paving the way for many of the COVID-19 related restrictions to be lifted for the Brac, provided social distancing is maintained.

This means that outdoor, but not indoor, restaurants will be able to open. However, the premier warned that until the number of negative tests on the island grows to 50% of the population, the bars will remain closed. The regulations also allow up to 25 people to gather, which means church and service clubs will be able to meet again, though people will be required to wear masks indoors. Meanwhile, care homes will remain closed to visitors given the vulnerability of the elderly to this virus.

While the risk from the virus is much less for Cayman Brac, with cargo as well as emergency and essential personnel still arriving, the threat is not completely eliminated. Anyone wanting to travel to the Brac from Grand Cayman will be required to quarantine for 14 days and pass two negative tests before being permitted to go straight to the airport.

“We’ve released Little Cayman from bondage and we’ve eased up Cayman Brac in a great way,” the premier said after announcing the changes at the daily briefing on Thursday.

He said government was moving forward with the re-opening of the community and indicated that Grand Cayman would also be able “in relatively short order, results permitting, to move to the next stage”, which would include garages opening among other services.

McLaughlin said government was working on producing a public document that would outline the phased re-opening plan. “We are doing many many things all at once but there is only so much ‘bandwidth’,” he said.

The premier stated that the work required to create the bespoke regulations to first open up Little Cayman, which is now at level two, and Cayman Brac, which has move to level three, had taken up a considerable amount of time. “But work is underway,” he said, referring to making public a broader phased opening plan for Grand Cayman.

See the new Cayman Brac Curfew regulations in the CNS Library

See Thursday’s full press briefing on CIGTV below:


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Category: Health, Local News, Medical Health

Comments (71)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Free men dont need permission to be free.

  2. Anonymous says:

    probably a lot less drugs washing up on shore now the boys can go “fishing” to “feed” their “families”

  3. Anon says:

    I sure would not want to be a fish in Cayman Brac waters this weekend, soon caught, soon gone.

  4. Anonymous says:

    I am so jelly!! Y’all have fun!!!

  5. Anonymous says:

    CNS – its fishning not fishing

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  6. Anonymous says:

    Bahahaha did anyone catch the part on Staycations as a bridge to September or whenever this government decides to open. Only a small handful of people are going back
    to spend money in the largest downturn since Hurricane Ivan. People don’t spend money in recessions. Absolutely laughable. We are also not going to need Staycations because we will not be contending for beach space with anyone.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Who they planning to have operate the hotels for these mystical Staycations?

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      • Anonymous says:

        at 7:39 am, the same people who will run the airline that will take you and your cohorts who have complained endlessly about Alden opening up the borders. that’s sarcasm, in case you missed it.

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      • Anonymous says:

        I doubt hotels will need a full complement of staff during this health crisis. They just need to pay their fixed costs and keep the lights on somehow. There is a labour pool of keen young, over-qualified Caymanian college teens that would normally travel or summer elsewhere that are marooned here for the crisis. They can probably be trained up pretty fast…well, the ones that get up before noon at least.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Do you really need to go to a hotel for staycation? Lots of places to visit , beach, caves go exploring etc etc etc… go home cook up a fantastic meal,,, bbq. et al. Spend time with your family. etc etc
        Stay in your yard – have fun. God help us.

  7. Peter Milburn says:

    I am still hoping that the older folks will be allowed to go to the beach to swim and enjoy the benefits of salt water and hot sun.We deserve that at least

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    • Anonymous says:

      The old and vulnerable to the disease should continue to social distance and isolate so the young can get back to work and the children to school. More selfish Boomers and their parents always thinking about themselves.

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      • Anonymous says:

        At 7:48 am: you mean “selfish millenniums”—must have gotten your generations mixed up.

        You do realise that Boomers are the offspring of those who went through the privations of World War II? They and their parents are the ones who built the Cayman Islands, sacrificing all the way.

        My father, a seaman, died in 1949 at age 38 because he took his responsibility of the well-being of his family so seriously that he lost his life by returning to sea even though he was not well.

        I grew up seeing my mother work day and night, struggling for survival of her family of six children with no family support.

        You have no idea of sacrifice and unselfish devotion to family and community.

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  8. Anonymous says:

    When will they allow us to fish here in Cayman, isn’t better to go fishing with a family member you live with rather than being in Fosters getting Covid 19 ALDEN??

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  9. Anonymous says:

    They are alive. Good to know that both of them are spending some quality time in the districts which they represent.

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  10. Anonymous says:

    Well MOH didn’t waste any time getting his fish order in for himself from the Brac!

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  11. Anonymous says:

    They are now moving to the next phase of keeping Cayman isolated from the world until a vaccine in introduced in mid 2021. The most telling time in today’s presentations was when Reshma asked Moses to detail the impact on Cayman with the hit to tourism. He refused to provide details. They know it will impact many thousands of jobs both in the cruise and stay over sectors. We are talking tens of millions of $$ every month and they just don’t want to provide these details because they know it will severely undercut their argument of keeping us isolated for any longer than is really needed.
    Their thinking that Cayman will survive on staycation tourism is literally insane. If the local economy is losing thousands of jobs lots of people aren’t going to start spending big $$ on a staycation for months on end.
    The one thing no one is talking about is how long foreign investors in real estate will put up with Cayman being closed off when they are earning no income from their properties or able to stay in them because Cayman is closed off. Not only will we see a 100% reduction in tourism but we will also see a crash in the local real estate market because they are determined to keep us isolated until a vaccine is made available.
    This is like watching a train wreck happening in slow motion! It will take at least 5 years and maybe 10 for Cayman to get back to where we were a few months ago. The government started strong on suppression but is now running scarred of making any difficult decisions.

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    • Anonymous says:

      @9.51 The retail market is a bloated monster anyway. Ludicrous prices for not very much in a lot of cases. All because it is the Cayman Islands. It’s what stops a lot of young Caymanians and expats buying property. Couple with downright daft stamp duty fees.

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      • Anonymous says:

        @8:59 Agree with you that the Cayman market is overpriced and that a correction is overdue. My main concern is that there will be a much bigger correction because the government will keep us isolated for much longer than is really needed. That’s not good for anyone in the short, medium or long term. You may be able to pick up a lower priced home but if you have no job you cant pay for it!

        • Anonymous says:

          And you’re basing this off your expertise in which field? Methinks if you actually had the expertise you’d be busy in a position to affect chance as opposed to whining on cns. Just saying. All these armchair comment experts, I can’t help but wonder why you feel your time and energy is best spent complaining anonymously.

  12. Anonymous says:

    As if our rights come from the government and are not inherent

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  13. Anonymous says:

    Most people who live on the brac like to social distance anyway, It is the reason we live here !!
    Thank you CI governments for easing our restrictions by letting us fish and swim. It does not take a lot to make us happy but you did it today !!

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  14. Anonymous says:

    Let the evidence show that based on the floor tile, there is approximately 1.75ft between the two non-mask wearing Ministers

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    • Anonymous says:

      It is amazing how they flout the laws. There is a sign in the GAB to wear a mask when walking around in the building. Most of the Ministers believe that this does not apply to them. Do what we say not what we do.

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  15. Anonymous says:

    I wish they would have sat 6 ft apart… Sigh

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  16. Anonymous says:

    Tell us Alden, how have the Lesser Islands “waters” been demarcated? Oh, they haven’t, never mind.

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  17. Anonymous says:

    As always, the Brac, which contributes zero to our economy, gets wayyyy more attention than it deserves…two MLAs and huge transfer payments into its economy just to keep its “hard working over stressed” civil servants employed.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Yep, you should move here

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    • Anon says:

      7.42pm By civil servants you mean just about all employees in the Brac, of course.

    • Anonymous says:

      You and all the people that like this comment are just disgusting self centered ignorant people. We are part of the Cayman Islands just as much as any other district, West Bay to East End! Why treat us like we have no worth to the Great GRAND CAYMAN ISLANDS! Thanks for showing love to your fellow CAYMANIANS! If you are even Caymanian.

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  18. Anonymous says:

    Would appreciate it if someone could ask when (or what the trigger is going to be for) the restrictions to be eased on Grand Cayman. Looks like they have spent a ton of time and effort, including dedicating scarce testing resources, to free up 2000 people on the Sister Islands while leaving 62,000 on Grand Cayman in purgatory. Huzzah! At least Moses and JuJu are happy!

    Sounds like they are going to expend even more resources to test even more people on the Brac (To get to stage 2 I assume) even though they can now go fishnin. Guess they need to open the bars there before anything advances on Grand Cayman.

    I am sure people on Grand Cayman hate their independence being impacted as much as those on the Brac which is probably why the COP is seeing issues with curfew enforcement.

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    • Anon says:

      Brackers have had one case. The fact that it was contained was the proof they needed that we as a community have abided by the rules and acted responsibly.
      You should all be grateful that we will now be the guinea pigs to see what could happen when the restrictions are relaxed !
      Cases keep popping up there and I bet you are not made to wait 6 weeks after your last case like we have !
      Be patient …. soon come

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  19. Anonymous says:

    Straight up discrimination against Grand Caymanians. 2 per boat but 25 per indoor church? #noplan

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    • Anonymous01 says:

      How is this discrimination? Cayman Brac had one (1) positive case and it was contained. There was no community spread.

      Meanwhile, Grand Cayman has how much active cases? OUR Government is trying to help us save lives, not threaten them. If persons in Grand Cayman had listened and followed the rules being enforced, I’m sure restrictions would have been lifted.

      Seriously, this is no time for this crap. Why should an island with no active cases sit there, play with their thumbs and WAIT for their “greater” island to get their act together? THAT would be discrimination.

      Now, if it were the over way around, I’m positive no one would be crying “discrimination”. It makes me sick to my stomach to see so much divide between our 3 islands. Wake up, we’re one country.

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    • Anonymous says:

      @7:24: method to their madness: a boat will normally not allow social distancing for more than 2 at time. Presumably, churches can provide for social distancing for 25, at least they can hopefully arrange it.

      Tips for churches: in addition to wearing masks in an enclosed space, do not share hymnals and prayer books. Bring your own. And exercise the same hand sanitizing routines, and do not shake hands.

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  20. Anonymous says:

    What happened to 6 ft apart social distancing? Not exactly leading by example.

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  21. Anonymous says:

    Can someone explain why one can not exercise on Sunday but can every other day of the week?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Need to keep the sins at social distance

    • Anonymous says:

      It’s to how much people will take what ridiculous hoops you will jump through it’s a test how far can they push there control how obedient r the masses

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    • Anonymous says:

      It is a day of rest, haha

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    • Anonymous says:

      @7.19
      No they can’t. Because they don’t have a reason. It’s ‘just because’. No-one has ever said why. It’s the most ridiculous part of the whole lockdown fiasco.

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      • Anonymous says:

        That and banning swimming!

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        • Anonymous says:

          don’t like the rules?? government has charters going lots of destinations…go check out one of them until we are done here…I’m sure you will enjoy yourself and maybe even get a chance to swim…Enjoy and see you soon…

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    • anonymus says:

      @7:19 pm: because people were taking advantage of the “exercise hour” to hang out on the beach on Sundays, where they were basically hanging out with friends and drinking. Apparently people got the exercise bug on Sundays. It’s tradition, I guess. That was what the police were seeing.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Except it was not “what the police were seeing”. The only commentary on beach issues was for Good Friday – and the Sunday hard curfew predated that. And why would it be any different on a Saturday? There is no logic to the Sunday lock down based on the current explanations. Call me a cynic, but if you divide the population into halves and allow them 3 days each to go out, what do you do with day 7? You either allow everyone out, in which case the COP has a conniption about traffic, even though he has banned travel for exercise, there are no shops open and you still need a reason to drive, or you default to no one can go out because tats easier and incidentally means you can ramp down your policing presence substantially. .

  22. Anonymous says:

    Hmmmmm, so we can’t leave on a Sunday until we have no more positives? Ridiculous.

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  23. Anonymous says:

    “released from bondage”. Far be it from me to psychoanalize under normal circumstances but I don’t like the way that sounds. Combine that with the begging for freedom you read in the comments section and it’s nearly enough to make me gag.
    I’d take 100 Ivans over this shit.

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  24. Anonymous says:

    Anyone noticed that our two Brac heroes were actually seated only about 3 feet apart and not wearing any masks!

    Talk about hypocritical social distancing!

    I guess the spectacles on the head will suffice.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Rules don’t really apply in the Brac, do they?

      Reduced Government Fees, Paved driveways, etc., etc., etc.

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      • Anonymous01 says:

        Reduced Government fees with what? That’s laughable! Paved driveways? You mean paved Government roads… Government doesn’t pave private roads, owners must request it, then pay for it themselves.

        Honestly, people in Grand Cayman that Cayman Brac doesn’t contribute anything, but when something is being placed, people cry, “Oh! Cayman Brac is getting everything!!”

        Have you even visited Cayman Brac? Majority who complains about the island have never even visited.

        Really, why people from Grand Cayman easily forget, and dismiss, that it was our forefathers from CAYMAN BRAC that built Grand Cayman.

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  25. Anonymous says:

    6:47. Place on your boat😳😭 PLEASE will supply beer & food 😹

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  26. Anonymous says:

    6:47: when I read your post, an involuntary “idiot,” escape out of my mouth.

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  27. Anonymous says:

    Fishing trip to the Brac this weekend?

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