Governor urges ‘realism’ on airlift flights

| 27/05/2020 | 154 Comments
Cayman News Service
Governor Martyn Roper at Wednesday’s press briefing

(CNS): Governor Martyn Roper stressed Wednesday that the flights going in and out of the Cayman Islands at present are evacuation airlifts to help people who are stranded with no work or money get home, given the widespread border closures across the world due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Raising concerns that people were seeking to use the flights to take trips, he said they needed to be realistic in their expectations.

Speaking at the COVID-19 briefing about the status of the various evacuation flights, he said the travel hotline was receiving increasing requests from people wanting to go out and then come back.

“These are emergency evacuation flights and if you are going to go out… if you are going to the UK, you are going to have to go… into quarantine for 14 days and then when you come back here, you will have to go into quarantine,” he said, adding that it was important that people were realistic about their objectives.

He said that his office had obtained the agreement of the Indian government for a flight there in the next three weeks and a date will be provided shortly. He said the next British Airways air-bridge remains on the cards for the first week of June and that government continues to discuss flights to Colombia, Jamaica and possibly another flight to Canada in July.


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Category: Local News, Transport

Comments (154)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    not wearing a mask it pure selfishness, its not about whether you catch the virus, its who you spread it to when you get home, maybe elderly parents, kids that spread it other kids infecting other households.

    Don’t be a Trump and just wear a mask, its not that much of a inconvenience, seriously!

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  2. Anonymous says:

    The quarantine situation needs to be sorted once and for all. Why are returning travellers required to quarantine at government facilities while confirmed positive cases are sent home to self isolate? This is unjustifiably inconsistent – returning travellers have been mostly negative and thus pose less risk than a known positive. Secondly, if quarantine is going to continue to be required, why are more facilities not being made available immediately? There are residents in many places (not just the UK) that want and deserve to come home. There are those on island who want to go away for medical needs, to take students to school, or even check on elderly parents – and who need to return afterwards. This is not “vacation” – taking these trips is complex, difficult and time consuming enough without being told you can’t come back because there’s rarely space in quarantine.

    Keep the quarantine facility open for essential workers who don’t want to stay home and positive patients who can’t safely isolate elsewhere, but isolation at home needs to be the primary option. It’s cheaper and not subject to availability. Do random checks and make the penalties for breach stiff – $10,000 and immediate transfer to a quarantine facility on the first offense. No second chances. If CIG were truly worried about positive patients wandering about the island and infecting everyone, they wouldn’t be allowing self isolation now.

    Please sort this out properly, with consistency and transparency, so that those who want to come home or need to travel for essential purposes can get on with it.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Great Post!
      Why is the CIG so determined to make this so hard on us to return. So many other countries are making it possible for their residents but have stiff fines if you break home isolation rules.
      I thought Cayman claims to be the Caribbean leader but looks like we are going to be in last place for organisation this time.

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  3. Anonymous says:

    **CNS**
    The governor disclosed that 314 people had taken evacuation flights back into Cayman since they closed the airport. Looking at some of the comments here it appears as if there are a good number of people waiting to come back but who have been told they cant because there is no space available in the remaining quarantine facility. On Tuesday, can you ask how many people have registered with the travel help line to come back, who havent yet returned?

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    • Anon says:

      Is WORC being provided with the names of persons on the evacuation flights so permits can be cancelled? We all know a lot of employers don’t follow laws and will not do the right thing with regards to their now unemployed workers.

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  4. Anonymous says:

    British Virgin Islands are now letting returning residence apply to quarantine at home or private facility. This is available from the 2nd to them.
    Why when we have no places available must the Gov. make it so difficult for residence to return.
    Why not look at what others are doing.
    3 empty flights from MIA seems a waist to me.

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    • Anonymous says:

      I beg to differ. The government is not making it difficult for people to return from the UK.

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      • Anonymous says:

        And what about rest of the world bozo!

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      • Anonymous says:

        because they are selling the seats in both directions and need the revenue to get BA to do it without the government having to stump up. Cayman Airways doesn’t care if they fly empty one leg. Taxpayer pays either way, of course.

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      • Anonymous says:

        LOL. You are kidding right? We have had 314 people return in the last 9 weeks. The evacuation flight to the Philippines took 280 people back in 1 plane!
        We have no tourists and loads of empty hotels and government still can’t figure this out!!!! I know people from both the US and UK who have been told they can’t come back until at least July but with no firm dates. They keep slipping.
        We should be ashamed that we have made it so difficult for people to return to their home country. This is their home for gods sake. We have left them in foreign countries with no ability to return. It’s disgraceful and becoming more so.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Well, it’s difficult to return from the UK but possible. It’s currently impossible to return from anywhere else…the “quarantine in a government facility” requirements need to be made workable or abandoned.

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    • Anonymous says:

      The mess we are in now, is because we are too lenient – the most of you need to go and stay in your country!

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    • Just saying says:

      People have to isolate in Government facilities because residents including senior civil servants have proven that they do not follow the rules and stay at home but have been seen out when they should not have been.
      There is no fine for not staying in isolation, but if you need grocries and go to the shop on the wrong day you get a criminal conviction.
      This curfew is turning everyone into criminals for being hungry and no one will be able to get a job or visa after this. Cayman is now a police state. Sad.

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  5. Anonymous says:

    Like that everyone out there who is stuck.
    There is room for a few people on the BA flight at the Isolation BUT for the rest of us……..GOOD LUCK now 3 empty flights coming back from MIA!

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    • Anonymous says:

      Look man. Cayman has gone dumb. Quarantine is only essential in the absence of tests. If one has the virus upon arrival, they don’t test for 14 days on the basis that it can take up to 14 days to have symptoms. But the test picks up the virus whether one has symptoms or not! Look how many asymptomatic people we have versus symptomatic. So the only winner in this farce is the owner of the quarantine facility. A friend of government?

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      • Anonymous says:

        Right on.
        I have been waiting for weeks for a person from the press to directly ask this question from the CMO.
        I thought today was the day when Wendy started but did not happen.

        Countries that do the 14 days isolation do not test at the end of the 14 days.
        Others are doing the test early and then waiting a few days for the results and releasing the people.

        NOW the big one that make me think that the CIG is doing the 14 days and then test to inconvenience people is that the likes of Australia and New Zealand and others are requiring people to take both the PCR test and Antibody test before you can be admitted to hospital for any NON COVID treatment to ensure you cant infect anyone while there.

        SO the questions are easy and should be asked
        1) why are we waiting 14 days to do the testing?
        2) What is the time from exposure to when you would test positive by PCR testing?
        3) Obviously if you are infectiouse before you show symptoms and IF you are going to show the virus can be detected by the PCR well before 14 days.

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  6. Anonymous says:

    By realism does he mean we no longer have any rights in the country? Seems like we may not have any rights all a long.

    Realism like this for WHO?
    If you are healthy, you only need to wear a mask if you are taking care of a person with COVID-19.

    https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/when-and-how-to-use-masks

    Or realism like locking down this country for more then 2 months now. Needlessly destroying the economy and people lives?

    Or needing to wait for a vaccine that could be ready in 6 months to 8 years?

    I hope one day the powers that be are held accountable for these blunders.

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    • John says:

      The WHO is in the pocket of the Chinese government, Country after country have demonstrated that the wearing of face masks helps prevent the spread of the virus.

      Goodness. No one is asking you to give up your first born child. Just cover your nose and mouth in a public, enclosed place. What is your problem?

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      • Anonymous says:

        How exactly have they demonstrated that? By reduced death rates? Compared to what – the death rates they would have had if they didnt wear masks, which you simply cannot know?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Hold them accountable now.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Doing a lot of discussing with Jamaica….. How about some action. Ppl want to go home.

    Commonwealth is a farce.

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  8. Anonymous says:

    What about cuba flights when the will be a flight going out to there

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  9. Anonymous says:

    Did Governor hire an army of his supporters to manage the voting thumbs?
    The arguments in his support are shocking.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Governor Roper: we hope you are aware of CNS posts and listening to the people and not just the Premier and his cronies. Many are suffering in a variety of ways, including being kept from returning home or leaving for medical treatment. Until you have been in this position, you cannot possibly understand the anxiety. This must stop.

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  10. Anonymous says:

    Why not test persons when they arrive at the airport? If they test negative they isolate at home. If they test positive, they go to the government faculty. If they refuse to test, they go the the government facility. Either way, put hefty fines in place and have police check those at home.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Thats a great idea.
      I would even be happy with test on arrival than a few days Government Isolation then if negative remainder of time at home. If positive stay in Government Facility.

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      • Anonymous says:

        That idea is all over the news as a solution to tourist destinations. There is actually a ten minute test to be had. The question is why doesn’t the Cayman Government know and implement? God knows they are being paid handsomely to provide solutions.

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      • Anonymous says:

        That would be a great idea, if those tests were reliable, sadly they currently are not.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Are you saying the tests we are using every day to determine the fate of Cayman are unreliable?

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          • Anonymous says:

            No. It’s the quick tests that are unreliable. And some antibody tests. One of the ones in the USA has a 50% error rate, making the results pretty meaningless for the suggested ‘travel passport’.

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            • Anonymous says:

              I’m sure people would happily wait 4 to 5 hours for results. Thats the new normal for us anyway. Better to wait in an airport than get tested in a parking lot only to do errands while awaiting results.

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            • Anonymous says:

              They ate accurate. Trump’s people have been using then wrongly.

        • Anonymous says:

          Then why is our government relying on them?

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      • Anonymous says:

        Caymanians want a staycation.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Some states in Australia are switching from mandatory at a government facility to the below.
      “Authorities will conduct spot checks and undertake mandatory testing of people quarantining within the first 72 hours and the last 72 hours of the two weeks”

      Cheeper to pay for two tests than to pay for the hotel!

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    • Anonymous says:

      To the morons who thumbed this suggestion down. Do you think the test doesn’t work at an airport? Same testers. Same tests. Just a different location. How paranoid / stupid can people be?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Because the incubation period can be 14 days and “feeling fine” isn’t the barometer of wellness with this contagion. We for the most part can’t be trusted to self-regulate with something this important…and that’s how it spreads…undoing all the sacrifice of everyone still participating in this suppression effort.

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      • Anonymous says:

        So what are other place that have had dramatically less cases per/Cap doing this ??
        Test on arrival and Isolate at home for 14 days and test again?
        Others are test before departure and then 14 days isolation in your home and test again.
        Not to mention there is less than 0,4% chance a person from the USA could would have it when they arrived.

        We are not talking about mass tourism. Do residence and business essential services travel that way we can gauge how the systems work.

        OR stick your head in the sand while all the others around us open up and move forward!

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      • Anonymous says:

        SO if your 14 day incubation time is needed WHY did they test all the people in the George Town apartment complex that may have been exposed AND THEN after a few days only, when the test cam back say the are all clear???

        CNS – Do you know this. Is it 14 days after exposure until you can test as that seems contrary to what happened in George Town?

        CNS: I would guess that what they did at the GT complex was the best possible solution at the time. But yes, it would only have shown who was positive at the time of the test.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Certifying IgG positive travelers will be something for later. What you describe now would have to be a reliable IgM/IgG blood test kit, very different from the swab PCR testing going on now. An approved version didn’t exist until about a week ago, and production hasn’t scaled up to make it available here yet. A traveller could still be carrying and shedding millions of virus particles before measuring an IgM antibody response (which would typically happen in first 5 days or so), and those with weak IgG can also have an unfortunate resurgence of illness. Some people have had it three times or more now, despite their presumed immunity. We all need to accept this is not a well-studied virus and there is lots we don’t know yet. If you look around, there aren’t enough police officers to regulate those that self-assess (incorrectly) that they are fine.

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  11. Anonymous says:

    The reality is everyone has a different tolerance of risk, to themselves and everyone else. This Island will open its borders again, for some it will be too soon, for others not soon enough, however, in this instance I would advocate for planes to carry passengers in both directions, it helps on so many fronts, from costs to maintaining the viability of those flights with the airlines. If the demand is there, then meet that demand, open another quarantine centre, or allow home quarantine, but this time ensure its being adhered to with either a tracking app, home visits, whatever is needed, but don’t just say ‘no. What happens when the first hurricane threatens the island? No planes, mandated quarantine on return, which is full anyway, might as well get something in place now that works rather than scrambling later.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Agreed and with your comment about hurricanes. Why not have a plan in place that say maybe evacuate people that want to go to a location that has very minimal cases so there is no need to isolate on return. Maybe one of the other Caribbean islands.
      Its not like all the Cayman Airways planes will be sitting a hurricane out on the tarmac here.
      Put some options in place and tell the people you have a plan A and B. Reassurance can go a long way to calm everyone.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Are you all aware of THE PRIVILEGE you are all showing with comments relating to this is? Sit and think about it for a moment.

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      • Anonymous says:

        What privilege?
        Asking for a plan for hurricane season to know we have options?

        You arrogance makes me believe that we all want to go for holidays right?
        Some of us have a lot of commitments we would rather not have to leave the island for but that is what has to be done.
        I personal am stuck off the island and want to come home. I may have to leave again but that is the way it is.
        I’m not looking for a holiday just to see my family for a few weeks a year so go and F..K your self!

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        • Anonymous says:

          Wow, the anger says it all!

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        • Anonymous says:

          You need to go smoke a spliff or something.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Many wanted to go see ill and elderly family this year, or sit up at the lake, or attend a wedding, be there at the birth of a niece/nephew, or a happy once in a lifetime graduation, but didn’t because the borders were closing, on account of the GLOBAL PANDEMIC (still underway). So nice that you made the choice to visit your family for your few weeks a year, in the midst of an international health crisis, now you gotta ride out with them. Once we got into March, that was always going to be the deal with any travel, anywhere.

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  12. Anonymous says:

    You say ” Realism ” well realise this!

    1) Some have been trying to get home to the islands for over 2 months and get no answer on how this can happen.

    2) Private companies have staff that can fly in on private aircraft BUT need to use the isolation facilities that seem to always be full or not available OR don’t even get a response when it will be available after sending email requests!

    3) Your have stated the next 2 return flights from MIA will bring no one back to the Island WHY NOT? Is thus because there is no room at the isolation facilities OR because we are using Cayman Airways and the flight crew don’t want to have return passengers?

    4) Even when private companies offer to provide a location for staff to isolate it is rejected.

    5) Where do you get off telling us they are emergency only! NOTE – the rest of the world is opening up and international business is alive. Some of us must travel and have no choice OR we could pack our companies up and move to a place that is opening.
    Some of us have medical needs off islands or educational needs.

    With the Premier and your constant remarks about not opening boarders until there is a Vaccine or Treatment how do you expect things to move forward.

    Why is it OK for a person that is confirmed to have COVID-19 to Isolate in their home BUT not OK for a person returning from out side the country that most likely does not have it to isolate at home? And just because the USA look to have a huge number REMEMBER they have over 300M people so the numbers will always look big.

    And to top this all off we are all still under restrictions with not a single person in a hospital!

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    • Anonymous says:

      Well said. Thank you

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    • Anonymous says:

      Well said. Couldn’t agree with you more. Technically you cannot stop people returning to their home country. However the authorities are throwing up every technical hurdle they can to do just this. The lack of quarantine accommodation or a sensible quarantine plan is a disgrace.
      Every facet of Cayman’s economy is built on some form of international interaction and they are pretending as if this can just stop. It can’t! They are so out of touch with reality its embarrassing! The longer this goes on the more its clear the people in power have narrow concerns and don’t really care about the economic devastation they are inflicting on people here. This will be the aftermath of the Covid crisis in Cayman. A large proportion of the population who fundamentally distrust their own government and its actions.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Your last sentence answers all your questions and criticisms. Not a single person in a hospital. I classify that as a success story which justifies the Government’s actions. nuff said.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Thats because you are assuming cause and effect. Not just that the restrictions limited the spread, but that they also limited the effect on those people that caught it. Its possible, but not sure there is any evidence to support it versus the alternative that the local environmental conditions are so hostile to the virus that the restrictions actually make little difference to outcome in avoiding serious cases. Think I will reserve my thanks until there is some evidence, especially when the economic costs of the restrictions are proving so severe.

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      • Anonymous says:

        And I classify your comment as ignorant. 140 cases (that we know of) and nobody in the hospital much less dead. Hell, if 140 people had the flu you might see a few in the hospital. Wake up.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Please continue to keep these self-important belligerent “vacationers“ out.

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      • Anonymous says:

        I thought you were going to end that sentence with – from posting on CNS. Just make sure those non essential persons / essential workers provide services and food so you can isolate in your fancy home.

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      • Anonymous says:

        I am one of many that would like to leave but come back. Leave to see my wife and son and help them set up a new life back in the States and return to our house and job that is still working for me. I am not looking for help to do what I must for me and my family but please stop trying to make it impossible because you don’t need it. If this is really only all about Caymanians then why would any expats come back? And if that is the governments plan then please tell the many who would have no reason to stay for what’s coming with no future for us here. There are other alternatives for us. Expat workers and home and business owners are not self-important belligerent “vacationers“. Or are we?

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        • Anonymous says:

          Nicely said.

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        • Anonymous says:

          7:11pm …. tell you what? Alden isn’t a fortune teller with a magic button! You all talk like it’s only Cayman in a crises! Look around you and take the hint. What the hell are you all expecting?????

    • Anonymous says:

      I agree with you they need to open up the Island as it is no VIRUS here that is infecting people causing hospitalizarion or any deaths. Just pure foolishness that going on.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Yes let’s just bring in every Tom, Dick & Harry and a few Karens while we’re at it so our island can be on the map for having a late surge in cases like Brazil.

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  13. Protect the environment and it will protect you says:

    Behind you 100% Mr Roper this was need for a number of reasons.What those here complaining fail to comprehend if they were paying close attention is the recent deaths of a number persons with medical conditions or vulnerabilities to this virus have passed. If people honestly believe only 1 person has died here from this as being promoted by even some in our own government you need to wake up. The possibility of a hurricane this season is very high with two name storms already it’s simply good contingency planning ahead because that scenario is not a very good one for these islands. Those selfish individuals preaching on here that this virus is some sort of made up hoax or government conspiracy to economically stifle or destroy them feel free to head to one the jurisdictions that does have it and take your chances there.The government is simply trying to protect us and we need to do our part in that effort too.The greater lesson here is that we all need to stop destroying and polluting our environment ourselves so that nature like the government doesn’t have to step in and do it for us.Finally to those political idiots and destructive population expansionist I hope you have now awaken from your greed fueled idiotic financial utopia and see what happens when something as simple as a virus can put your social and economic life in check.

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    • Anonymous says:

      No one is saying it’s a hoax! But it’s not the mass killer people like you make it out to be. Not one Caymanian or Caymanian resident has died from Covid. If this were not true, your beloved Governor would say so.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Frontline ER triage doctors in world’s major cities would vividly explain that death is the wrong yardstick for Covid-19. It can mess you up in so many other ways that medical community are only now starting to correlate. We all need time, IgG testing, and vigilance to reduce the case load to zero, and hold it there. Our limited number of beds, admittedly better than most (per capita), would be quickly overwhelmed, if we chose to listen to the belittling revisionists, yet untouched by the power of this virus.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Andrew Cuomo says the real problem is New York is that it is impossible to socially distance in a city with so many people. Not on sidewalks, not on subways, not on buses, not on elevators. What does he mean? Cayman has a population of 65,000 over 256KM2. New York city’s population is 8,400,000 over 783 KM2. So no, we would not be quickly overwhelmed!

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          • Anonymous says:

            If the wrong planeload comes in, or this gets into the Pines, our 30-some-off ICU beds are offline. That’s a fairly acute vulnerability during an international health crisis. The lives that would be lost are not something to be cavalier about.

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            • Anonymous says:

              the wrong plane load you say.
              So a 150 pax plane with residence test on arrival then test after 14 days. They stay in their own home and have random checkins. Other BOT’s can do it why cant we?

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      • Anonymous says:

        What 100,000 plus deaths in the country north of us in 2 months isn’t a mass killer? Going to get worse before it gets better with the current buffoon in Washington who is not supporting testing and tracing.

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    • Anonymous says:

      You’re entitled to your opinion, you can choose to stay at home whilst the rest of us ask to get on with our lives. It really is that simple. Not 1 person in hospital and we’re still locked down? And what pray tell has hurricanes got to do with Covid-19, SMH.

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  14. Anonymous says:

    There is no reason why the private sector should not be allowed to establish quarantine facilities, albeit under appropriate supervision.

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    • Anonymous says:

      The problem, as we’ve seen time and time again, is that a disproportionately large percentage of our private sector have no honor code, and view “rules and regulations” as obstacles to their natural tendencies. Only a minority (probably already at home) could be trusted to reasonably self-regulate.

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      • Anonymous says:

        And the government have applied rules and regulations with an honour code???

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        • Anonymous says:

          Yes, eg. the ban on beach congregations that went unheeded at Easter and led to a ban for everyone. The people drinking and congregating were sneaks that failed the honor test for everyone. Even now, we are told only to leave our homes for a specific mission, on our name day, staying on our property, avoiding groups. These are all governed by the honor-code of the individual (or lack of it).

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      • Anonymous says:

        Why should a large majority of sensible law abiding people have their human rights consistently infringed by a small minority? I think you’ve got the majority and minority groups the wrong way round quite frankly.

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        • Anonymous says:

          enough with the human rights already! Talk to those that really don’t have any and haven’t for decades! You’re inconvienced…GET OVER IT PRINCESS!

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      • Anonymous says:

        So enforce stringent criteria!

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      • Anonymous says:

        And CIG is a trustworthy, honorable, and not corrupt sector? I get that if your a still paid but not have to work civil servant who owes his/her Covid lifestyle to CIG then yes the rest of the world is incompetent. But to the rest of the world they are on our blacklist for corruption and incompetence and should not be trusted to have your best interest at heart. It’s all relative to your point of view. Most of us in this world would trust ourselves over anything to do with Caymanian leadership.

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        • Anonymous says:

          With this, I trust science, Dr Lee, and to some extent the Governor, my friends that work in ERs internationally, those that I know that have gone through it, and/or lost family to it.

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  15. Anonymous says:

    I urge the governor to work to open this country now. History will not look well on you when the books are written. Many of your predecessors were mired in controversy and dare I say worked against the best interest of the Cayman people.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Too vague a post for the average paranoid reader. You need to break it down a bit more.

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    • Anonymous says:

      In the history books he will been viewed as the Governor who had enough sense to put measures in place to protect the people of these islands. Clearly, the measures that have been taken are working. So no, he will not been seen as a Governor who is working against the people, rather working FOR us and our safety.

      What an ungrateful lot, the island is slowly opening back up. Stop all the nonsensical complaining.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Thank you! I couldn’t agree more.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Opening up to what? A few months of isolation? Or years of isolation? We don’t know because the premier and his cohorts refuse to say….. it’s time the premier came clean and let us know what their plans are. Otherwise they have no plan!!

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  16. Anonymous says:

    Anyone find the governor likes to play soldier with all his military stuff. Warship off our coast. Helicopters. Some kind of army force for Cayman.

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    • Anonymous says:

      The warship and helicopters come every year…

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      • Anonymous says:

        People act as if this is new. They literally come every year but this year people decided to be upset and complain about it. Ridiculous.

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        • Anonymous says:

          What they don’t do every year is fly in a security advice team of 12.

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          • Anonymous says:

            Umm, you know there’s this thing called a Pandemic happening at the moment right?

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            • Anonymous says:

              Umm, you do know that its a response to the chain from the original post saying this happens very year. Well, no, clever clogs, pandemics don’t happen every year. Nor is flying in a military advisory team a standard response to a pandemic. If it were 12 people from the NHS or even Porton Down I would agree with you. Its a military team. And one that apparently isn’t needed every year to deal with anticancer panning, but suddenly is required. They may be doing some hurricane planning as well, but bet your boots they are contingency planning for flying in a shed load more if there is a breakdown in law and order or a major outbreak.

    • Anonymous says:

      No…..

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  17. Anonymous says:

    Public urges realism over misguided oppression plan.

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  18. Anonymous says:

    It’s a known fact that this virus is most dangerous in old age homes, which have separate rooms. How is putting everyone, of various ages, in isolation into one building any different? Is the government saying these Caymanians are expendable?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Known fact? Known where? Don’t make stuff up.

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      • Anonymous says:

        If people like you have a say, Cayman is doomed! Read international news! 82% of Canada’s Covid-19 deaths have been in long term care. Italy’s nursing homes struggle to survive after thousands died from coronavirus. Covid19 brutal on NY long-term care facilities: nationwide, it’s worse. Need I go on? Or shall I make up a bit about Caymanians going to mass graves?

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        • Anonymous says:

          Canada mishandled Covid from the get go. Late on everything. They were top 10 in dead count until surpassed by much larger countries, now 11th…more cases than China‘s unthinkably high 80,000 cases, with just 37mln people, and their own failed curfews. Then there are the other inflammation complications in children, strokes, comas, organ failures, amputations etc. Despite the planet of evidence, Canada still hasn’t learned there is more to this virus than just body count.

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      • Anonymous says:

        I think you need to do a bit of catching up on the news.

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  19. Anonymous says:

    Exactly how sanitized is this facility? How healthy are the people working there? Although separated by rooms, surely there are a significant number of people in one building, with staff moving around. People delivering foods. How safe does this sound? Sounds more like a death trap than anything else.

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  20. Anonymous says:

    With known flights to his homeland, he hasn’t felt trapped. And by trapped, I don’t mean shopping trips. God forbid something negative happened to a member of his family, he could actually do something about it. That’s just not the case for Caymanians who have obligations in more than one jurisdiction.

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    • Anonymous says:

      If your a “Caymanian” that has obligations in other jurisdictions that is your problem. Isn’t that the same argument we use against those that choose to come here to work and domicile ? Lets not be discriminating hypocrites.

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      • Anonymous says:

        One is only a discriminating hypocrite if one uses that argument. Not all Caymanians are anti-expat. The fact that you wrote “Caymanian” displays your prejudices. Expats have certainly helped us along the way. I’m pro humanity.

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  21. Anonymous says:

    Realism? When did that become important?

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  22. Anonymous says:

    Cancer and other serious conditions are being ignored because of COVID.But unlike positive cases of COVIC, cancer isn’t going to get better. What about those of us who desperately need to travel for medical treatment to Miami or Tampa and cannot afford to be stranded there for months because we can’t get on a return flight?? …because the Government quarantine facilities are full? And we should be able to quarantine at home as we may have special dietary and medical needs and not in a hotel room whose sanitary conditions, like cleanliness of the bedding and soft furnishing, are questionable??? You are jeopardizing the health of your most vulnerable citizens by these rules. Surely the Chief Medical Officer should understand this and can allow exceptions for us.

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    • Anonymous says:

      People on the whole are stupid. They can only focus on one thing at a time. Now it’s Covid. No one knows this fact better than the media. Because of this reality, as a society, we don’t really care about persons with other illnesses. Remember the number one rule for Covid – wash your hands. Our leaders have washed their hands of any logic.

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    • Anonymous says:

      You mean Seymour’s scripture won’t heal my cancer?! O-oh

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    • Anonymous says:

      The voices of concern for children and from disabled people go unheard. Many posts from disabled people about difficulties with shopping on letter day, staying in lines and postponed treatments weren’t even acknowledged, let alone considered.
      Also look at replies to 5:37am here, the general mood “we don’t know what you are talking about and don’t care”.

      I just checked, there’s
      * The National Council for Persons with Disabilities
      * Cayman human right commission
      * Special needs foundation Cayman
      Are they all deep in hibernation?

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    • Anonymous says:

      One would hope that anyone with genuine life and death medical airlift needs would have identified themselves, self-advocating, and contacting the well publicized channels of the Governor’s office and curfew time during last couple months. People have been allowed to go to our hospitals for other needs for some time now. We would all hope that nobody is being denied critical care travel where it might be necessary. We also know our three oncology departments have a lot of equipment on site, including telemedicine robots. If it’s just a personal preference to go see Dr. Whatstheirname in Tampa, then maybe a combo of telemedicine, and local care is better for everyone, less so the concurrent shopping trip.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Spent two weeks in quarantine here in April. Rooms were awfully dirty. Floors black with dirt. They left us only a brush to clean with and we had to ask if they could supply cleaning products for us to clean the place with ourselves. In the end we ended up getting someone to drop some off as what they provided wasn’t really sufficient.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Is there not cleaning provided for the $2,500?

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        • Anonymous says:

          No. Staff wont enter the room -because its quarantine, numb nuts.

          Having seem photos of the food provided, cleaning products are not the only thing you need to get delivered.

  23. Anonymous says:

    Unbelievable! Give people an inch, they will take a mile!

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  24. Anonymous says:

    This does not surprise me in the least. I knew sooner or later people would be asking if they could take a trip and then come back. Hahahaha!

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    • Anonymous says:

      I can pretty much say for certain no one’s going to take a trip. If anyone has to go to business off island they’re not excited about it. And that’s not because they fear Covid it’s because you don’t know if you’re going to get stuck somewhere when you leave and then you can’t get back to family.

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      • Anonymous says:

        But he is hearing now from those already on rosé-fueled summer holiday trips, appealing to his office to set a stage for their glamorous return…and we are to bow down and be thankful in accommodating their depraved indulgences at a time like this! Maybe they should be asked to hold for a customer service agent sometime in October.

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        • Anonymous says:

          He did not say they at all!
          Some of us have to leave and come back there is just no choice and it ain’t for a holiday and we where happy to pay and arrange our own flights. BUT the Gov has no isolation available.
          Pull your head in!

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          • Anonymous says:

            Is it just me or do a lot of Caymanians here only think only about themselves with absolutely no thought to anyone else? Is that because of the way they were brought up? Its like they can not see themselves as a part of something bigger than just a Caymanian living in Cayman.

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  25. Anonymous says:

    I’m glad he said this, and I am glad that returning will have to pay their way in quarantine. There are still many misguided that think these emergency flights will form part of their extended annual summer vacation plans. Hop on this one, go cottage at the lake, and come back in a month or two. Don’t worry, the Governor will arrange one for us. People need to get real.

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    • Anonymous says:

      And meanwhile, we have no one in hospital. We have no daily publication of other deaths on island for perspective. We have people going hungry. Our economy is tanking. It is so easy to picture the lifestyles of posters such as yourself. I’m one for everyone having a say on this website. But posts such as these are truly starting to sicken me.

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      • Anonymous says:

        ME TOO, but with YOUR comment…see how that works?

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        • Anonymous says:

          The difference between me and you is I care about the people lining up for food. I care about Caymanian kids who’s grandparent is has died abroad and. I care about the many persons suffering on island. Seems on has to get Covid to be treated like a human being!

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          • Anonymous says:

            Discretionary excursions during wartime or global pandemic can sometimes be a one-way ride. The Governor has repeatedly encouraged all to make their choice. That’s how services operate during strange times when borders are closed.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Do you know what would sicken everybody? Packing normally into aircraft and indulging stupid privileged vacations during a global contagion crisis.

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      • Anonymous says:

        100% Agree.

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  26. Anonymous says:

    Utter incompetence for a virus with such a low death rate.

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  27. JTB says:

    Can we have ‘realism’ on the border closure too?

    Maybe a recognition that it’s a futile, self inflicted wound?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Thank you for the stating the facts. We as a society just don’t want to admit that it isn’t as bad as we were told and continue this nonsense of social distancing.

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  28. Anonymous says:

    Meanwhile people have been stuck in Florida for ages and are still unable to come back on the next 5 Miami flights.

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  29. Anonymous says:

    This place is infected with insensitive morons!

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    • Anonymous says:

      You obviously aren’t familiar with the CNS comment section and therefore you are out of order, off you go.

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  30. Anonymous says:

    We went from three quarantine facilities to one. A number of flights into Cayman in the last three weeks have not brought people back home because they have no space in the remaining facility. They make bold pronouncements about closing the airport until September but then don’t think through the implications for this on people who want to return to their home country. Forget people going abroad and coming back, we can’t even cope with the people just trying to return home!
    If government is going to enact a quarantine policy which requires all coming back to use their designated facility then make enough space available, even if a reasonable charge is needed. Otherwise create a workable plan that allows people to quarantine at home. However don’t leave people stuck in another country because you can’t manage the problem.

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    • No check-in/check-out says:

      Well said@8:19pm. I’ve been writing on the same thing for weeks. Every month since March there has been no space at the quarantine facility for locals wanting to return so who exactly there in? Has anyone checked out?

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    • Anonymous says:

      100% this. Any suggestion that people be trusted to isolate at home is met with overwhelming thumbs down and declarations that these people can’t be trusted. Fine, if that’s the case, then it’s only fair to ask that the government open up a few more quarantine Hotel Californias. Especially if the costs are going to be offset by some hotel residents paying for their stays. It looks like this is going to be extended for at least another three months, probably more. People will need to travel for various reasons, business related, health related and family related. It’s ridiculous to suggest that these people shouldn’t be able to return because there is no capacity. We have about a hundred empty hotels. We have an 850 million dollar budget. We can spend a few bucks on another hotel. Would cost less than a year of Ofreg’s conference budget.

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      • Anonymous says:

        It could be a whole new service line for our struggling hotels!. Sure the business community would guarantee a certain amount of quarantine rooms if they had flights in and out.

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