All kids will need to wear masks in school
The team headed by Minister Juliana O’Connor-Connolly (front) demonstrate sitting 3 feet apart in a classroom at the Red Bay Primary School 
MEYSAL Acting Chief Officer Lyneth Monteith uses one of several recently installed hand sanitisation stations at the Prospect Primary School 
Lighthouse School displays some of its personal protective equipment that will be available to its staff during the new academic year 
DES Acting Facilities Manager Glen Arek Gardner shows DES Acting Director Tammy Banks-DaCosta (left), Minister Juliana O’Connor-Connolly (centre) and Prospect Primary School Principal Matthew Read (right) some of the proposed plans for the school’s reopening. 
Lighthouse School Acting Principal Janice Headley shows Minister O’Connor-Connolly some of the measures the school has implemented for the new academic year
(CNS): With government schools expected to begin classes either online or in person on 26 August, officials have inspected facilities to ensure they are ready for students in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. While Cayman appears to have contained the virus, schools are still considered high-risk environments for transmission. All school students as well as staff and teachers will be required to wear masks and keep their distance.
In a press release issued Monday, the Ministry of Education did not indicate any exemption from the mask-wearing for the youngest students in government schools, some of whom will be just four years old when they start school. The public health department, has provided an exemption for pre-school children at early learning centers and kindergartens.
Officials said that all students and school staff must “wear masks while inside school buildings, as required in the government’s Prevention, Control and Suppression of Covid-19”, referring to the partial lifting of restrictions No.3 Regulations, 2020. The regulations state that masks are required for everyone over the age of two years old.
“In order for children to feel comfortable in the tutoring learning environment, to aide development, and minimize the misuse of mask or face covering etiquette, ECCE children will NOT be required to wear mask / face covering whilst indoors,” said Chief Medical Officer Dr John Lee
The wearing of masks for everyone else indoors is necessary unless they are sitting silently, the public health boss added.
“There is a higher chance of airborne transmission of the COVID-19 virus while students are talking, especially in enclosed spaces such as classrooms,” Dr Lee said.
The ministry has confirmed that all teachers and other staff in government schools and the DES will undergo COVID-19 testing before the schools open. Students will be required to stay three feet apart in their classrooms and eat their lunches at their desks. While they are moving around on school premises, they must stay six feet apart.
To facilitate this, schools have had to make changes to their environments and Education Minister Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, accompanied by officials from the ministry and the Department of Education Services (DES), visited the school sites last week.
Classrooms, corridors and common areas were inspected for overall cleanliness, social distancing markers and signage, as well as adequate hand washing and sanitisation facilities, officials said in a release. The team also inspected specific areas that have been identified as supplementary classroom and storage space to maintain appropriate social distancing.
O’Connor-Connolly said she was satisfied with the efforts expended so far on health and safety protocols but more work was to be done before schools open. “I recognise that we have not yet achieved a complete state of readiness, still I am confident that DES will continue to work closely with our schools to ensure that all the necessary measures are put in place before students return,” she said.
The ministry developed general guidance for the reopening of all schools several weeks ago and the DES has provided a supplemental document to all government schools, which are expected to prepare school-specific reopening guidance and to communicate this to parents and guardians this past week.
“Preparations and communication of those preparations are ongoing,” said Acting DES Director Tammy Banks-DaCosta. “I encourage parents to remain in contact with school leaders, especially if they have questions in relation to this guidance and any other school related concerns.”
Issues relating to daily operations, hygiene practices and provisions, wellness, school buses and after school activities are also addressed in the guidance.
Contact information for government schools leaders as well as the General Guidance Document for the Re-opening of Schools and Early Childhood Care and Education Centres are available here.
Category: Education, Health, Local News, Medical Health
I cant wait for the fall out of trying to get children to wear masks all day in school. What sanctions does the teacher have if a child takes their mask off, swaps their masks, loses their mask or simply does not turn up with one. Do all office staff have to wear a mask?
By the end of the day she will run out of school screaming to never return.
Coronavirus hasn’t devastated the homeless as many feared…
probably because
•the homeless live an outdoor life sunrise to sunset, •constantly grounded,
•exposed to every known pathogen.
They have a robust innate immunity that most indoor people can’t achieve!
There is a lesson here and most conventional docs will never get it!
If that is the case then why do the homesless die younger?
They don’t die from viruses or bacterial infection for sure.
Prevention, Control & Suppression of Covid19 2020 Regulations
Wearing of masks
(a) where the person is unable to wear a mask or cloth face covering due to a
medical condition or the person is otherwise exempted by guidance
provided by the Medical Officer of Health; or
(2) A person who refuses to wear a mask or cloth face covering because of a medical
condition shall not be required to produce documentation verifying the condition.
Nothing More Needs To Be Said! This article is MOOT!
My child has a medical condition which prevents them from wearing a mask. I um under no obligation to prove it.
Who would thumbs down this? You are the idiots following every government mandate yet you will not follow one where it says you don’t have to wear a mask? People like you don’t even need a mask because your head is already buried in the sand
Is this written in to law?
None of this is law it is all “regulations” or “recommendations”. There is no politician who can tell you or your children what they “have to do” to their physical person.
The solution can be found in two words: Home School.
pure window dressing….if there is a risk…then the kids should not even be allowed back.
why this government is ignoring the current test results is beyond belief…
Wonder how many teachers are actually left.
I know a number who left because contracts were not being renewed because of COVID and now can’t afford to or even get back
If government does something good you complain. If they do something you don’t like, you complain. I’d like to see all of you running next election since you seem to know how to do it all perfectly.
“…government does something good..”?
Please enlighten us.
All some of you do is look at and remember the bad things people do or the things you yourself don’t like because it inconveniences you. Right now Cayman is one of the safest places in the world, BUT our government officals are doing what they feel is the safest thing to do. If you feel uncomfortable sending your child to school. Don’t send them, but no one wants to hear you gripping and complaining 2 weeks from now how stressed you are with having to and homeschool your child while working from home or stressing out because you can’t go find a job because you made the decision to keep your child home.
Does someone actually think that 15-20 kids spending 8 hours per day together, playing and reading and talking, touching, etc will really matter if they are wearing masks?!? The second they get away from the classroom they are socializing. Their parents are socializing. The bars, restaurants, nightclubs and karaoke are open. And yet, we are going to make a 5 year old child wear a mask to his or her first day on kindergarten?!? Are you all insane???
How about this:
– we test the teachers once per week
– when kids are OUTSIDE the class, they wear a mask
– no large gatherings of more than 2 classes at a time (max 50 persons)
– if one positive is found, that class is home school for 2 weeks
– everything else goes back to NORMAL.
It is quite clear that people are completely missing the point. A great article in the WSJ this weekend about Europe getting their kids back to school due to the massive anxiety that has been caused. The kids need to be protected from life-long harm by getting them back to school and back to normal… Not by making them into masked experiments.
Where did that online parent petition go? We need a new one ASAP.
“when kids are OUTSIDE the class, they wear a mask”?
Did you mean kids do NOT wear masks when they are outside? Outdoors is nearly 100% safe.
Schools, especially in the Caribbean, should have been designed like Fuji Kindergarten outside Tokyo, so kids could spend as much time as possible outdoors.
Fuji Kindergarten outside Tokyo is an example.
https://ideas.ted.com/inside-the-worlds-best-kindergarten/#:~:text=At%20Fuji%20Kindergarten%20outside%20Tokyo,trees%20grow%20right%20through%20classrooms
I bet you are jealous now you kids do attend such schools and kindergartens.
Caymanian style schools are built at the food of the toxic dumps.
15-20? On the Brac maybe
I suggest the Minister follows the advice of the principals of the top private schools, they are so far ahead of our public school system it’s like they are on a different planet.
The private schools leave a lot to be desired, especially for the cost. Not that I don’t agree with you…they are better than the government schools in many ways, but it doesn’t mean they’re any good. I’d call them the “Cream of the Crap”.
Because they rise to the top.
I feel like parents need to fight this. Many teachers have been tested. Why not test the kids? Then if there aren’t any cases drop the requirement.
You can sit in a bar with 5-10 people and eat and chat for several hours but kids that are spaced out have to wear masks all day. I don’t have to wear a mask sitting at my desk and work and the person next to me is 6 feet away for 8+ hours a day.
I feel like parents need to fight this. Many teachers have been tested. Why not test the kids? Then if there aren’t any cases drop the requirement.
You can sit in a bar with 5-10 people and eat and chat for several hours but kids that are spaced out have to wear masks all day. I don’t have to wear a mask sitting at my desk and work and the person next to me is 6 feet away for 8+ hours a day.
As Gov. Como said it when he talked about reopening schools. Because cases reduced the prize is opening back up schools and other activities. Because 95% of the population was responsible over the course of the pandemic the prize is we get to open restaurants, bars and churches. Then why is it when it comes to schools is the requirement more stringent? Seems misguided to me. Show me cases and I’d agree with the cautious approach but until then it doesn’t make sense.
This is ridiculous. No one can stop this virus from coming again and we need to just deal. This is no way to live a life, hiding from death that’s not even that deadly.
Exactly! That is why, as reported, 25% people in lockdown considered suicides! This is not the way to live a life!
Great, that should prevent all the teenage pregnancies.
Watch them shoot up. A chastity belt is what’s needed….On the men
Okay. Good luck with this in any government school. They can’t even enforce the dress code. SMH.
They can’t even tie their own shoelaces
I’m not going to encourage any comment that makes innocent students the brunt of mean hateful comments due to circumstances they have no control over.
Children whether Caymanian or not do not deserve these kind of comments.
They don’t get to vote and they didn’t pick their parents.
You are a bully. Shame on you.
Ronaphobia is unacceptable.
If the borders are closed and we haven’t had cases then there seems to be no need to have this requirement. If people are really worried about the spread close or make everyone (including patrons) wear a mask in bars, dine in restaurants, sports activities, gyms and churches. They requirement for kids seems over the top.
Who comes up with these stupid rules?
Stupid people!
The word “must” doesn’t work with kids. Hire younger teachers if this proposed child abuse is to “save” teachers.
Younger teachers are not immune to the virus. Furthermore, you foolishness suggestion if you can even call it that introduced age discrimination.
But they will survive if they get infected. Ever wondered why FL is having hundreds daily deaths ( significantly less today, only 84), but AK had only 20 deaths or so since March? Older vs. younger population.
Traveling nurses on Covid19 assignments work 4 weeks non stop and hardly anyone gets sick. They are all in their 20s.
You’re either an idiot, living in LaLa Land, or both. Younger teachers get sick just as easily. Also, cannot discriminate based on age you Dolt. What next, discriminate based on gender? Males more likely to get sick and have serious outcomes. How about on color you Putz? Blacks most likely to get sick a d have more serious issues. What are you going to hire Num nuts, white, 20 year old females only? You wish you Perv!
You misses the point.
Have nothing to do with discrimination. Many hazardous occupations have hiring restrictions.
Forcing thousands kids to wear masks so teachers don’t get infected is insanity.
Lol. Yea, I agree. I missed your point which is no point. Has everything to do with discrimination you simpleton. You CANNOT discriminate based on AGE, SEX, GENDER, etc. There’s no trick – it’s that simple…
If you are a teacher and speak like that, I understand why Caymanian kids don’t succeed.
Caymanians seems have no concept of diplomacy, tact, or a debate without insults.
Have students agree amongst themselves that they will all remove their masks each and every day. Is the school going to suspend every student in that class each and every
Hope all your kids are expelled.
I worked a summer school program in the States. We never thought the kids would wear a mask all day. These were special education and at-risk students. Every student came to school wearing a mask and only two students had issues wearing a mask during the day. Children did not have problems nor complain about it.
Not sure why all the grumbling with wearing masks. People who are asymptomatic do not show illness. A mask will protect you. Covid may not be showing signs now in Cayman, but residents and expats will be returning along with some tourists arriving. I would think you would want to protect your children.
I think people disagree because there doesn’t appear to be any cases. This shouldn’t change if borders stay closed.
So there really is no need for masks until they open borders.
With zero cases and borders closed we earned the right to not wear masks.
If you are worried about the spread stop sports, close churches and bars. Seems like the requirements for the youth is unfair.
Makes no sense if we don’t have cases. If people are worried just offer to test the kids monthly. If you get one positive make the kids wear masks otherwise there is no need.
If the borders are closed and we haven’t had cases then there seems to be no need to have this requirement. If people are really worried about the spread close or make everyone (including patrons) wear a mask in bars, dine in restaurants, sports activities, gyms and churches. They requirement for kids seems over the top.
We do want to protect our children , hence the reason we have concerns over them wearing a mask all day long in a classroom. We haven’t had a case in almost a month now, tourists aren’t allowed back here til at least Oct and even then it’s just returning residents that need to quarantine. Are you aware it’s over 100 degrees outside nowadays in Cayman? Are you aware we don’t have to wear masks in a restaurant or bar? Why can’t our kids get the same courtesy?
If you are a teacher please stay in the US, where you have clearly got everything under control. Your money and comments not welcome here!
I implore you to read back what you wrote. You contradict yourself throughout!
A mask will not protect you, it protects others, so get your facts right!
I’ll protect my children from idiots like you!
I will clearly remember that my money is not welcome there and I will make sure to tell everyone I know. By the way, my family usually visits your beautiful island 3 times a year, but missed our last two trips in April and July and will now miss December.
Sorry, I did not clarify my post perfectly. If the asymptomatic person was wearing a mask, it would protect “you” or your child. It has been very hot where I live this summer, and I agree that it is uncomfortable to wear a mask. We are mandated to wear one, so we do. I believe our mask requirement is basically the same as in GC (when you are unable to social distance in public places).
I never realized I was an idiot. I have 2 master’s degrees and 3 educational certificates. 6 credits away from my PHD, but, guess that makes me an idiot. Caymankind is really showing in the comments since Covid 19.
The Government has a legal obligation to provide education to my children. So good luck with that.
Logic and common sense has left this equation long ago.
Critical thinking is dead.
Off with the masks!
So on July 19th children were allowed to play contact sports, both indoors and outdoors. NO MASK REQUIRED!!!!! How then does government come up with the idea that children should sit with a mask on all day. I walk out of the grocery store after a quick shop and cannot get my mask off quick enough. Absolute ludacris but isn’t surprising given the lack of guidance the Minister of Education has provided. School should start for every child on the first day of class, staggered start helps no one.
Ok, so 7 hours to wear mask,.But! Take it off for 45 minutes to hav lunch. Smart.
For this to “work”, It would only take 7 masks oer day.
Looking at home schooling options
Time to find out which politicians are profiting from this mask debacle.
And bio-buttons
How completely and utterly stupid.
A lot of these children stand outside in the heat and with masks on they may have a heat stroke! I get hot in my mask even for a few minutes so imagine the WHOLE DAY. This is gonna be chaos.
This is utter madness!! In what world does making a 4 year old wear a mask ALL DAY make sense! You have adults socialising in bars and restaurants and yet our children are being forced to cover their faces for 8 hours a day!!! This is child abuse!
This Government need to get a grip and stop punishing the kids.
How are they supposed to feel safe and secure when they are being placed into an environment where they can’t even see the face of the teachers taking care of them.
Homeschool it is then.
Teachers and students need to prepare for a “sick-out” on day one.
My child is deaf and relies on lip reading to be educated. Why is she being discriminated against?
Correct. Child abuse is the name.
Ridiculous that you are making it all about your child and trying to claim discrimination as if it is only being done to her.
There are clear masks that teachers/school districts can order.
I am so happy my child is at an ECCE for another year. He is 4 and a very obedient child and even then I cannot even imagine that he would ever sit still and leave the mask on his face for 6+ hours a day without fidgeting with it, taking it off without thinking etc. I can see some of his less shy class mates having to be reminded every 5 minutes to keep their mask on their face, not to pull the elastic, not to share Masks with their buddies. And then what’s that having to keep 6 feet apart at all times from any other student? I have a feeling this year teachers will spend more time policing than teaching
So NOT fair to the young children!!!! There is no way the children will be able to keep masks on all day, and it is not healthy for them either!!! My grand children can barely keep them on while in the grocery store!!! You need to rethink this one over for sure!!!
I wondered who could come up with such a stark, staring, stupidly insane policy – and then I saw Julianna in the picture and everything became clear.
Did the voices in her head (the ones she stops and prays to during official meetings) tell her to do this?
How much longer is this BS going to continue?
We are talking about a disease which no-one on this island has, and for which the number of fatalities is, statistically speaking, as close to zero as makes no difference.
The number is zero.
👍👍👍👍
They want to completely mess-up children’s minds. Hypochondria, PTSD, OCD, anxiety, panic attacks will cripple children for life.
Don’t over dramatize it doesn’t help your position
As long as we continue to put up with it.
Kids cant go 5 minute’s without picking their nose & touching their mouth and face , while I hate the mask wearing it sadly may be a good idea .
They will still do it… but now will reach behind their mask to pick their nose!
I wear the same mask every day for about two weeks at at a time here in the office, only put it on to move around so I don’t get hauled in to HR. It’s a pointless exercise, everyone knows it but we do it anyway (most of the time). DCFS has 130+ children on their register who can’t afford school shoes, how exactly do the bureaucrats who come up with this absolute crap sleep at night?
‘I wear the same mask every day for about two weeks at a time.’ Not smart because everytime you exhale bacteria from your mouth and nose are expelled and stick in that mask. In effect you’re wearing a petri dish. If you really are doing this (and I have my doubts) and haven’t picked up a nasty bacterial URTI or lung infection you’ve been very lucky. This is like people who wear the washable masks thinking they can simply put them in the weekly wash with their underwear.
Yet you’re the one showing up to the ER twice a month with a sore throat and I haven’t been to a doctor in years.
Incredibly irresponsible, and ill-advised. This won’t end well. Countries that have proclaimed themselves Covid free, are now in second wave.
Have you checked with Dr.Marc Lockhart? He might help with your fear of COVID19.
3.41pm At a price!
How long did the Minister and her team sit comfortably wearing masks to determine this was a good idea for KIDS?
Utter madness. Completely irrational. There is no virus worth a concern in our community – well, maybe flu, regular colds, etc but not the only one we’ve ever been mandated to lockdown for.
This is insanity. And to expect children to keep the masks on? Not to swap them with freinds? Not to cough and nseeze into them, pass them around, lose them, end up crying because they lost their mask and now teacher is angry with them for not having one?
madness. madness. madness.
what is wrong with us all? and we’ve not even mentioned the mental health issues that children will very possibly suffer from as we zealously insist they wear masks to stay alive in their safe space of school.
insane. wrong. this must be stopped.
Omg, your kid swaps masks? Could be your kid will have bigger problems you should be worries about?
Yes, living on an island next to you.
How can you expect children to wear a mask all day in school. Surely this is not healthy.
Who runs this circus, Juliana O’Connor-Connolly? Oh wait…
She probably wants the kids to wear masks so they don’t catch “the Gay”.
Cue the Fox News loons.
Wait, doesn’t Juliana Connor-Conley-O’Connor-Connell think masks are the sign of the beast? How can she allow this?
#lame
Go away CNN moron.
People are in bars shoulder to shoulder and at restaurants shoulder to shoulder with no masks on. Why should children be expected or required to wear them at their desk all day long? Especially the elementary age group – this is absurd.
Pure madness.
Presumably all children will be permitted to return to the physical campus on day one of term, as there is no logical rationale to deny them this opportunity.
Yes, children wearing masks. I can see this going well…
Here is what the regulation actually states, nothing within it mandates the wearing of a face covering indoors.
“Any person over the age of two years old who is indoors a public place and is unable to, or does not maintain a distance of three feet from every other person, shall cover his or her mouth and nose with a mask or cloth face covering”
Hows that working out in the bars?
Ridiculous, there is no need for masks all day on children sitting at desks. Children and teachers cannot talk properly or see facial expressions with masks on. If the virus was out of control on the island I could perhaps understand but no cases, not one person in hospital. Rethink this decision on masks along with only some years going back and others doing online learning for first few weeks. Whoever is making these decisions is totally out of touch or has no children.
Open to interpretation. I’d say a school isn’t technically a “public place” and therefore the kids shouldn’t have to endure wearing masks, in what I suspect some classrooms will have over 100F heat conditions. “Public Place” to me, would mean what it says on the tin something available to the public ie banks, supermarkets, grocery stores, gas stations, hospital etc etc
Asinine. A clear reflection of our appalling failed public education system.
It is all schools! Private as well.
They are not the ones setting the rules.
Yes I agree the public schools are just as pathetic and are using this as an excuse to bag all the cash and blame everything on gov.
Wrong. The release quite clearly states that it applies to Government schools.
The government has very little understanding of the virus. They think they’ve done a phenomenal job. The infection rate is 0.33%. Canada is 0.35%. Also my the same, but one country is deemed successful the other a failure – at least by our government. Government quarantine facilities are meant for travelers who have elderly and or persons with underlying illnesses at home and the travelers choose to stay in the government facilities to protect loved ones. They are not forced in with heavy security. They are not concentration camps. Dominica, BVI and Mauritius have achieved the exact same status as Cayman. Bonaire, St. Barts and St. Eustatius and Saba have done equally well, but are open for travel. The real reason Cayman has done so well is that for decades persons coming here have had to do medicals. The result is a generally younger and healthy population with fewer underlying conditions. At least for work permit holders.
The Government has very little understanding of anything.
Re: the port
Then my children shall not be attending school
Keep them home then.
Best move. There is zero proven science that masks provide any benefit, not to mention the fact that the “virus” has not even been isolated yet.
But why let truth get in the way when the populace is already riddled with the perception of fear.
The governor knows this is a psy-op.
McLaughlin does and the people are waking up slowly but surely.
How much longer do you honestly think that the people will keep falling for this bullshit?