Gov’t to host COVID-19 update briefing
(CNS): There were no positive results from the 182 COVID-19 tests carried out over the last day, Chief Medical Officer Dr John Lee said Tuesday, retaining our coronavirus-free status. But even as Cayman remains free of COVID-19, the virus is impacting us in many ways, and government will be hosting an update briefing on Wednesday to outline the latest on the border opening plans and how it is tackling the economic fallout.
The briefing is schedule to start at 3pm and will air on CIGTV and Radio Cayman and will also be live streamed on Facebook. Members of the media have also been given the green light to attend in person.
Meanwhile, Cayman’s testing tally now stands at 36,261, with a total of 205 positive cases. It has been four weeks since the last positive test in a person who arrived from overseas and nine weeks since the last positive case in the community. The total number of people in isolation, at a government facility or in their homes as required by the Medical Officer of Health, is 395.
Category: Health, Medical Health
A national emergency with expansive additional powers is the ultimate high for politicians and civil servants. This kind of opportunity rarely comes along and it will be quite the challenge to get them to let go.
Normality will not be yielded up until well into 2021. In the meantime, the resident population will be kept in line by emptying the pension funds (private sector) or sitting at home on full pay (public sector).
Just. Have. To. Keep. It. Going. Until. The. General. Election….
The vaccine trial is on hold, will the opening be put on hold too. The Cayman Islands should start looking towards growing our own food, forget about the cruise industry and take advantage of this very rare opportunity that this ‘pandemic’ has afforded us. Waiting on the vaccine to get back to normal is not a sensible decision.
We’ll see how the truly greedy feel when their door gets kicked in by the needy.
With the borders closed, I wonder what would happen if, God forbid, a hurricane devastated the Cayman Islands. Would Cayman be able to recover with no outside assistance or at that point would outsiders be allowed to arrive to assist with clean up, bring supplies? I’m not trying to start an argument here, simply sharing that this thought has been on my mind.
I understand many locals believe Cayman can survive long-term without the tourism industry, maybe that is true, maybe not, I suppose only time will tell. I suspect the borders will not reopen until sometime in 2021….how many restaurants and businesses can survive on local patrons alone? Again, not asking to start an argument but interested in how others see it is possible for these businesses to sustain long term without tourists.
Covid is not going away by next year. A vaccine will be developed but many will not get vaccinated. Treatment trials are ongoing, possibly one that works will be discovered soon but in the mean-time, we are all forced to find a way to live with Covid until it burns itslef out around the world (not likely to happen anytime soon). It is truly wonderful that Cayman is Covid-free but unless the borders remain closed indefinitely there is no way to keep Covid out of Cayman. What will Cayman look like this time next year if the borders remain closed that long? The government can’t afford to continually pay displaced workers, pension money won’t last forever, construction on new developments may continue but the construction industry can’t employ every person in need of a job, the banking industry is strong but how many new jobs are available to be filled?
I don’t profess to have the answers but it is difficult to see a path forward for the Cayman Islands if indefinite isolation from the rest of the world is the path chosen by CIG. It will be interesting to see if CIG has a plan, and equally interesting to see if the press briefing begins on time. Not holding my breath on that one.
@12:39
The day a plan is presented, Jesus will come back and save us.
If they want to keep us here and the tourists out then they need to sort out customs. It is a joke what is going on right now. Ppl waiting months for their parcels. The forms required to be completed are ridiculous and have no real reason behind it except to give customs a reason to keep delaying releasing your parcel. Why aren’t government hiring more out of work Caymanians there to help with the backlog? Why is customs allowed to hold onto people’s packages because UPS owe them money? Alden you need to answer this!
Yeah, I never understood that either. What people have to do with a carrier owning money to CBC?
Correction: courier
my prediction for the press briefing:
more waffle about ‘still working on plans’ for safe border opening
more waffle about ‘working on economic recovery plan’
more waffle about extending job opportunities for caymanians…
likely delay on border re-opening…now pushed till november
pension holiday to be extended…
I hope what you say is true!
forget the spring breakers, that type of yahoo mentality is not what we need. Allow monthly villa visitors with proven clear pre-testing and self quarantine. Allow property owners back too, but make anyone coming to a Covid-Free country wear a wrist band so I can stay 10 ft away from them! Why ruin our safety for greed? I say keep the tourists away and good luck WORC programs.
Been hearing that Bio Buttons aren’t going to work to monitor returning citizens? Any truth to this or is there a plan “B” Also, testing in the US takes at least 3-5 days to get results, how are you supposed to get test results, submit to CIG, obtain permission and book a plane reservation? No one, “Soon Come”
Testing in the USA is 12 to 24 hours max, Have done it many time even in FL hen they had large numbers. This is at a private lab, certified RT-PCR.
People are using these Labs all over the USA so they can travel so your comment is not true and is fake news based!
Can even post phone number if anyone needs the test in FL.
Could you please? I have not been able to find anywhere in S Florida that can guarantee that speed of turnaround with a PCR test for asymptomatic patient/travel purposes.
No speedy turnaround in Florida unless you pay big bucks.
I like big bucks and I cannot lie.
Please post. I need the number ASAP. Give me the name of the lab in Florida. Nobody seems to know what you know in Florida.
Nope, best I have been able to find so far is paying extra (at a manageable level) and results will come “within 3 days”.
Even TripAdvisor/ Cayman is done
hope they made a decision on extending the pension
Will they start on time??!! I’m not sure it’s a CGTV problem. Our senior elected officials are historically known to be tardy and condescending regarding other people’s time at gatherings which require their presence!
Ever attended the National Children’s Festival of the Arts with dozens of fidgety kids and having to wait interminably on Government Ministers and their entourages? Rude!
they have never started any briefing on time…tell you everything you need to know about cig and civil service
How you do anything is how you do everything.
Almost every commercial news service in the world that I have ever watched starts on time, almost to the second, and a delay of any consequence is a huge embarrassment. This is clearly a point of pride for those organisations, completely lacking among the “jackasses” in our government. They don’t even try, and don’t apologise for the predictable delays.
What are they thinking? I can understand briefing 1, at the start of the pandemic, but 2, 3, 4……. They clearly have no concept of, nor care for, the time wasted by tens of thousands of their viewers.
I did not watch this afternoon’s briefing, but I can only assume it started late. Alternatively, the Cayman Compass should have as its front page headline tomorrow “Government press briefing starts on time”!
Truthseeker
In case you missed it: “Oxford University vaccine trial paused after participant falls ill.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-54082192
So plan accordingly.
Several other compnanies are in phase 3 trials. Calm down.
Yep but it is 12 months away at best.
Time to get a plan to open without a vaccine.
No. Time to plan on not opening for at least a year. It is astounding that we have not already done so.
That’s not a plan… that’s economic suicide
Better than actual suicide. In any event, we can thrive economically even without tourists, if we only take advantage of the numerous opportunities being presented.
Bermuda and Barbados have figured how to open up gradually but we are not a bright people.
Alden McLaughlin is a hero! If you don’t believe it try living in America!
hmmm… in a few months the headlines could be… Caymanians, free of COVID19 are dying of malnourishment.
Regardless of the spread of Covid-19 across the globe, threatening livelihoods of millions, one thing remains constant: the life saving role of food supply chains and the constant need to keep them from being disrupted.
• planting and harvest for this year’s crop has been interrupted due to various issues, ranging from labour issues to availability of machinery and price volatility.
nope
Plenty goats on the farm on the bluff.
And chickens everywhere
Tree chicken too
Either a government worker or doesn’t need to work.
Hmm… I’d say the jury is still out let’s wait for 6-12months. Shutting down anything is relatively easy it’s reopening competently and managing various trade-offs that’s hard and I’d say it’s way too early to judge
I live in America and I am working 2 jobs which I have never done before. I go to the gym each day & beach on weekends. I grocery shop and head to the mall. Wear my mask and social distance. Covid is not raging in my area.
!So curious about travel from the US to Cayman Brac for residents.
Ungrateful ingrates. Caymanians are so blessed but are the biggest crabs in a barrel. All you do is complain. If you were Christians, you wouldn’t be complaining. Are you eating out of garbage cans, are you lying in some dark alley dying? No, then sthu and stop whining.
WTF did you say?
Let’s hope they give us clear communication on what the quarantine requirements are going to be come October They keep changing the rules and moving the goal posts.
Or if they will even open the borders!! Fingers crossed…
Will the Governor and Alden take questions directly from the public regarding all topics or are we still only allowed to ask questions that will not make the Governor uncomfortable?
If one follows those graphs the UK cases are increasing. The US cases are decreasing. What now Alden?
Our university boarders need to know what’s happening with our borders!.
All governments claim to care about is protecting the old and infirm. They’re quite happy to write off future generations to do so.
Yup, kids don’t vote and old people do. In addition, Cayman is a special case in that 50% of the population is also disenfranchised (as they are not Caymanian) and don’t get their interests represented. Ultimately, this leads to weak politicians and bad policy – more concerned with ways to siphon/divvy up the fees generated by work permits and stamp duties etc than creating an educated globally competitive labor force
Let’s see what time 3:00 pm converts to in CIGTV time! Will they have the audio sorted out this time?
Any bets?
My bet is it starts 3.23 and ends at 5.30
Starts at 3:23 and ends when Wendy asks a difficult question.
April 2021.
Beginning of April or the end? Losing Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Feb breakers, spring breakers. When is Easter? April school break is usually in the middle of the month…
What part of “Our Tourism Industry is Dead for at least another year due to a global pandemic” are you not understanding?
Tell us how visitors can safely come without reintroducing the virus, or shut up. Your thought process would literally risk lives so that people can come and sip cocktails!
There are lots of other options for jobs and revenue. Face up to that reality.
“ ots of other options for jobs and revenue”
Such as?
Construction
Remote workers
Long term (6 month+) visitors/Covid refugees.
Financial Services
Government New Deal-Like projects.
Solar
Education
etc…
Pretest before boarding and test on arrival. Test day 5,8,14. Social distancing and masks in high traffic areas. That is it!
Ummm, high traffic areas? You mean like schools, offices and restaurants?
All hail Emperor Alden!
Please don’t encourage him.
Long may the oppression continue.