COVID-19 fines increase to $10,000
(CNS): Government has steered through a change to the Public Health Law designed to deter people from breaching home-isolation rules during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the opposition leader described the amendment as draconian, the bill nevertheless sailed through its second reading. Fines for breaking quarantine rules will increase to $10,000, after Health Minister Dwayne Seymour said the current provision of $1,000 was too low, given the risk.
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly on Friday, he said the potential jail time was also going to be increase to two years. Seymour said the change would deter people from breaching quarantine and protect the community from new clusters or even community transmission of the coronavirus.
Seymour warned that as Cayman opens the borders more, we will have people coming from all over the world. He said the fines were not aimed at law abiding Caymanians but at those wealthy individuals who would not notice a small fine.
“We believe that our people here in the Cayman Islands, and as we have seen during COVID-19, are law abiding citizens,” he said. “What we have to be mindful of is the man or woman who arrives here who can easily afford $9,000 for their quarantine.”
He said the government had originally toyed with the idea of a $50,000 fine before settling on the $10,000 now in the law.
Deputy Governor Franz Manderson stressed that the increase was designed to be a deterrent and in other countries fines were many times more than the increase Cayman has made. The aim, he said, was to prevent a breach, not fining people. Outlining the “massive operation” that the public service was managing to keep the community free of the virus, he said the fine was an additional element to measures being taken to ensure people do not breach quarantine.
Category: Health, Laws, Medical Health, Politics
No worries rich folks the two class system is still alive and well in Cayman if you are willing to pay little extra you can arrive by Lear or BA first class and infect as many Caymanians as you like and get and exemption from the 10K fine! This however is only reserve for those who are either politically connected or friends of the elite in Cayman!
#foe
Can you add a link to your post? I want to sign up!
Only putting off the inevitable, this is never going away. Its now a treatable disease. It will never be eradicated, unlike the Cayman economy, that is almost eradicated. Dart is buying up more and more fire sales of properties. All the while the economy is decimated. Than what? You will double up the tourist taxes to bail out the ignorant? 2017 70 million people worldwide had pneumonia, 2.5mill died, 1/3 children and yet there is treatments for it. Covid is documented to be running at 10% strength now, and their are treatments and soon a vaccine that 30% will take. GC can not keep the wall up forever.
To digress a little.. I arrived 31 July via BA and spent 16 days in quarantine thankfully with a negative result… I agree system seems to be working well…however on leaving the plane I asked hostess where she would be staying overnight before return flight…. the Ritz!!!!! ( or the Risks!)
And your point is…?
My point is how are BA crew processed for Covid clearance to be able to overnight in the hotel?
I bet they have protocols for the crew. The same way nurses are cleared daily to perform their jobs. If nurses had to quarantine themselves after each shift, there would be no nurses on duty- all will be in quarantine.
Haha, the wealthy aren’t quarantined at all……can you say “private jet”……?
I’ve been asking for weeks…..
More government overreach gradually lulling us into a totalitarian controlled state where the few control the many – all in the interests of the ‘safety’ of the “ignorant” many.
Something very wicked is underfoot in Cayman.
One hand is inviting people (we need their money!!!), another accuses them, before they even came, in all sorts of law-breaking behaviour getting ready to arrest them, fine them, jail them?
Has Everyone on the “Paranoid” island lost their mind?
How about some respect for people you never met, know nothing about, who has done nothing wrong (probably ever)? Instead you start threatening them and justifying your threats by what?????????
So do you want people to come or not? You need them or they need you?
Azores never looked so beautiful and inviting …..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OTTbLx7RJU
You up so early whining bro,why don’t you Catch da early flight nah! If you got so many options wha ya still doing here ??? Go Home!
I get up with sunrise and go to bed with sunset. So you know.
Are they twins?
Identical.
I don’t think the fine is high enough.
I don’t think you are high enough
How much more verbal insults the rich who are “welcomed” can take?
Does Health Minister Dwayne Seymour even understand what he is saying? What about
Deputy Governor Franz Manderson?
Has everyone here lost their mind to coronavirus hysteria?
Dem Cubans can’t afford dat.
Ever see a civil fine other than a speeding ticket enforced?
Can You Tell If It’s the Flu or COVID-19? Doctors Say It’s Not So Clear
https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/09/418606/can-you-tell-if-its-flu-or-covid-19-doctors-say-its-not-so-clear
So, the rich are welcomed to come but aren’t considered to be law abiding and can handle a fine? Sounds suspicious to me.
We will not be coming until there is no quarantine and no geofencing which now sounds like a set up to get money off the rich.
5:11 the likes of you are not wanted here anyway.
A fine and a deportation Stamp in their passport and notation in our immigration system will wake up Mista Johhny Come lately TeK Wood! Well done well done unity Government!
Deport the Caymanians to where?
Common cold is caused by coronavirus. It is quite possible that PCR detecting similar, but harmless coronavirus where cases are increasing. Europe, North America and Canada are in the common cold season of no sun.
It’s easy to understand why so many of these comments are pro lock down and anti science when so many caymanians literally live in an isolated bubble and only get fed information (propoganda) from CNN/BBC. Im caymanian too, but I at least have enough brain cells to realize that cayman’s current lockdown policy is not economically sustainable and also is completely illogical when you consider the death rate of covid is about 0.02% and according to WHO about 10% of world population has already had covid.
Why do you hate news so much? Is it because you have already been brainwashed by pro trumpers?
No, the posters comment is that the news coverage is biased, which CNN/BBC certainly are, nobody would argue that.
You love BBC.
Just like we all do.
I was so shocked recently when I looked at the local cable companies channel lineups they are force-feeding Caymanian citizens pure CNN there is only one company that includes the option of Fox News in their basic package all the others you have to buy it as at a premium.
Fox News is fake news.
And CNN is propaganda! To be honest it’s disgusting to watch either.
Fox News is not designated as a news channel, but is considered an enterainment channel.
Fox News is not designated as a news channel, but is considered an entertainment channel.
Cayman27 anyone?
Alden threw them underneath the bus over $104k in fees. But golden spoon recipients can come take millions though?
No PBS is good enough to fund for Cayman unless he say so (CIGtv) because he have allergies to back chatters!!
Don’t worry. The CV will pushed to the side once November 3 has passed. It won’t be nearly so important after that date.
You are so wrong and you need to stop being a cog for Republicans who get richer and leave you behind.
You have enough brain cells to get the death rate wrong – it’s about .2% not .02%.
excellent! for once politicians doing something right….good job
Why did it take weeks to change this law but only a few days to make sure the global citizen thing was legally in line with incoming traveller allowances?
Exactly! Cayman government is trash, they care more about catering to outsiders with money then there own people. It’s ridiculous how fast they created this new global concierge website for the “rich” to apply but take weeks to develop a proper site for incoming travel
As I recall there were a large number of people living on this island that completely ignored the warning back in the early days of lockdown to not congregate on the beaches…ignoring this rule resulted in our beaches being closed. The comment that the law is not directed at Caymanians is rediculous. If Caymanians are in quarantine why should they be excmpt from the consequenses of breaking quarantine? Of course, none of this means anything unless the law is enforced.
It is my opinion that people are not knocking down the door to come to Cayman and the borders are not truly open. They will not be open for a very long time and we will watch many businesses fade away, never to return. By the time CIG is comfortable with allowing people to return it will be too late for most tourism businesses. It is amazing that so many folks don’t, can’t or won’t accept the fact that the money from the government will eventually run out. All the talk of preparing Caymanian’s to take all the job vacancies in the torism industry sounds good in theory but there are NO jobs to be had in tourism and there will not be any jobs available until the return of tourism. How long can people live without a job, and how the heck and displaces tourism workers live on $1000.00 permonth in Grand Cayman? Let’s face it the cost of living is extremely high. How does one buy food, pay rent/house payment, pay for gas, utilities on 1000.00 per month?
rediculous indeed.
rediculous indeed.
Please don’t pop their bubble that they have worked so hard to build. They will lose their right to self rule as the UK will have to step in and keep them from running off the cliff. But they did conquer Covid and kept paychecks coming to the voter class for a long time. Mission accomplished Island lost.
$10k? I say not enough. I say, we make them do 5 years of community service. and make them live on top of the new beach mountain that’s appeared where the dump was (because that’s not there anymore, its gone. Now its Beach Mountain). Also, they should apologize to everyone on the island, individually, each week. And just to make sure they know we’re not happy they’ve escaped from prison with no more than a sniffle, I say we tattoo C19 to their foreheads.
People with this kind of money won’t come to start with. Not after such “welcome”.
Would a traveler go to an island where: a 15 day quarantine, geofencing, 10 K fine or arrest, no flights on or off , etc. no air deals, no hotel deals, not welcoming
OR
Would a traveler go to an island: island is open and welcoming, air and land deals, pretest, test at arrival, a test 5 days in and freedom the rest of the trip
Tough decision.
Good, make um stay where they are.
It is odd that the government says they will be led by science and the experts to guide them and yet ignore that advice. I understand that both the CMO and civil service have advised about using pre flight PCR testing to substantially reduce the quarantine time from 14 days to either 5 or 8 days. Yet the government has ignored this advice.
Why is this important? There would be no need for government to enact these kind of punitive and draconian restrictions if it didnt have to try and enforce a long quarantine period. It has created its own problem.
And before all the fear mongers jump up and down, this approach has been shown to work in the real world. Bermuda has been open for at least a couple of months now and the require extensive testing from travellers but no quarantine at all if you test negative at arrival and have provided a negative pre flight PCR test.
The latest result from today is 2,643 tests with 3 positives, all travellers. They have had no community transmission for some time.
I am not advocating no quarantine but it is important for Caymanians to understand that when a well thought out testing program is introduced it can manage Covid effectively without having to resort to mandatory 14 quarantines which provide no ability to restart our tourism industry.
So jail them for 2 years at a cost of what $50-60k a year? The fine should be at least enough to cover the jail costs
Hard to fine anyone since no one is coming! What a joke–just same ole -same ole–stupid comments by gov’t.
Remember the Bio Button?
Protect the elderly and open the country up!
12:46 Actually we have a lot of requests coming in for people wanting to come to Cayman. Just ask Travel Time.
Such an increase should give would be delinquents “food for thought”. However I believe that punitive measures should go ‘hand in hand’ with encouragement (by frequent public service announcements)of the importance of mask wearing in public , social distancing and frequent hand sanitizing or washing where practical.
The resurgence of Coronavirus in Europe and the continuing steep rise of cases in the United States should serve to remind us that we are still in a battle to come to grips with this pandemic. While I agree with those who warn against the economic consequences of another lockdown ,I am equally concerned about the risk of community spread as the jurisdiction opens up to passengers from high risk jurisdictions. It seems to me that at this time we are literally “our brothers and sisters keepers”
Agree 100% with Mr. Roy. What has happened to preventative measures recommended by leading scientists? We must return to mandatory mask wearing and social distancing immediately.
How are those quarantined being monitored for compliance beyond the geo-fencing bracelet? For example, I am aware of someone who has witnessed a helper coming and going on a daily basis from a home where the residents are under quarantine. The neighbour attempted to report this to the hotline and after 20 attempts with no answer, gave up and called the police station. The officer asked for the caller’s name and when they would not give it, said the police would not investigate or take any action.
THIS is how we’re going to end up with cases again in the community and then Alden and crew will totally overreact (the handling of the Red Bay situation was a very depressing view into what’s to come once we have community cases again) and put us back into a totally unnecessary lockdown.
We have so much more info now than back in March that we need to find ways to deal with this that don’t include closing schools (the impact on mental health of the children greatly exceeds any risk of COVID – again, given what we know now. Most schools are open worldwide in areas with active cases and in zero instances has this resulted in all the kids dying. Let’s exercise some common sense here now!) or shutting us back down again.
121.29pm No one ever said all the kids would die so let’s get that off the table. But what about the child who carries the virus home and infects an at risk family member? Are you really content for that to happen.
You make a good point. I recently completed a 15 day isolation period at home and not once was I checked. I could have invite any one around at any time (but didn’t).
Glad you made it through.
Were you in a townhouse, could you use your patio? I’m trying to figure out where the geofencing limits are set. Thanks to anybody who can shed light on this.
I’m currently in anj apartment on the beach, week 2. I’m allowed to take the trash out, so I did with my phone in hand so the wristband didn’t lose connection. Within 30 yards of the front door the phone buzzed saying I had strayed. But I had done nothing wrong and was fully within the rules. I pressed the green “I am here” button as soon as I was back in the apt. Didn’t hear anything more. Next time maybe I’ll leave the phone indoors and then reconfirm when I walk back into the apt. Bottom line there is no perfect system it would appear.
Thank you!
Lol. Better than Comedy Central
The unit next to ours had a quarantined couple, and although they apparently followed all rules and stayed in, I can tell you that NO ONE from public health ever came to check on them. Even on day 15, no one came to test them, they took a taxi to the clinic to be tested.
They could have had anyone at all come over to visit, and if they had been one of the travelers who tested positive at the end of quarantine, they would have put the taxi driver and all people in the public clinic at risk.
I thought public health was supposed to make visits during the quarantine and come to the home to test them at the end, and I can tell you that none of that is happening.
With such watchful neighbors They didn’t need anyone checking on them. 😂
Good points! How do I know if somebody is in quarantine? What if I innocently knock on the door of somebody in isolation because for example their car is leaking fluid, would that mean I’m breaching their quarantine, even accidentally?
What exactly is this law, what constitutes a breach and how do we tell if we are in breach of quarantine??? How do we report breaches if the police and hotline are not responding?
“ He said the fines were not aimed at law abiding Caymanians but at those wealthy individuals who would not notice a small fine.”
Maybe they should increase the fines and award jail time for blatant breach of planning permission for exactly the same reason- a $1000 after the event approval fine for Mike Ryan clearly had no deterrent when you are working with a multi million dollar development.
Did anyone even get fined the full$1000? Or get jailed – other than that guy who caught caught doing a bunch of other stuff whilst breaking curfew? So increasing the jail term from 6 months to 2 years and increasing the fine ten fold – not really that credible.
Laws need to be enforced , laws no good if keep
Letting people off. I hope the laws/fines applies to all including all Policiations and their wives
Mr Manderson needs to do his homework fines in the UK range from 100 to a maximum of 1000 pounds. Can he inform us which countries levy a 2 year jail sentence?.
In Canada, failure to comply with the Quarantine Act could lead to fines of up to $750,000 or even six months in jail. And if a person caused serious bodily harm or imminent death by recklessly or willfully contravening the Act, they could see fines of up to $1,000,000 and/or three years in jail.
12.30pm We are not a Canadian colony, thank goodness.Trudeau must be off his rocker fining a street sleeper $750,000 for not staying in his tent.
Or planning another public relations disaster to India. Makes one wonder where these people get their stupid ideas. My guess is only a doctor and flashlight could point to where.
Good luck collecting on that fine…lol lol…
Kind of loses its credibility and power when it’s obviously no enforceable.
You can’t get blood from a turnip.
Canada
Does this apply only to self isolation, what about those quarantining in hotels?. As far as “Caymanians being law abiding citizens,and the law not being aimed at them”, if anyone (non Caymanian of course) ends up “quarantining” in Northward for two years he will certainly have a lot of Caymanians for company.