Premier: New virus strains ‘changing game’

(CNS): Premier Alden McLaughlin has warned that the borders of the Cayman Islands may not be opening next month, as previously indicated, because the spread of more infections strains of the coronavirus have “changed the game completely”. As the scientists are raising concerns that the vaccines may not protect against all of the new strains, McLaughlin warned that he could no longer be confident that Cayman’s tourism sector would rebound in March.

In an address at the Chamber of Commerce annual general meeting on Thursday, McLaughlin patted himself and his government on the back regarding the handling of the health crisis, and pointed to various grounds for optimism in comparison to other countries. But he said public safety would continue to dominate decisions about the border, as he implied he was no longer confident of opening them at the end of next month.

“With the arrival of new COVID-19 strains and concerns over how much protection the current vaccines will offer against these new variants, it has become increasingly challenging to develop a firm timetable to get the Cayman tourism economy up and running again,” he said.

He said that countries in the region that opened their borders early on in the pandemic, such as Bermuda and Barbados, have found that “the risks of opening too soon may have negative consequences for the health of both the people and the economy if community spread restarts, forcing renewed restrictions and lock-downs”.

McLaughlin said that while he hoped tourism would be back to near normal by high season, today’s plans must be flexible. “Circumstances are changing so quickly that it is unwise to think we can predict how things will be even just weeks into the future,” he added.

Barbados will be re-entering a lockdown on Wednesday this week because community spread of one of the new more infectious variants has been detected there. Keen to avoid the same fate for Cayman, the premier made it clear that public health was still at the centre of decision-making.

“We have come too far and we have borne too much to risk allowing the virus, in whatever form it takes, to re-enter our community and to rip across our islands,” he told the business audience. “Government must continue as best we can to balance the risks and make well-informed judgements about the future pace of re-opening.”

With concerns over the new strains being detected in travellers coming to Cayman, he said government must reassess and was awaiting updated information on the current vaccination programme and the situation with COVID-19. He said this included discussions about the new strains and the impact these have on plans to reopen the border.

“Whilst we need to consider how best to further open up, any decisions taken will be done with safety and public health as a major consideration,” he said. “We remain committed to finding a way to re-opening safely despite the new challenges that seem to be changing weekly.”

Although optimistic about a gradual return to normal by high season towards the end of this year, he warned that cruise tourism prospects were not good. “It is doubtful to the extreme that we will see cruise tourism start this year, based on the challenges that I believe the cruise sector will be facing,” the premier added.

McLaughlin pointed out that, while the country inches towards re-opening the tourism product, the financial services industry was “in good health”.

He said the reforms put in place and engagement by the government had resulted in the Cayman Islands being removed from the European Union blacklist, mentioning only in passing the very real threat that Cayman will soon be on a new EU blacklist.

Thanking the UK for fulfilling its promises to supply the vaccine to the British Overseas Territories, he said it provided hope for respite in this crisis. If enough people take the vaccination, the population will have a great deal of protection and Cayman will not see the ravages that have unfortunately affected many other places, he said.