Businesses roll out mask mandates for customers

| 14/09/2021 | 84 Comments
Cayman News Service
Foster’s Countryside

(CNS): Banks, supermarkets, shops and other retail services as well as government offices were doubling down on mask mandates Tuesday with the news that a school child had tested positive for COVID-19, making it likely that the coronavirus, most probably the Delta variant, is spreading throughout the community. Foster’s was the first supermarket chain to announce that from tomorrow, customers will all be required to wear masks in their stores, including Price Right, and that shoppers should return to the six feet social distancing.

The Cayman Islands Bankers’ Association (CIBA) asked people to bank online, but if they must visit a branch to wear a mask. Sanitation stations are being reinstated in most business, and government offices are also introducing mask, sanitation and social distancing.

However, even before local businesses rolled out mandates for customers as well as staff, the Cayman community had already taken to wearing masks again and ensuring they practice other COVID protocols. It is clear that people understand that in order to avoid a lockdown, basic health and safety protocols in addition to getting vaccinated are the best solution.


Share your vote!


How do you feel after reading this?
  • Fascinated
  • Happy
  • Sad
  • Angry
  • Bored
  • Afraid
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Tags: ,

Category: Health, Medical Health

Comments (84)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. Concerned Citizen says:

    I have seen a lot of businesses on island including restaurants where the staff are not wearing masks and customers are not asked to wear a mask upon entering. Is this not required by law now? Or are we waiting for Government to put it into effect? They mentioned it at the press briefing including indoor and outdoor event mandates but nothing else has been said by Govt since. What is going on with them? Why is Govt just letting it be when we have community spread? PPM would have already put things in motion. Instead we just got boating regulations. ??? Like the fishermen are the ones that will be spreading COVID more than the ones on land. Does Not Make Sense

  2. Concerned Senior Citizen says:

    Could you (Wendy) ask at the next gov’t briefing the folowing:

    Since around March of 2020, the HSA has REDUCED the validity of prescriptions from 12 months to 6, and now requires that prescriptions only can be gotten for ONE MONTH at a time.

    This means that a person must now attend the pharmacy TWICE as often, and see the doctor TWICE as frequently. Thus it increases patient risk of exposure by a factor of 4!! Why is this illogical & counter-intuitive measure being taken, especially in this critical time of pandemic??

    • Anonymous says:

      Concerned Senior Citizen @ 15 /11:53 am ….EXTRA exposed because of the unnecessary process of standing in line 3 times to get one’s meds. 1. Stand and wait in line to get the coded slip from the pharmacy. 2. Stand and wait in line to pay the cashier. 3. Stand and wait again to present the coded slip and collect the meds from the pharmacy!

      Lunacy!!

      …Another Concerned Senior Citizen

  3. Clown World says:

    Florida has taken a more sensible approach than most places, so yes, I just might. Sage advice, my friend.

  4. Frustrated says:

    Mandating masks will kill the restaurant trade.

    • Anonymous says:

      Please elaborate

    • Anonymous says:

      correct! where is the chamber and cita response???
      sometime i think they suffer the same incompetence as cig!

    • Anonymous says:

      No it wont. Like everywhere else (and Cayman previously) – wear your mask to the table, take it off when seated. Staff wear masks. Has zero impact on the demand. What will kill the restaurant trade is a) further restrictions on numbers of people indoors and additional spacing between tables, and b) no return of tourists. Both of which seem rather likely given the extent of the reaction by government to a handful of asymptomatic community transmission cases. What do you think Wayne is going to do when someone falls seriously ill?

      • Anon says:

        Ahhhh so Covid is not transmittable whilst you are sitting at a table, eating, drinking and talking. Great science! But what I want to know is how does the virus know this??

    • Anonymous says:

      Restaurants are struggling to survive. Barely hanging on. They were looking forward to the reopening on Oct. 14 to start getting back on their feet. A 7 day quarantine just finished them off. No tourism till end of the year and then starting again in phase 3 = done. It isn’t masks that will kill the restaurant trade. It is the government over reaction.

    • Anonymous says:

      Wouldn’t worry about masks. Adding a 7 day quarantine and putting the reopening on hold till the end of the year is disastrous. No one is coming with a quarantine of any length. That is a given. Then, when the island opens (pretend that will be January), it will be back to phase 3 which still has a quarantine.Once again, no tourists will be coming. Usually government runs phases in 1-2 month periods. Phase 4 (pretend that the goal post won’t move AGAIN) then would start in March or April 2022. That wipes out all of high season because a quarantine will just be lifted, but tourists will be notified of this in late Feb. so too late to make Spring break plans, Easter plans, or even summer plans as many book those early.
      Phase 5 will start up (if goal post doesn’t move) in May or June 2022), but once again, tourists won’t be notified until late April. People will have already booked summer holiday plans. Tourism is done. Maybe- a slight chance- people will not have forgotten the Cayman Islands by next Summer 2022 and will book next high season? Or will they have traveled to so many other islands by that time that they have lost interest in Cayman by that time?

      My guess is that they have completely given up. People have waited a long time to travel back and thought this time was really going to happen. Goal post moved and think people are just plain fed up. The world is open, living with covid, and the island is still closed and not opening back till at least summer of 2022 or later.

  5. Anonymous says:

    By your logic, if you have the jab, you are protected so why do you care if I wear a mask? By your logic, if you wear a mask then you are protected so why should you care if I wear a mask? Why all of a sudden is 71% of the population only concerned with my personal health and well being? None of you ever cared about me before 2020, why is my health so important to you all now? MY BODY MY CHOICE!!!!!!!

    CNS: No. The person wearing the mask is not protecting themselves from infection but preventing themselves from spreading the virus if they pick it up. We want you to wear a mask because we care about the vulnerable person that you may infect by not wearing a mask.

    • Anonymous says:

      Thank you CNS for your response. Some people are just plain dumb and Narcissitic!!!!!

    • Straw Man says:

      If your seatbelt works why should I not drive drunk?

    • George Town resident says:

      Well … I will have to agree with Cns here. I am person who will not take the vax. I am accused of being selfish by my pastor. But I know where I stand, and at leadt I show respect to the elderly and those who have weaker immune systems than me. So, I still wear my mask and learn distancing. 🙏🏽 regards

      • Anonymous says:

        My child and I are deadly allergic to peanuts and shellfish. The Government must ban peanuts and shellfish. I am accused of being selfish, but I know where I stand.

      • Anonymous says:

        Shoutout to your pastor, he ain’t lying.

        If your doctor has advised you to take the vaccine but you won’t, then you ARE selfish and/or unintelligent. Have you even spoken to a medical professional about it?
        If you are choosing not to take the vaccine for any reason other than your doctor advising you not to….you are part of the reason why we can’t have nice things.

        I swear, humans could be a winning team if we didn’t have so many know-it-all idiots sabotaging the dubs.

        From an anthropologic perspective, it should be interesting to see what affect the global pandemic will have on human metrics like intelligence, mental physical and financial fitness over the next few decades.

        Seems like we might actually be moving into an era where the less intelligent members of the species won’t be able to compete for mates. People are already being ostracized and losing friends over their antivax bs. I’m definitely not having sex with, much less trying to procreate with someone that doesn’t see the value of innoculating against disease. especially in a pandemic. And I know for a fact I’m not the only one that is starting to feel this way.

        I bet during the black plague you had a bunch of science deniers that wanted to continue throwing their sewage in the street despite being educatied on how their behavior affected the community. The anti vaxxers and climate change deniers are just a modern manifestation of the same ignorant mentality.

        • George Town resident says:

          Trust me, I wouldn’t want to have sex with you either. But if selfish is what you call it in me refusing a vaccine, I’m fine with that. Just don’t expect the world to bow and care about your inoculations, or, whether they can have sex with you 🙂

      • Anonymous says:

        You stand stupid as you, as a child, were vaccinated for polo and others.

        • Anonymous says:

          Marco Polo?

          • Dizzy Dean says:

            Nah. Not Marco Polo. He must mean that game that some people play and knock the wooden balls through little wire hoops on the grass.
            Nah, wait a minute. That’s croquet. Maybe I should quit smoking that weed!

        • Anonymous says:

          I had the polo vaccine. I’m now able to play competitive sport on horseback and eat donut shaped mints at the same time.

    • Anonymous says:

      CNS the whole “protect the vulnerable” argument went out the door the minute vaxxed person could catch and transmit. Getting vaxxed only protects the inoculated person, no one else.

      CNS: This comment and my response is about masks, not vaccinations.

    • Anonymous says:

      Because your selfish choice not to wear a mask may kill me! And yes, for YOUR safety, I will wear a mask – you’re welcome.

      • Vaxed Sheep says:

        Lol you must be a joy in real life. If you are at such a high risk I recommend you quarantine yourself. You’re obviously not fit for social life anymore.

    • Anonymous says:

      Call me selfish all you like. But your health is not my responsibility, never has been and certainly isn’t my children’s.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Good decision. Irrespective of vaccination status people shld wear masks in indoor public places or in private places other than their own home or even open places when in crowds or with others for next 6 months to a yr. Hopefully covid will be low endemic levels by then like spanish flu as herd immunity would have set in by natural infection or by vaccination
    Just to remember always that vaccination minimises damage but does not prevent transmission. We have to learn to live with it around just like we live in a community with some criminals.

  7. Robert Mugabe IV says:

    CNS,
    I’ve always applauded CNS for their news coverage, the only one that I thought I could feel comfortable with until those two lines below, are they not both false? They just don’t seem correct.
    Is it only Delta that people are getting infected with now?

    “most probably the Delta variant” and “ the Cayman community had already taken to wearing masks again”
    “Most probably” ! That’s not news, that’s a guess. The Cayman Community, no it hasn’t…..a portion of the community had taken to wearing masks.

    Anyway, other than my petty whining keep up your great work on keeping us informed👍

  8. Anonymous says:

    Thank You Premier. Good decision. Regardless of who wont pay bonus if not vaccinated.

    But I still encourage people to reconsider. At the end of the day, its your choice which I respect.

  9. Anonymous says:

    Who’s buying the masks for us?

  10. Anonymous says:

    Not wearing a mask, should only be mandatory for the anti-vax tossers.

    • Anonymous says:

      This statement makes absolutely no sense as both vaccinated and non-vaccinated people can spread the virus. The only difference is that the vaccinated person will have lesser symptoms.

    • Anonymous says:

      If you think being vaccinated is a reason to not wear a mask or practice good hygiene, you’re part of the misinformed. CDC advises masks for the unvaccinated and vaccinated as there is still the likelihood to spread the virus if you unknowingly become positive, as seen with a couple cases here. Do your part… more than just the vaccine.

    • Anonymous says:

      Fine. Stay home then.

    • Anonymous says:

      sounds about white lmao
      says this and then still frowns when they arent allowed in fosters LMAO!

  11. Anonymous says:

    Maybe you can survive Covid, too. What an inconvenience that it may interrupt your Christmas. It interrupted all the Christmases of the people that died, too. Whaddya know. Good to know that deaths are acceptable to you rather than the small risk to your multi-billion dollar economy. People like you are the problem.

    • Anonymous says:

      Ahh what about those who are still alive but their industry is choking because of this over reach of precaution. 2 years is no longer a small risk to this economy, life needs to move forward and it won’t for us if we stay locked away.

  12. Anonymous says:

    The Government has just torpedoed the tourism industry. This will devastate our local bars, restaurants and hotels who have done everything that has been asked of them by the Government.

  13. Anonymous says:

    So what’s going to be different in January. We will be a sterile little island in a world swamped with Covid-19.
    We need to push the vaccinations and learn to live with it, otherwise we are just delaying the inevitable, or are we going to never open up again.
    Vaccinations prevent hospitalisations, deaths and minimise the effect it has on long term health.
    If people are so stupid, at this late stage, to still deny science and the best medical minds and push their idiotic alternative theories then they need to be psychologically assessed.

    • Kurt Ma says:

      what will be different? hopefully we’ll abe made progress toward much wider vaccination of children…..

  14. Anonymous says:

    We wish Mr Priemier had made it 9 days quartantine for Vaccine people and 14 for none vaccine people .

  15. Just saying says:

    Glad we are not going to zero quarantine October. In July we thought we had this beat, but we were wrong. We do need to rip off the band-aide, but not this close to Christmas. It will tank local businesses if we go back on lock down in December. Way more cost to the economy. Lock down for a week, or ten days. We can all survive that.

  16. Beaumont Zodecloun says:

    Whatever it takes. I’m in.

    • Anonymous says:

      Amazing that people disagree with this comment. The wingnuts have blown a gasket.

    • Anonymous says:

      Whatever it takes?? No matter any other side effects?? You aren’t thinking this through properly.

      • Beaumont Zodecloun says:

        Speak for yourself. My comment reflects the crux of the story — that masks are once again being required in various public businesses as a precaution against recent emergent community spread.

  17. Anonymous says:

    Cayman done for travel.

  18. Anonymous says:

    Smart. Part of the world wide Covid protocols. Now open border on Oct 14 & get rid of quarantine and start living live w/ Covid.
    It’s here to stay. Safely everyone can get work, play and go to school in a world along side Covid.

    • Anonymous says:

      Your grasp on reality has slipped. You are now living in Trumpland. Good luck.

      • Anonymous says:

        You just lost the argument when you said “Trumpland”. You still blame everything wrong in the world on Trump?

        • Orlando Bob says:

          The Trumpite Governors of Florida and Texas are doing a great job destroying normal life in those states with their stupid policies rejecting all advice from the medical professionals and teachers.

          Similar to the Trumpite Premier in Alberta, Canada who has created a major public health crisis in his Province too, with by far the lowest vaccination rate in Canada at 43%.

    • Anonymous says:

      If we are going to have to wear masks, then open the borders and remove quarantine.

      Else if quarantine in place, then we should not have to wear masks.

      Keeping both is just stupid.

Leave a Reply to Anonymous Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.