Gov’t opening on basis of risk-reward balance
(CNS): Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan has said that government might not hold fast to opening next month but will be making an assessment about lifting quarantine requirements based on a risk-reward basis because the future of the COVID-19 pandemic remains unpredictable. But he noted that government cannot sustain an endless closure of the tourism sector because of the need to pay stipends, support small businesses and other related costs, while at the same time losing millions of dollars in accommodation taxes and other related fees.
Appearing on Cayman Crosstalk, Rooster’s morning talk show, on Friday, Bryan confirmed that the stipend will not stop before the end of the year and spoke again about the threats to end the payments that he made on Radio Cayman, saying that while it will taper off for those who go back to work, it will not come to abrupt end.
The minister apologised to anyone who was upset by his use of the words “scare tactics”, as he explained he was trying hard to motivate local people to sign up for the tourism jobs that are now re-emerging. He said the government was still battling with the industry to make sure Caymanians come first in the current recruitment efforts ahead of the border opening.
“If there is a stipend recipient who felt that my comments… made them feel bad, then I really do apologise as I don’t want them to feel that way,” he said. “The most important thing I want them to take away is that the government will assist you as much as possible, but our job is also to give you as much support to get you back to work.”
But the government is facing growing concerns across the community about re-opening in the face of the Delta variant and high infection rates in the USA, especially given the fact that children under 12 cannot be vaccinated. While the vaccine is proving its worth in protecting people from getting sick, it is now evident that fully vaccinated people can still spread this strain even when they are unaware they are infected.
Bryan said this was the issue that government must balance against the economic situation. “When you weigh out the risk versus reward, it is hard to say to a large industry… with a lot of Caymanians working in this industry, that their priorities are not important,” he said. “Government continues to lose a lot of money as well as pay out a lot every month.”
He said government is spending more than $6 million per month on stipend alone and millions more is being spent while revenue is being lost in the face of a pandemic, but there is no end in sight and it appears that we are all going to have to learn to live with the virus.
He said that hypothetically it might not go away for five years but that would be an unsustainable situation for government because although the financial services is carrying the economy, that sector is being squeezed as much as possible to cover the public service costs.
“We believe… and are seeing potential ways for the risk to be low enough to allow… tourism related business to open,” he said, noting the protections in place such as the reintroduction of arrival testing, the pre-testing and vaccination.
“Can we put enough safety mechanisms in place that will allow us to live with it?” he asked rhetorically, as he explained how the government is thinking about the removal of quarantine for those fully vaccinated with verifiable shots in October. But he said government was making the decision based on the “prerequisite of 80%” national vaccination rate.
He said there was a high probability that Cayman would still be lifting the first isolation restrictions next month but it was not set in stone. “We have to make that last check around what the science says about the risk levels,” he said.
However, there are concerns about the ability for the fully vaccinated to become infected and spread the virus, especially the potential impact on children and how vulnerable they are to getting sick, and many people want the reopening to be delayed.
But Bryan said that this was the issue for government, which had to decide the best time to open to prevent the economy collapsing versus the risk to the community, and in particular children, and causing severe outbreaks that would rive the country back into lockdown.
The minister said the focus now was on minimising the risk to protect children as much as possible and that it was not an absolute certainty that quarantine would begin to be lifted on 14 October.
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
1. No real tourism is coming back to your island until the restrictions are simplified, including for children, and all pharmacies are included.
2. The restrictions in place now, as stated on the website, are WAY TOO intricate.
3. The site should just say “see next island” because that’s what we’re all doing.
4. You will keep your island “safe”, but you are destroying SO many of its businesses.
5. Keep going we do not want your kind.
Don’t want your kind either whatever you mean by that.
It seems many people commenting on CNS articles do not want any outsiders to ever set foot on this island again. When we do reopen (it won’t be in October) maybe we should make all arriving tourists and nonresidents wear a big scarlet letter on their chest. Then we will know who to hate and treat like crap. This way we can be sure they never return and spend any money here and all the people getting stipends can continue to sit on their butts and collect their money from the government.
Spoken like someone who is being paid to sit on his couch!
“Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan has said that government might not hold fast to opening next month…”
Back pedaling again. This government CANNOT make a plan and stick to it. Moving the goalposts AGAIN!!!!!!!!!
If the opening is for tourism no one will come here to have even 5 of their vacation days in quarantine as most of them come for such period only. Also vaccination will reduce severity of disease but not getting infected and transmission. So diff levels of quarantine meaningless and headache.
Hence open up when usa canada and uk of our to and fro travel when the daily incidence comes down to 1 for 100000 pop that equals to 15 active cases per 100000 at any time i.e. about 4 to 5k daily or about 50 to 60 k active cases at any time. As it will become or becoming endemic difficult to go below 100000 soon. Let us be practical.
CIG should be charging for the COVID tests. Going rate is $350 which with all the travelers will cover the tourist workers stipends and have some left over. Why should those that are sensible enough to stay on-island be paying for all the travelers that insist on going on holiday or dumping their kids at boarding school so they can live without them.
Good Lord that’s an expensive Covid test. The most I’ve ever paid is 85.00 for a PCR test.
You can’t have had an official one in Miami then
Nope official PCR test in Austin, TX.
Keeping a 5-day quarantine means vaxxed arriving passengers have to be processed and tracked by Travel Cayman. That means on arrival, every passenger needs to go through airport processing, individual dedicated transportation from airport and to/from end of quarantine testing, monitoring/spot checks and wellness checks, pre-clearing accommodation etc….
On a practical basis, Travel Cayman can perhaps realistically stretch/handle double the current flight capacity or at the outside triple with adding significant more resources. That is not that many flights a week (less than 10 at most), and I can guarantee you that when more flights are added, the inventory would be quickly absorbed by eager Cayman residents given that everything has been sold out for months.
So, you can realistically forget about tourists with a 5-day quarantine. Only a certain limited amount of additional flights would be permitted to enable Travel Cayman to undertake this and that flight inventory would be gonzo before a tourist could ever sniff one out (once they wrap their mind around spending almost a week locked up in a quarantine hotel).
You speak the truth 8:52 pm
If we keep the 5-day (really 6.5 to 7 days), no point reopening the Ritz, Marriott, Westin, Hampton (former Comfort Suites). No tourist is going to want to spend almost a week locked indoors in a small hotel room, and pay $2 to $3K for a week of watching TV and surfing the internet. Not exactly a vacation — its effectively a week of jail.
Maybe a larger condo room perhaps or a house and we will get a trickle that want to spend several weeks here.
But a trickle at best.
Latest information is that 1 in 7 children who catch Covid and survive will have some prolonged symptoms. Is doing that to our children worth dropping quarantine for. I think not!
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/study-finds-long-covid-19-affects-up-to-1-in-7-children-months-after-infection-1.5569502
Get used to these stories in Cayman. Bermuda has no quarantine for vaxxed (instead just arrival, day 4, day 10 test). Or Cayman can keep 5 day quarantine and welcome a few less visitors (but open up flights for XX sakes).
“School delayed for some students as Saltus staff test positive for Covid”
https://www.royalgazette.com/health/news/article/20210904/potential-covid-exposure-at-saltus/
We had 24 people test positive here, 9 of whom are vaccinated. We NEED to keep quarantine.
This is all false
Bermuda gets everything right
Cayman is always behind progress!
In all honesty, it is ridiculous to have different levels of quarantine based on vaccination..no rational justification anymore seeing as the CDC, English advisors, scientists, and other researchers have stated time and time again that vaccinated persons catch and transmit the virus, the same way that the unvaccinated do. Who can hide the virus symptoms longer than those without the vaccine? Those that are vaxxed.. if anything is should be the vaccinated who should have to quarantine longer.
No, you are not correct. Vaccinated people with breakthrough infections clear the virus much quicker than unvaccinated. In other words, they are if they do get infected, they are infectious for a shorter period of tim. I would listen to the CDC (below) rather than an anonymous poster on CNS!
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/variants/delta-variant.html
Your statement is appallingly wrong!
It would be absolutely ridiculous to lift quarantine restrictions at this time, especially since research has shown that vaccinated people can catch and spread Covid, hence all of the discussions surrounding boosters. However, if this foolish government does go ahead with this asinine plan to do away with quarantine, let us all be reminded that only individuals who are vaccinated (and verified) are exempt from quarantine. The unvaccinated or those with young children must quarantine for 14 days and test negative before being released into the population. With that being said, if there is any community transmission, it would be the vaccinated that would be the cause of that.
24 more cases. Residents, not tourists. Lockdown coming soon.
Amen to that..it is inevitable with these dunderheads we have in CIG
Endemic disease, will exist perpetually. Flu season and COVID season. There will be future waves as this ripples around the world.
Time to live with this and move on. College football stadiums were packed this weekend, Premier League stadiums full, Broadway is back.
Cayman has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. Its time.
Totally agree 6:37. It is time to open. The only way to get moving is drop quarantine and the smartest thing for those worried is to be vaccinated.
But hospitals in the US are much better equipped to handle COVID cases. Not so much here. HSA is a joke.
How many one, two, and three year work permit renewals have been granted since they came up with the idea of requiring vaccinations prior to approval.
How many one, two, and three year new work permit grants have been issued?
Lots of people will be returning to our shores to work in the hospitality industry, Seems like we will not have a vaccination requirement in place in time to be effective.
Don’t you think anyone with any sense coming here is already vaccinated? At least for travel purposes not to mention employment requirements?
Each time I read a story on this subject I realize indecision is the real illness on island. From the absence of facts or planning by CIG to the ignorant comments posted from third hand social media opinions, we are in decline. The real world is moving forward but the calendar here still reads June 2020. Govern Chicken Little govern……
So true. We are stuck in a summer 2020 decision making and implementation plan but it’s now end of summer 2021. We are a year too late in reacting, which just delays the inevitable by a year, it’s ridiculous.
Yeah
You are so right
Bermuda is mikes ahead of us
Tourism booming
My 2 cents. Call me crazy if you wish. Covid is here for a reason. Call it God, Universe or Nature, it created the virus that was able to stop everyone in its tracks.
The virus gave us time to reflect on the direction we are going. Planet Earth is polluted, the oceans, seas, rivers and lakes are polluted, Space is polluted with junk and satellites. Wildlife is suffering, many species are at the brink of extinction. Never ending wars and political conflicts. People are sicker than ever-cancers, neurological, mental disorders are rsmpant
What did we learn? What did we change? NOTHING! How did we change? We are more hateful, intolerant and deeply divided.
Do we need something stronger and bigger to get back to our senses?
4:59 completely agree!
The borders can open!
Just keep the quarantine rule in place.
We can market (I mean proper marketing) our Island/community as a covid free one.
Please convince differently…In this world of covid, and “covid fatique”… How is a covid-free society not marketable?
Cayman Islands- 691 cases of covid.
715 cases. Sure seems like a lot of cases for a “Covid free society”. What a joke!
Yet…all of those cases recovered well (minus two that were already dying before they got Covid).
Bear in mind that at least 80% of our tourists are from the good old USA who for the most part have extremely limited vacation time. It doesn’t matter how good your marketing is, or how many millions you spend on a campaign, none of them will visit us and waste their precious vacation if they have to quarantine, so a pretty pointless opening.
Also, those of us in the USA have been freely traveling to other places without quarantine. We’ll keep spending money elsewhere until the quarantine is gone.
Good luck marketing that! No one is going to want to come here on vacation and get locked up indoors in a quarantine hotel for almost a week. ( And if they do test positive at the end, they will be locked up another week.).
It’s one thing to be locked up in the comfort of your own home for almost a week as a returning resident, but quite another in a tiny hotel room in a foreign country, especially on “vacation”!
If they are panicked by COVID they aren’t going to travel and go through crowded airports and packed airplanes in the first place.
People will simply choose elsewhere.
The outside world has learned to live with it. No one is going to come and isolate for 5+ days in a hotel room for their vacation. A typical vacation from the USA is only 7 to 10 days. You can try and sell a covid-free society but you can’t sell 5+ days locked in a hotel room.
Many people did not believe it when I said that the government has decided that the cost of keeping the virus out of the country is simply too high. The government is willing to look at all of the available data as it relates to the actual and potentially devastating impact of the delta variant and still decide that even with the likely reintroduction of masks, social distancing, lockdowns, deaths and the crippling of the domestic economy it is worth it to open the borders to travel from countries that we know don’t have the virus under control.
You will never keep the virus out. It may already be here, Covid is not going away so why no open now? We have to learn to live with Covid like the rest of the world. Sometimes it seems some caymanians are so deluded that they really think we can keep Covid out the community forever. Covid will be here in 10 years, 20 years…..
I wish PACT would choose a spokesperson that is respected and believable . Anything Kenneth spouts is suspect and self serving, makes my skin crawl.
I remember Mr Bryan’s role in protecting McKeeva Bush from a job confidence vote. I will never believe a word he says about anything
How do our children fit into this calculation? New evidence is that Delta is far more serious in children than originally thought.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/study-finds-long-covid-19-affects-up-to-1-in-7-children-months-after-infection-1.5569502
How much is life worth? How about mental health especially for our children? We can do without road works for awhile and redirect those funds, we can do without government building renovations for awhile too! You can put a halt on buying up land for government purposes for a few more months too! It’s not about sustainable income, it’s now about reallocating funds where there are needed in crisis for at least 6 more months! When our hospitals are full of Covid who can get help without risking getting the virus? When you have community spread Covid and other illnesses cannot be addressed it’s our people who are going to suffer! All you lil tourists can go hone and get health care… we are stuck! How much is life worth when right now, thanks to the former government, we have a normal life healthy enough for our families and kids, especially the ones who are not well with asthma or cancer! I am sorry from the bottom of my heart I voted for this government! We wont even be able to take our kids to the grocery store, have a birthday party, or socialize without risk! We endured so much to get here only to be exposed for GREED! Government doesn’t want to change their life styles to help the people!
Trust me, I regret voting for this sorry bunch as well. They are all disgraces.
Boarders closed to protect the children is very poor excuse- children are so unlikely to get severe illness from Covid that better way to protect them is to keep economy healthy, their parents at work and government with some resources to treat other illness that they or their family is much more likely to suffer from.
Stop spreading misinformation! (And for goodness sake it is spelled Borders)
your the idiot here, he got one thing right, children are so unlikely to get severe illness from Covid.
“your the idiot”… classic.
YOU’RE.
Well I would consider any reopening that is going to involve closing schools as unacceptable. We need to consider not only the physical health of our children (agree – COVID generally does not severely impact them) but also their mental health. They need to be in school, able to socialize, etc.
No need to lockdown schools. I work at a school that has been open since July 2020. No lockdown. When someone gets covid, they go out, the rest go on.
Dr. M.E.C. Giglioli 1966:
“The extremely high densities of nuisance, salt-marsh mosquitoes found in the Cayman Islands prevent the extension of the tourist season and present a threat to this industry which constitutes the basis of the Islands’ economy.”
Newsflash. Tourists still don’t want to be eaten by our national insect.
Will the PACT Govt do anything to fix the MRCU disaster of the last three years?
Sandra has a busy week coming up. Champion of the Environment, and giver of all things good and honest, Wayne Panton’s (New?) Planning Board has approved the cabana in the sea on Boggy Sand road that the DOE directed them to refuse. That should take the heat of Kenneth for a while.
CIG continues to look after those who choose not to look after themselves, at the expense of those who do. Yes, when we open the borders, even in a sensible manner, COVID will spread and some will get sick. However, the only ones who will get very sick (or die) are the unvaccinated or those with other health issues. CIG might better spend its time and energy helping that small segment of the population take precautions upon opening, such as masking, sanitizing, quarantining from potential exposures. Open the doors, and let the majority of Cayman rejoin society…
You are a totally moron if you think the vaccine is going to protect you. The waning effects are discussed daily. So much so they are already planning 3rd end 4th jabs. Good luck with that
How many doses of tetanus vaccine have you taken?
Wayne is a Lodge Brother but MacKeeva controls him
MacKeeva approved the original sea wall
Yeah, yeah, I know – it was under MacKeeva’s government
Get it through your thick skulls, Mac Bush is the Primer!
Another FOX addict!
not sure why nobody is asking the the most importatn question.
if we pen fulkly on 14th oct…who and how many will get sick and need hospitalisation?
this is the only question.
people get sick/die all the time….but they cannot be let overrum the health system. this is whole basis of any covid policy.
hurricane ida just killed 600K people in the US
that’s more than covid for the last 2 years ENOUGH with the fear of covid. The stupidity has gone on long enough.
You are more likely to die in a car accident. Than from covid. Get a grip, covid is not going away. Keeping the borders closed weakens us. Not strengthens us. Because as covid gets stronger, when we finally get it. We will be worse off.
Do you mean 60?
I imagine you’ve got to be pretty stupid to spread misinformation like this, so please pay attention.
Hurricane Ida has killed 71 people in the US as of today, there are however 600k people still without power. Yes the stupidity has gone on long enough, please don’t just Google something, see a number and then spread incorrect facts, it’s not helpful.
It did not kill 600,000 people. 600,000 are still without power, stop sensationalizing headlines and not reading the articles
What are you smoking? 600k?
WOW! I have no words to rationalize the lack of facts or logic. Please don’t add to the gene pool!
Readers – PLEASE follow logic and common-sense.
Clearly the high-end beneficiaries of the tourism industry (hotel, condo & restaurant OWNERS – not necessarily Caymanian) have gotten to McKeeva through his favourite means, and he’s gotten to his own puppet, Kenneth Bryan.
Anyone thinks this is Kenneth’s own mind speaking??
We should open only when the countries that wants to come here and Caymanians wants to go there has gotten the Covid under control like we have here
Hmmmm…….that may be never. Covid is here to stay.
Never say never.
PACT why in the hell are you all letting this person near a microphone?
If the Primer is scared then appoint another person to speak on behalf of your government, please
Give him a wig or something like that and let him go sit in the corner with MacKeeva.
Covid is endemic. It is with us forever. The minister is mistaken that it will “go away” In 5 years. Has the flu gone away, or a cold? The earlier we learn to live with this virus the better.
I’m no virus expert, but to me it seems that my inoculation has given me and those around me a good chance of getting Covid and not dying or suffering serious side effects that decreases more and more the longer we are isolated.
Time to get on with it. Open the borders and those that haven’t taken their jab will suddenly become very willing to take it.
You clearly don’t keep up with the information about the vaccines if you think that’s true.
Yer an idiot
Talk to God about it, Since nothing happens without his/her involvement. May be he/she/it will bring it under control.
Meantime, with the visitors gone, what did we all do to make Grand Cayman a better place to live? The virus gave us a break to start thinking where are we going and why.
Then you are going to stay closed for many, many years. The reality is COVID IS NOT GOING AWAY.
That is fine
Children don’t need protection. They are more likely to be struck by lightning while holding aloft their winning lottery ticket and riding a unicorn than they are of becoming seriously ill from covid.
Vulnerable adults – mainly the elderly and obese – do need protection. But those people have either had the vaccination which makes them exceptionally unlikely to suffer serious illness, or else they have chosen not to have it.
Either way, there is no need to continue to kill the economy and keep the entire population imprisoned for the sake of those people. They have made their choice about the vaccine and can live (or die) with it.
Pretty short sighted JTB, I have to assume in the potential interests of those you mention there isn’t anyone relatable close to you, – If there is I extend sorrow to them.
You’re only thinking of only the immediate individual being sacrificial for attainment of an aeconomy’. Do yourself a favour and check out the consequences and who else is affected when the virus takes hold on the community, you’ve lived through it so far, look a little bit further than just your pocket book.
My pocket book is fine. My work is unaffected by covid. My concern is for those who are less lucky than me in that regard.
so you’re empathy extends to a dollar value and not that of physical well being for those who’s health would potentially be compromised, – right, got it
Not everything is about money JTB, you would do well to recognize that.
I live in a red zone. I have been vaccinated. I go to the gym, grocery store, work each day, restaurants, the beach, the local pool. I travel. I do not worry and feel protected. I do wear my mask in high areas where I can not social distance (concerts this summer, airports). Covid is here. Respect it, but learn to live with it.
I as well. I am not vaccinated but have recovered from the CV has as all my family and extended family.
I do all the same things as you mentioned except I never wear a mask and I only social distance when I see a person wearing a mask.
Everyone has to or will have to learn to live with the Corona virus. There isn’t another choice.
Money buys me food, pays my rent, medical insurance, gives me light and water. Please tell me how you live without money.
Odd statement to make on this island. You realize CIG’s current funding source is the global sector that’s all about money and avoiding taxes?
4:31 – I hadn’t thought about it like that before, you’re right, this way they can buy the best ventilators
That thinking is about a year out of date. Here is the current thinking.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisonescalante/2021/08/17/what-parents-need-to-know-about-long-covid-in-children/?sh=4ff744938ec5
Simply not true in the case of Delta. Kids are at risk.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/study-finds-long-covid-19-affects-up-to-1-in-7-children-months-after-infection-1.5569502
Yeh, don’t let the facts of child deaths get in the way of your opinion and ridiculous comparisons.
If you think this woke government has the spine to make tough decisions, you have a rude awakening coming. They will shut this place down at the first sign of anyone getting the flu and destroy the remaining shrubs of this economy. Those in the tourism industry should keep collecting your stipend until we have a government with the stomach to open the county
Just make a decision either way and stick with it. I was fully vaccinated at the beginning of the year which has now been a complete waste of a vaccine. I refuse to take a booster or anymore vaccines until the border has actually opened. You can only cry wolf so many times before people stop listening !
His talk might be another scare tactic. Can anyone take this man seriously anymore? He’s put his reputation in a bad light. Sorry Bryan you’re not credible.
He needs McKeeva to tell him what to do
Kenneth has never really been credible. A nice smile and some charm will only get you so far. But your actions and what you say consistently are what help make you credible. Kenneth is neither consistent nor is he credible.
Get over it!! You are lucky he didn’t say what I’m sure he and everyone else is thinking about those on the stipend . . . they better not get used to collecting money for doing nothing!! A wise man once said: The best way to get on your feet, is to get off your ass!!
Right – Public risk but private benefit, and even then only a few will benefit but many will potentially suffer.
What are you talking about? Private benefit? It is both private and public that has been suffering. There are only a few wealthy that are happy being isolated.
“Coronavirus rules are set to be renewed in England for another six months as No 10 admitted cases are likely to increase sharply because children are returning to school.” (Guardian)
Sounds like a perfect time to increase flights and remove quarantine – NOT.
England’s rules are not a complete shut down. We can have rules that provide a balance. It doesn’t have to be all or none.
England is not Cayman, massive difference there.
Your quote is related to governemnt reserve powers, authorized by parliament to use if deemed necessary, not another uk lockdown being implemented. Please post intelligently
No lockdown is necessary. There have been a million posts explaining that. The fear is incredible. Follow the Covid protocols.
Here is one metric of risk. In the last 14 days Covid deaths in the US have increased 55%.
Anybody thinking that allowing tourists in without quarantine is a good idea is delusional. Take a look at the New York Times Covid statistics:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html
and hurricane ida, you know the one that just passed us. Killed 600K people in the US. that hurricane killed more people than covid has for the last 2 years.
you are more likely to die in a car accident than covid SO ENOUGH FEAR MONGERING. want to get rid of covid. Turn off your damn tv’s.
60 people not 600k. You ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed…
I think you mean 60 deaths, (sixty), not 600,000. That would be the largest toll from a single event.
600k are without power according to most reports.
Here is one source:
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/hurricane-ida-death-toll-us-northeast-rises-least-50-victims-2021-09-05/
umm – it killed 68 at last count. you are out by at least 599,900. According to Wikipedia Covid death toll now 4.55 million. So basically wrong on both counts.
As for the last part, yes right now with no community transmission you are more likely to die in a car accident than you are from Covid. But open the border and with the introduction of a disease with a death rate of between 1 and 2% amongst unvaccinated people, a population with a significant proportion of unvaccinated people with co morbidities, I wouldn’t gamble on that math staying intact. That’s not to say that opening the border isn’t the right thing to do – but you cant assume its completely safe because with the virulence of Delta some deaths are inevitable. There is a trade off whether you want to admit it or not.
The seven day average for covid deaths in the USA as of yesterday was 1161. 14 days ago, August 22nd, it was 1100. Yes, that is small increase (yet nowhere near what it was in January), but how do you possibly get an increase of 55% out of that?
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/
And that all depends on where you live. There has not been a covid death in my town in almost a year.
A lot of the rise in covid are in the big cities and/or in the south where vaccination rates are low.
What Kenny failed to mention is that the people PACT is thinking about exposing to extreme risk is not the group of people that will get any reward. In reality they are balancing some peoples lives against dollars going to other people’s pockets.
Not true. The only people that really want the borders to stay closed are the wealthy that want to keep the dirty out. While the government takes on more and more debt that is to be paid back by giving those out of work a stipend most Caymanians would rather earn a dollar than live from charity.
They have no intention of reopening. Never did.
yep…still no plan from no-plan-pact.
if they wwere planning to re-open they should have a mitigation plan in place…but they have no plan for that either.
no-plan-pact.
The goal post is getting loaded up and ready to move. Pact please be honest this time and admit that you don’t really have a plan and are suffering from paralysis analysis. Just say you guarantee that Cayman may open sometime
Ding ding ding ding, we have a winner!!
Please Alden speak up and tell us what you would have done.
what difference would it make? He isn’t in charge and PACT won’t listen to him anyway
Need the Governor to do somethibg, these politicians are pathetic!
You think that they should decide what limitations will kck in right now, before seeing what the extent and consequences of community transmission are? So we have the same measures taken by CIG if we have asymptomatic cases, or deaths? And whether we have 100 people infected and needing medical attention or a thousand? Be realistic.
Look at what happened to people in quarantine who have Covid, where would the island be now if they were allowed into the community – we’d be locked down again.
Here’s what’s going to happen. Borders will open without quarantine, people will get infected in the community, it will run rampant, people will die, government will close down the economy again – we may or may not get back to Covid free status.
Is it worth dropping quarantine??
No but stick to 5 days for everyone. 14 days if you’re travelling with young kids, even if you yourself are vaccinated, cannot continue
Get vaccinated.
Absolutely not worth it. Good post.
Anyone said this government has any future lockdown plans? Nope! They are not even giving the community any protocols because they don’t want to scare off the almighty tourist! Who is going to want to come to the little Covid rock when it becomes rampant? Nothing like shooting yourselves in the foot!
What happened to people in quarantine with covid? What actually happened to them? Did they get the sniffles? A cough? How many on ventilators? Deaths?
What happened to all those people who came in contact to those who breached quarantine? Anything??
The focus now absolutely has to be the kids with new variants they are potentially contracting and any long term affects. The current logic is absurd in thinking that 14mths ago our borders remained closed ensuring the elderly/most susceptible remained safe but this time around the other end of the spectrum becomes arbitrary. There’s continuous science being revealed that makes decisions tough but critical empathetic thinking shouldn’t be.
Well written – thank you.
Stay shut. Stay in your panicked state. Just stop pretending you are going to open.
Doing away with the quarantine in October for the vaccinated is a bad idea. Guaranteed spread of the virus even if 80% of the population is vaccinated.
The age group most affected by the virus is the elderly population, not young children. A U.K. government advisory board of 4 doctors have recommended that children aged 12 -15 not be jabbed. However, the politicians have requested that this opinion be reviewed by the U.K chief medical officer to rule on and other non- health related matters be taken into consideration. This concerns me since I trust the 4 doctors and not a CMO who may be under political pressure to rule in favour of the jab for 12 – 15 year olds.
Quite – you should possibly have waited before vaccinating children there!
All medical and scientific experts affirm that COVID-19 is not leaving the planet. It’s endemic. Like the flu we have to live with it and take all precautions to ensure that we do not succumb to it.
Individual responsibility is critical at this juncture as the government cannot continue to support large industries indefinitely. Sooner or later we have to open if we want to maintain our standard of living. It’s not a choice. Whichever we choose you have to bite the bullet.
Individual responsibility.
Like not traveling during a pandemic?
If you’re going to bring up responsibility and border opening in the same sentence i’ll call you out on your bs every time.
As colder months set in October, there may be a surge of Americans with the Delta variant. Please take all precautions so we can remain a happy, healthy, hugging, community.
With less than 40 ICU beds available, those who want to open the borders should volunteer to stay at home to be medicated and kept alive.
Get vaccinated. 98.5% of those in the ICU are unvaccinated.
Simple solution lessen the burden on our infrastructure.Those who need to go home or not essential to our economy or are burden need to go home! it’s not rocket science and the environment would surely appreciate it .This global citizens rubbish now has come home to roost where some now want work and set up business here to the detriment of local citizens and businesses . getting citizenship without paying for it ?
Maybe residents should stop traveling in and out of the country. Covid is not just a tourist thing.
Wayne needs to muzzle this liability quickly.
He is becoming the sole public face and spokesperson of PACT. Hard to muzzle when there is no PACT government without him.
I agree especially when Hon. Saunders promised this soup it happen in July! There will always be people who are unhappy, but you don’t have to kill us off! If the world was setting down, ok, but it is ramping up and these power hungry people who want to maintain a high flying life style are will to compromise the rest of us!
He also needs to introduce Chris Saunders thinking that “ we cannot open borders for the financial benefit of a few, while risking the life of Caymanians”
Well said Chris, go tell that to your not so honorable Minister of tourism.
If 80% is a prerequisite, this is not happening October 14th.
Looks like they are losing their nerve and looking for an excuse to change plans.
Several experts round the world have already said that 80% was a good target last year, but the Delta variant has meant that 80% is nowhere near enough for herd immunity. It needs to be much higher than 80%.
Her immunity considers both those vaccinated as well as those who have previously been infected
Herd immunity is only relevant if the vaccine blocks transmission. The COVID vaccine reduces transmission but doesn’t block it. So 80% won’t protect the 20%.
Absolutely! someone whos know what they are talking about.
correct – both the 80% and the 20% will be transmitters of the virus
Yep. Just reduces the speed of spread, not the eventual outcome, which is everyone without vaccination gets it, and an estimated 25% of the vaccinated too. The difference is that vaccinated individuals and those in low risk groups are unlikely to require hospitalisation, – the unvaccinated above 50 and those with high risk issues that make the vulnerable are at serious risk.
120%?
Get with a Cayman! Totally ridiculous!
Is this is slogan for promoting a new wildly erotic pro dating app with a local ?
Needs refining but I like the lateral thinking for those on the stipend 😍
Beyond ridiculous!!!
So much so it’s rediculous!
So much diculousness around, it’s difficult for it to not happen at least a second time.
We are now the only country on Earth without Covid circulating in our community. I would say we have done a good job. We would like to continue to enjoy the benefit of our efforts. Sorry that might interfere with your weekend vacation plans.
I’m not sure we can say we are Covid free, just that it’s not detected. Bermuda published numbers on their recent positives, of those that travelled half were positive on their day 10 test, the rest on day 4 or on arrival – about 6 or 7 people in each bucket. As we have had a 5 day quarantine requirement for some time it’s fairly likely that we have had some contact. If that contact was with someone who was vaccinated they may have assumed it was a bad cold or flu.
Doesn’t even have to be bad cold. My vaccinated family just tested positive and it was like a VERY MILD cold/sinusitis. Normally, we would have overlooked those symptoms but due to known exposure, we tested and were positive.
This is the benefit of being vaccinated…..little/no symptoms if you catch it! Go get your vaccines!
There are many real countries that have never had covid or a fatality yet. Your just an island living off of borrowed money until the loans run out. Then no one knows what will happen because Caymanians can’t stick to a plan.
Do you mean “Get with it Cayman” or “Get with a Caymanian”? Get with a Cayman doesn’t make sense
Can’t get with a Caymanian. Been trying, but the borders are closed.
Perhaps they’re advocating relations with a Porsche 2-seater or an alligator?
Oh man, the participation deserves wild applause but I have to give you ‘a dislike’, it’s a crocodile 🐊
Do not do it Kenneth. You can let in tourists and increase flights but KEEP quarantine. Yes the numbers of tourists will be limited, but there will still be thousands and they will stay for longer, providing business and opportunity to local persons.
Our freedoms and safety are hard won and should not be thrown away. Doing away with quarantine will result in masks, social distancing and even potentially closed restaurants, offices and schools. It is simply not worth it.
How were our “freedoms and safety hard won”??
By closing hundreds of businesses, by home schooling our children, by forgoing travel, by locking ourselves inside for weeks. All of these things are sacrifices WE have made that enable us to have a safely functioning society. The only one on earth.
You don’t think the rest of the world did the same thing…and for a longer time period. Geez.
No. The rest of the world did not do it. They tried, but failed. We succeeded.
You are NOT the only functioning society on earth. Seriously you can’t really think that.
“Safely” functioning. Reading is an important skill.
How are you functioning? You are locked down. We can travel freely and not have to get permission. We don’t wear masks. We can hug our neighbors, family and friends. We go to restaurants, bars, beach,concerts, sporting events. Our schools are open. We go to work. What makes you so different?
Quite – plus Cayman won’t get “thousands” of tourists”. Americans won’t spend 5 days in quarantine and UK tourism was already minimal, and will be even more so as no-one under 18 can be fully vaccinated at this time (bar a few very vulnerable kids).
I doubt the US airlines will fly down here with a quarantine requirement for the vaccinated. American Airlines has already stated such.
And if it is just Cayman Airways flights through Miami, that can add another two days of travel with connections.
It is up to American to determine whether they fly or not. It is up to our government to determine whether it wants to prefer American Airlines’ interests over those of the Cayman Islands.
Do you honestly think you will get thousands of tourists with even a 5 day (actually 7 given arrival is day zero and the exit test) quarantine, let alone 10 days, when the average US tourist only takes 7 days vacation at a time and they can travel to other caribbean destinations or within the US with zero quarantine? What are they coming for ? To enjoy a mask free existence, when mask mandates have been lifted in the US? I don’t think so. You keep quarantine, you do without the tourism sector. Simple as that.
Thousands will come. They do every year. They rent homes and apartments and stay for months. They eat in restaurants and rent cars and go diving. Most are perfectly willing to quarantine. These are facts.
The ones who ‘stay for months’ tend to rent properties and have friends and family visit, those that I’ve talked to won’t quarantine multiple times when guests arrive so are just going elsewhere. Mind you there are some who will come as a couples, families are probably not going to come, so it leaves a quite small pool of tourists.
Get real; thousands will not come, maybe a few hundred but not “thousands.” Stay-over tourism is dead with any sort of quarantine. Long-term stays do not involve thousands of people and as long as quarantine exists major airlines will not resume flights because they won’t sell enough seats. Calm down, you are not going to have thousands of people flocking to Cayman in October. Likely you won’t have thousands flocking back for a very long time.
Your ‘facts’LOL
Yes. Most who come stay for a week or two, fewer come for months. Those who come for longer periods own property in Cayman already. Even then, the prospect of wasting days in quarantine will NOT be appealing to tourists.
Tourist will not come if they must quarantine….They will go to every other Caribbean Island that has been open for months if not a year.
Good. And wealthier, wiser tourists who spend, and integrate better, will come. We don’t need the beach-chair-hogging, all inclusive, $99 flight, crowd anyway – they cost more than they benefit us!!
Since when did we get the $99 flight crowd? At the price of flights, accomodation and eating here? LOL.
As for the idea that the wealthy “integrate better” – ROTFLOL.
Let’s be honest, the truly wealthy are not going to Cayman. Cayman is an expensive destination, but not for the rich and famous.
Cayman kind slogan is such a joke.
Let in vaccinated tourists without the quarantine.
No one is coming with a quarantine.
Most people have a 7 day holiday. No one is spending 5, 10, or 14 days in a quarantine.
We clearly do not want “most people” here…understand that.
The Cayman kind slogan…..what a joke.
Omg- are you opening or not? Is quarantine going or not? Are you accepting CDC card or not since digital is not available in the US? Set a date & stick firm. How many times you think tourists and people planning weddings are going to keep changing plans? You want us or not?
Decide because there’s many other places we can put our deposits down on.
Then go there and out your deposits down. You may not give a damn about our community and our people. However, we live here and the risks are huge for us. Our community cannot handle a massive outbreak nor can we handle yet another lockdown. When you leave after having your jollies, you won’t care about the damage you can potentially leave behind with regards to this virus, we will have to live it everyday. So kindly shut up and keep your irrelevant thoughts to yourself. If you don’t like that we are looking out for the what’s best for us as a community, then you do not need to be here. Go elsewhere.
AMEN!!!
Do what is best for you, but stop saying you are opening and then change the date. It’s a PIA to keep planning airfare and hotel to have the dates change and then having to fight to get the money back. Stay in your bubble forever- get off the tourist books and stop playing the opening/shut game.
2:11 stop waiting by your laptop with baited breath then and find somewhere else to go. None of us are begging you to come here or continually book tickets. That is your own doing…keep it pushing 😉
They said Madam Cleo was dead – you read the minds of the majority of Cayman right there. Boom.
Or at least the ones cashing the government checks.
Cayman kind?
See you next year. Enjoy the masks in restaurants.
11:28 If it keeps us safe and limits out community spread, I am all for it. Don’t worry about coming next year…we won’t want you then either 😀
We don’t wear masks in restaurants. We don’t have mask mandates except the same place you do- airports, hospitals, prisons.
And you count your dead every week. No thanks.
If this is seriously from a prospective tourist, and I doubt it is. I would advise you to just book somewhere else. There is a good chance that we won’t open.
Well said. It not like you can say we are open tomorrow and we will have people arriving.
Even with a months notice we will have limited numbers but I’m sure thats the plan anyway.
Maybe ask your own government and health providers why they’re not providing you with electronically verifiable vaccine records.
Until PACT can articulate a plan to deal with COVID in the community that does NOT include closed schools and another lockdown, the “reward” of a month or so of limited tourism dollars is not worth the risk. Opening the borders with no quarantine for those with verified vaccinations means we are willing to accept COVID in the community. Then what? Key question that government has not yet addressed. I know my opinion about re-opening is dependent on the reaction once we have community cases again.
Well said, I’m fearful of a bat ship reaction and mass hysteria to any cases here. The UK is wide open, there’s 75,000 at Old Trafford this weekend, no masks, no social distancing. We need to trust in the vaccines and crack on.
Am I scared for my kids, not really. UK is still not authorising vaccines for under 16s based on risk/reward. Based on JVC data the chances of a child ending up seriously ill here are extremely remote with 1 in every 500,000 UK pediatric cases requiring acute care.
The terrible reality of Covid is that’s its going no where. We will open at some point, is there a benefit to kicking the can some more.. in my view, probably not.
And the UK has not shut every school in the country because one or two children have tested positive (note that “test positive” does not equal “dying in the hospital”). Although I wish the reaction here when the first child tests positive will be to isolate their class and only their class, there were surely be mass hysteria and panic and the automatic closure of all schools.
I will be fuming if bars are open with social distancing but my kids are not able to go to school!
The UK already has Covid everywhere. We do not. Of course we would lock down.
Literally 80% of the population is believed to have natural anti-bodies to covid.
How many had a die before reaching that point?
The question should be….When are we going to learn to live with the virus!.
It will never be gone it is here forever.
It is not here at all. We do not have to have it here.
Cayman Islands- 691cases of Covid. 673 cases of fully recovered Covid. 2 deaths from Covid. Either it’s there or someone made up those numbers.
Understand the numbers. There has been no case of community spread for 13 months. Every case for more than a year has been imported, and never made it out of quarantine.
How many died when we had community spread and no vaccine?
And if you want to never have Covid in your community then you can never open your border. Be prepared to live in your bubble for many years. This may sound wonderful to you at moment but seriously how long can Cayman exist with ZERO tourism dollars?
As a Caymanian, will be leaving and get on with life, whichever way it takes rather than hiding with no life!
Cayman can exist very well with zero tourism dollars. In any event we are unwilling to trade Caymanian lives for American dollars. That deal is not worth it.
Hope you still feel that way when the Biden global corporate tax kicks in. CIG will be low on funds soon enough. Uncle Dart will really squeeze you then.
Forever, we already learnt that tourism ain’t shit. Island has been 1000% better without them running around here like headless chickens.
Cayman kind……the slogan is a farce.
So they are kind if they open up and have covid sweep in and infect everyone? tourism is a sham. Its low wage and not many benefits for a Caymanian. Hotels Jewellery shops and boat owners. The boat owners might be Caymanian. It was a business and times change. They have to think up something else.
It’s here. 719 cases. 24 more.
Learn to live with it. It’s not going away.
They reduced the number of quarantine days didn’t they?
24 new cases today. “ Keep living in that bubble.
Cayman island- 719 cases