Traveller isolation staying till year-end

| 14/09/2021 | 366 Comments
Cayman News Service
Chief Medical Officer Dr John Lee at Tuesday’s press briefing

(CNS): The Cayman Islands Government will not be lifting quarantine measures until toward the end of the year and in the short term will be extending the isolation period for vaccinated travellers from five to seven days. Chief Medical Officer Dr John Lee revealed that three more adults and two more children had tested positive today and there were now seven separate households where someone has the virus in what looks to be three unrelated separate incidences of community transmission.

The first person who tested positive remains in hospital but is doing well, as is the symptomatic student from George Town Primary School. The other two positive children are asymptomatic and contact tracing and testing is continuing at the school. Tracing and testing continues on the three additional adult cases, two of which are connected to the first community outbreak.

Cayman is now in a period of low level community transmission, according to Dr Lee, who noted that this leak into the community is relatively recent, based on the viral loads that are emerging in the testing process of those who are infected.

He said that for all of these months, testing of local residents going out as well as front-line workers has been going on and there has not been one positive case in those screen tests until last Wednesday. This further suggests that the virus, which is largely the Delta variant, has only recently arrived.

As he explained the thinking behind the decision to pause the current opening plans in the current Phase 3 and leave Phase 4 until the end of the year, Premier Wayne Panton said he believed the leak was likely as a result of quarantine breaches. Given the levels of anxiety and the concerns about the country’s level of preparation for a community outbreak sooner than anticipated, he said it was decided that the plan to lift isolation requirements would be delayed.

He said these were “very challenging times” for everyone, as we have not had to deal with these concerns for some time. “But we knew this day was going to come,” he said.

However, the day has come sooner than expected and he said government wants to further increase vaccine numbers, start the booster programme and implement mask mandates, social distancing protocols and reduce crowd numbers via the regulations to get the current spread under control before opening up any further.

He said the quarantine was to be extended to seven days to offer additional time for incubation, and the geo-tags would also be reintroduced when new regulations are rolled out later this week. He also spoke about the need to build a wall of vaccination around the vulnerable and children, as he begged more people to get vaccinated.

Panton added, “We need to be cautious and carefully consider how we address community spread.”

Governor Martyn Roper said that the virus could also have arrived illegally as a result of criminal activity. Without spelling it out, Roper implied those smuggling drugs, guns and people could also be the source of the return of COVID-19.

But however it arrived, it was now here, he said, and Public Health England had set out clear points for government to consider before moving toward further reopening. The health service must be properly resourced, the vaccination rate of those under 30 needs to be as high as possible and the situation regarding infection rates in feeder countries must be factored in.

In all three considerations Cayman needs more time. While the HSA is ready to treat patients, the staffing levels for public health are lower than the minister said was needed. While efforts are underway to recruit people from other sectors of the healthcare profession into the vaccination work, as well as tracing and testing, healthcare workers are in short supply the world over. The level of vaccination among the under thirties is still relatively low and Cayman’s feeder countries are all battling huge issues with the virus, especially Jamaica and the USA.

Education Minister Juliana O’Connor-Connolly also confirmed that GTPS will remain closed on Wednesday as testing continues at the school but noted that students had transitioned to online learning.

Technical difficulties interrupted the CIGTV YouTube broadcast of the press briefing below but the audio continues throughout. The Q&A part of the broadcast was recorded and will be available later.


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Category: Health, Medical Health

Comments (366)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    What do most of these comments have in common? They don’t mention the children!! Please let’s try to keep Covid under control in Cayman until there is approval for the Pfizer vaccine in children over 2 years old. It shouldn’t be long now, and that, in addition to the boosters that should be arriving shortly, will give us ALL a much better chance of enjoying freedom to gather unmasked. It was so miserable for children to go back to school today masked, social distancing, and eating lunch at their desks. We have one our best to protect our elderly through vaccination. Please let’s not forget the kids.

    • Yall says:

      Yes, all for a disease with a death rate among children of less than 1 in a million. Why wait for a vaccine option that the UK regulator could not recommend for use for children? Most kids have no symptoms or a day’s headache and that’s it.

    • Anonymous says:

      Allow me to mention the children: They have a 1 in 500,000 chance of death if they catch COVID. If you’re taking this approach to COVID are you going to ban cars, bikes, swimming pools, tree climbing, soccer…

    • CSF says:

      We are not forgetting the kids. We are looking at the science.

      Have you entirely missed the debate in the UK about whether kids under 16 should even be vaccinated because the virus impacts them so slightly? Granted, elements of this age group in Cayman may have higher incidences of obesity, diabetes, and other comorbidities than the UK average, but from a public health policy perspective we don’t seem to have worried about any of that up until now (at least, if we have been worried about it, we’ve been worrying about it very quietly).

      What about the impact on our children from being cut off from the world? Cut off from extended family? Living life in a bubble?

      And let’s remember it’s going to be this generation of children that will be paying for the economic damage being done as I type. And, as others are pointing out, it’s not just being done in the tourist industry. The ripple effects are being felt in financial services now too.

    • Anonymous says:

      Can your read, hear or understand. Covid effects children like mild flu.

    • Anonymous says:

      The UK said open the border! Dr. Lee said open the border! Politician keeping border closed.

      WTH

      • Anonymous says:

        The UK may have said open the border, but that’s a country with 30K+ cases a day for goodness knows how many weeks now and 150-200 deaths a day still, hospitals overwhelmed again and where people are having to decide for themselves whether it is safe to go out because most of the protocols (mask wearing, social distancing) have been tossed aside. I know where I’d rather be.

    • A Parent says:

      We are not forgetting the kids – Covid has very little impact on children, please do some research. Yes, children catch Covid, but very few are hospitalised and only 1 in 500,000 die from Covid. The risk to children (or anyone) should never be taken lightly, but closing down an entire country and exposing tens of thousands of people (including children) to unemployment, lower standards of living and reduced Government services in the future (due to less Government revenues) because of an extremely low risk is not good leadership.

      A parent

    • Anonymous says:

      The chances of an unvaccinated child dying from Covid is 1 in 500,000!
      I am a parent and I understand the instinctive reaction we have when our kids safety is an issue but we all need to look at the risks and understand them in proportion.
      The real problem here is that there is now a broad belief that the CI Govt has lied to people since this started. First it was flatten the curve, then it was protect the old people and then it was just wait till we get the vaccines, so the most vulnerable people are protected before we open up. Then it was 70% vaccination rate, then 80% and then they increased the population numbers. Now we are approaching this target very quickly, all of that is out of the window and they are cooking up new conditions we have to meet. This is not the way you operate in a trustworthy and transparent way. And above it all they are creating fear, which is driving people to make emotional decisions rather than using sound judgment.
      So no sorry I don’t accept that we wait any longer. After your conditions are met of booster shots and starting to vaccinate children then they will make more conditions. We will need to jump through more hoops because no politician wants to take any risk.

    • Sheriff says:

      If we wait until all kids 2 and over can be vaccinated then we will be waiting a long time. Even if the vaccine was available right now for young kids how many parents would get their kids vaccinated? CIG would need to dig deep into their pockets and provide more $$$ incentives to get jabs in the arms of kids over 2.

      We will always face community spread unless we squash this round and stay in this damn bubble. We can’t sustain life in the bubble indefinitely. CIG needs to figure out how they will deal with Covid, make a plan and STICK to it.

    • Anonymous says:

      You do realize that kids have a greater chance of getting hit by a car than being hospitalized from COVID, right?

    • Anonymous says:

      As a parent that has traveled with my child through out this pandemic, I can tell I am more worried every day about the stupidity of a driver here killing my child than COVID!

      If this is the reason for not opening we must ban cars and take away licences from all thee incompetent drivers here.

    • Anonymous says:

      And the possible long term affects? The myocarditis in boys seems to be quite large from Pfizer ?

  2. Anonymous says:

    What a joke.

    January 2021 – we will open when all are vaccinated!
    9 months later we can’t open yet!

    Prediction for January 2022 – we can open after 80% get booster shots!

    CIG you think it was hard to get to 80% now how much harder will it be to get all to have a booster when we have heard lies for a year!

  3. what a mess says:

    Why isn’t there a clear and simple public awareness campaign to educate the many people here on all things Covid? Not everyone has the life/world experience to understand quite what it means when Dr Lee talks about being able to live as normal with positive covid cases in the community (as he mentioned in the ‘shut down’ press briefing on Monday) about his time in the UK this summer. He might be right, but only a fortunate few have that firsthand experience in the pandemic world outside of Cayman. Not everyone has the education (here’s looking at you CIG and the sad excuse for an education system & education minister, both of which fail Caymanians year after year, with no end in sight!) or even basic scientific understanding to process all of the various bits of information and mis-information and come to logical, sane and rational conclusions about all things Covid. Not everyone here has had the luxury of CHOOSING to travel back and forth across the Atlantic on BA (and yes, many of those trips have been choices – which is fine, but let’s not pretend that everyone has suffered getting on the plane), for the better part of the entire duration of Cayman border closures – thereby having lived experience of life in the outside world with positive community spread. Not everyone here has the financial means to CHOOSE to travel and quarantine extensively, therefore finding themselves quarantine-fatigued and now further inconvenienced by CIGs latest u-turn and reopening plan pause. Not everyone here has the financial security to CHOOSE TO FEEL inconvenienced as opposed to feeling scared, worried, concerned and more about their livelihoods and futures, for themselves and their children. The privilege and entitlement that has been shown during this pandemic is disgusting.
    What was the new and old CIG doing all these Covid-free months (other than patting themselves on the back about zero-Covid in Cayman – oh, and running raffles to reward those refusing the vaccine) to prepare the health services and the people of the Cayman Islands for the unavoidable eventuality of community spread of the virus? How can CIG find themselves shocked by the early-arrival of positive community cases and need to pause all the things to figure out how to handle the situation? What on earth have these people been doing? Wouldn’t it have been simple disaster management/preparedness to have worked through various reopening scenarios in order to have CIG and all other people prepared, as well as to have ensured all necessary equipment (ie. In the hospital???) was on hand? While some of the points raised by PHE for CIG to consider are valid, it is complete lack of preparation on the part of CIG that is much responsible for this new mess we find ourselves in.
    Please – educate the people. Figure out a simple and effective public awareness campaign so that ALL people in the Cayman Islands, regardless of nationality, status, financial standing and whatever other divisive tool people here like to use to further divide the community or simply put down those who are different, can understand how a virus works, what a vaccine can and cannot do, the fact that Covid is part of the new WORLD reality and isn’t going to disappear if you just pray hard enough, how one can safely live with COVID in the community, ways in which the more vulnerable (for whatever reasons they are more vulnerable) can help to further protect themselves. Stop JUST begging people to get vaccinated. We don’t want to hear Juliana waffle on with some god-fearing, speaking in tongues nonsense about how she came to trust the vaccine and pray pray pray. Get something and someone out there that a wider slice of the Cayman community can relate to – a campaign based in science, presented in a way that people of all ages and all backgrounds can understand, regardless of religious affiliation or not. CIG need to behave like adults who are in charge of running a country, and actually LEAD.
    This new reality sucks for all of us – just in very many different ways. Everyone is allowed to feel the frustration and disappointment that comes after the reopening plan pausing announcement that yesterday. It’s not a competition to see who now finds themselves in a shittier situation. It sucks for all the people. It’s emotional for a million different reasons.
    But for crying out loud, can we please start to educate Cayman so that the fear and paranoia and hysteria that is rampant in the community can start to be replaced by logic and rational thinking and calm. And we can we all start learning how to live in the new world reality that includes Covid-19. The virus isn’t going to disappear just because you pray hard enough, or keep the borders closed.

    • Anonymous says:

      I understand exactly what Dr. Lee says. I’ve done an enormous and continual amount of research. I’ve had to learn dozens of new terms, and their meanings within context of the medical reports.

      I worry that Dr. Lee has become as much political as medical. I am sad to say that I don’t really trust him as I used to. I think he is a good man, but frequently talks down to us in his appearances; that damages his credibility.

    • MEER says:

      Well said!

    • Anonymous says:

      “ How can CIG find themselves shocked by the early-arrival of positive community cases and need to pause all the things to figure out how to handle the situation? [‼️] What on earth have these people been doing?[‼️] Wouldn’t it have been simple disaster management/preparedness to have worked through various reopening scenarios in order to have CIG and all other people prepared, as well as to have ensured all necessary equipment (ie. In the hospital???) was on hand? [‼️] While some of the points raised by PHE for CIG to consider are valid, it is complete lack of preparation [‼️] on the part of CIG that is much responsible for this new mess we find ourselves in..”

      Well said! Thank you! 👍👍👍👍👍👍

      So many people have been asking again and again: are Cayman hospitals prepared? Staff recruited and trained? Equipment, supplies and medicine are in adequate quantities? Experienced and licensed Personnel to maintain and service respiratory equipment is recruited? Fully equipped and staffed field hospital could be ready to take first patient in 24 hr? 18 months is plenty of time to prepare even for the worst case scenario.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Cayman Airways selling two flights a day October / November from MIA.

    I guess the government will need to monitor 5000K people in isolation soon…..AS IF.

    Crocodile clamps with wire and that tracking bracelet is OFF. Do the not realise how they can be easily removed?

    Open up and live with it like every other place.

  5. MEER says:

    The Government is being governed by Fear! This is not the way to lead a country. Covid is global and will stay that way for years to come.

    Please do not govern by fear! Follow the science – stay on track to reopen the boarders on the 14th Oct.

  6. Anonymous says:

    We had an agreement. A plan. A ‘pact’ if you will. People made plans on this basis, and now in a couple days of panic because of cases (which your damn plan said was to be expected), you abandon it.

    I have no trust in you Panton.

    In April, May and June, you were criticized for lack of transparency, lack of a plan. Then came your plan, fully documented with dates. I said OK thanks. And now you yank the plan.

    We were ready to face this.

    • Anonymous says:

      I am a tourist. A repeat traveler to your island for over 20 + years. My trip for April 2020 was canceled. Understandably. I keep planning trips with every possible reopening phase. I keep canceling trips with every change of the reopening plan. I’ve been vaccinated since late March.
      This last change is the most disappointing. I do not have the time off from my employer to quarantine. I know some of you could care less about tourists, but I have always thought of cayman as my peaceful place.
      Covid is world wide. I will be traveling elsewhere for the holidays this year, but very disappointed in another change of the reopening plan. Don’t understand what a 7 day quarantine actually does except ruin tourism. I don’t believe it has any scientific reasoning?!

  7. Anonymous says:

    Suicide rates are about to go through the roof. Hope the APF is more ready than the HSA.

  8. Anonymous says:

    My vaccinated family and I won’t be getting tested. We’ll just ride out the runny noses if need be. Not getting locked down as a result of CIG incompetence.

    • Anonymous says:

      How selfish and ignorant can you be? Being positive and asked to isolate is not a punishment. It’s there to protect other people from catching it from you.
      So you are happy to have covid and keep going about your daily activities at work, at school, at the supermarket and infecting everyone you meet?
      So when our hospitals are full because of all those people you infected, and then you have a car crash and can’t get a bed, will it dawn on you then what you did?

  9. Anonymous says:

    PACT is turning Caymanians into “Bubble Boy” – just a slightly larger tent. And that didn’t end well for bubble boy, as I recall. You can’t keep the virus out indefinitely.

  10. anon says:

    A large sector of the population is unaffected by this – all Govt employees have jobs and salaries for life whatever happens. If they can get a letter from their doctor stating they heed medical treatment in Miami off they go on CAL, airfares and hotel all paid for and some time for shopping, and when they return, their quarantine is paid for. The same people who inflict all these restriction on Jo Public. Almost all the Covid cases last year were asymptomatic, you were much worse off with the flu.

    • Anonymous says:

      This mentality is the issue here. If we keep the borders closed, all Govt. employees do not have jobs and salaries for life. This current Govt. is going to continue running a huge deficit and is probably relying on the financial services industry to dig them out of this whole – well with the increased regulation and increasing cost of business, no firm will want to stay here. Govt. employees are certainly not going to take a pay cut – they will probably expect a pay increase!

      We are screwed.

  11. Anonymous says:

    Cayman has boxed itself into a serious corner. This zero covid tolerance plan is unreasonable and unsustainable. If covid could be completely eradicated, then a zero tolerance approach may be reasonable, but this is not the case, and no scientist is believes it can be completely eradicated. Covid is endemic and will be present in one variant or another as we see with other viruses, most notably influenza. Thus the approach needs to be to minimize the impact of the virus to a degree that is compatible to a reasonable lifestyle. Australia has finally realized this and New Zealand is stubbornly learning this concept.
    This government has been stating that we have to accept some degree of covid as we open, they have stated this over and over in the last few weeks, yet now when faced with possible covid, they completely reverse, overreact, and knee jerk reflex act with panic shutdown. Although they speak of reasonable covid acceptance they act completely opposite, they are clearly not ready or capable of making tough choices. I am not sure how they will ever be able to open, as there will likely be continued possible concerns of variant after variant.
    I am not surprised that this announcement came as if you look back every time there was a date for possible opening, there was a report of an uptick in positive cases immediately proceeding those dates, and used an basis for delayed opening. There are several ways a tests may be misleading from false positives/negatives, differences in techniques/sensitivity/cycling, reporting reliability. This government has admitted ti using scare tactics on the public, so is it so far fetched to wonder if there are these same tactics used in covid reporting?
    I am not in favour of reckless disregard of covid, however, a common sense approach using objective analysis of covid statistics and risks needs to guide how to proceed. A zero tolerance policy is not the reasonable approach.

    • Bill says:

      The Gov has also backed itself into a corner changing because of people’s concerns. So now the people know exactly what to do next time an opening is planned. Never heard such a poor communicator in any politician let alone a leader. He looked lost on the platform, a popularist and policy on the hoof Gov is not what will lead Cayman through this pandemic with any success.

    • Anonymous says:

      To 12.39 There’s a saying ‘Greediness choke puppy’. Be careful it doesn’t choke you.

    • Anonymous says:

      This is garbage. It could have been eradicated last year if governments were willing and there was not all these protests both left and right. Instead people in other countries could not be disciplined. Some like the UK could shut their pubs but not their borders so they could never get rid of it and all this highlights the idiots we have as leaders these days. Panton is smart moving the quarantine back before we become like everywhere else with it out of control.

    • Anonymous says:

      Some people might say that thinking the testing results may be used selectively for political and policy reasons was paranoia. Others might look at the Doctors Express case and wonder.

  12. Only the faces change says:

    Panton’s first real test of leadership and he completely bottles it.

    • Anonymous says:

      Agreed how glad I am we are not a country and have to make a military decision.

    • Anonymous says:

      He is a great leader and realized his mistake. Better than all these leaders with their open borders killing their citizens and creating division.

  13. Anonymous says:

    We were due to open to vaccinated travelers in a few weeks. Community transmission was 100% inevitable. Now we’ve had community transmission a few weeks early and they throw out whatever plan they had; or is this all part of the plan? This government is looking hopelessly out of their depth. Have a plan, communicate the plan, try and stick to the plan, adjust the plan if events force you to. These events were entirely foreseeable, expected even, so should have been part of the plan. Why the panic? In a few weeks if this outbreak has been put out, what then? Are they going to change the plan back to opening up again? This is ridiculous. Nothing will be any different next year; they can keep putting it off but Covid is not going anywhere, infact it will probably get worse elsewhere over winter again. They say hope for the best but prepare for the worst; that’s how I feel about this government’s decision making at the moment. Sad.

  14. Anonymous says:

    We are being held hostage by a minority. They don’t have family abroad and don’t travel overseas. They don’t like visitors or foreigners much either. And they’re getting their salary or stipend. One other thing those people have in common – they’re all voters. This is the most spineless action by a Caymanian government I’ve ever seen.

    • Anonymous says:

      Those leaders are there to represent THE VOTERS.

      • Anonymous says:

        Wrong. They are there to represent everyone, not just those who can vote and not just those who vote for them

        • Anonymous says:

          Actually that’s where you are wrong. The voters are the citizens and whose voices matter when it comes to such things. If you were in your country and I was demanding we do things the way I want, they way they are done in my country you would tell me to get lost and immigration would oblige you. Only in Cayman do people come here from elsewhere thinking they have more rights or equal rights to the voters.

      • Anonymous says:

        I am a voter. The Governments decision does not represent my views. Unfortunately my views will not be considered because the vocal minority have convinced the Government they are the voice of Cayman.

    • Anonymous says:

      If you don’t like it then go back to whatever hole you crawled out from

      • Anonymous says:

        I would actually like to see most expats leave taking their expertise with them. Wonder what the Cayman economy would look like then?

        • Anonymous says:

          We would be happy for y’all to go. We’re so sick and tired of being marginalised in our own country.

        • Anonymous says:

          The UK said to open. Dr. Lee said to open. Government didn’t follow their advice and panicked and changed the plan again. No scientific reasoning behind it except fear.

  15. Anonymous says:

    The struggle is futile. Eventually, when we’ve all received a large enough dose of the growing societal and economic calamity that will spare nobody, we’ll open our doors from a position of weakness and ruin. Also sitting ducks with our sheltered immune systems.

  16. Anonymous says:

    Turner last week…I can assure you that the HSA is prepared and ready.

    Turner yesterday…The HSA is not ready.

    And she has the audacity to tell us not to drink and do drugs? They are the damn reason we drink and do drugs!

  17. Anonymous says:

    So Wayne, when you said we could expect some community transmission with the Phase 3 and we needed to adapt to it,were you just saying that as a “scare tactic” like Kenny, or are you just a flip flopper?

    • Anonymous says:

      Agreed more lies and now we look like a JOKE to the tourism industry.

      If it was expected why not open up!

  18. Anonymous says:

    it really is hilarious.

    So many of these commentators were so happy that government imposed all of these restrictions on them. applauding them even…

    This despite many raising the red flags that this level of authoritarian policy would not bode well for citizens around the world for they would use this new found power to do whatever they want (likely for personal gain)…

    fast forward 18 months, and only now, when you see that your vaccines (on the promise of freedom) has literally done nothing for you, you b!tch and complain about how they could do this to you…

    Well you reap what you sew – government know what’s best for you, so best you listen to the people in charge (even if it means you stay on this rock indefinitely)… they know more than you’ll ever know, that’s why they’re the “leaders” …

    what a joke.

  19. Anonymous says:

    We have had continuous cases in quarantine, nearly 1,000 confirmed. How many of these were then transported to the hospital? A handful, and only for a short visit.

    Now we are highly vaccinated. In excess of 90% for those over 40.

    We were prepared for the outlined opening plan but Panton chickened out.

    • Anonymous says:

      Turk and Caicos been open for 15 months and 9 months of that without any vaccine.
      Tourism booming and they are even taking local companies from us.

  20. Anonymous says:

    CIG you have just effectively cancelled Christmas. Relatives who haven’t been here for a very long time are cancelling reservations. Tourism in tatters. Economy wrecked. Hopes dashed. Not sure why you put Dr Lee on yesterday because you basically ignored his sensible message. You are just putting off the inevitable. We have to learn to live with this disease. Wearing masks is no big deal. Vaccinate. Use lateral flow tests. Why should the vast majority that have behaved and quarantined properly pay the price for some bad apples?

    • Anonymous says:

      I agree 100% with you. I had to pay thousands to get my daughter here for Christmas. It is money I have not got but family is the most important thing and you will pull out all the stops to make sure family comes first. She has not been home in 2 years due to UK lockdowns and the Cayman border closure and quarantine requirements. We finally paid another 300 today to get her on a flight that would satisfy the new 7 day quarantine rules. I am one of the lucky ones to have got a flight at the last minute but other people are grappling with no jobs and very little money to put food on the table.

      The 7 day quarantine is not going to increase the safety of our people. Where the Government has gone wrong is ‘trusting’ people to follow the quarantine rules. It is clear a small select few will ruin it for every one else. The monitoring bands should be in place for all quarantine whether people like it or not, stick to a traffic light system country by country depending on the cases in those countries, green for the countries with low incidence and red for the countries with high Covid spread. Keep the testing in place for everyone coming in on Day 2, 8 etc. Open the borders with the monitoring and testing in place. Of course the pessimists will say look at Bermuda and the Bahamas BUT our situation is different … all was going well until we got 50+ quarantine breaches and a plane of people caught up in an issue caused by 1 person. Come on, use common sense, practical judgement and be guided by the science. With all due respect this is not a political issue and the people making the decisions about the health of our people should be the healthcare and scientific professionals involved in both private the private and government offices.

      • Anonymous says:

        How do you think the GPS bands are helping? They made it clear that people are rarely leaving quarantine and the problem is visitors.

        You’re imploring people to use common sense and practical judgment. Does it not occur to you that you are arguing for opening borders but your idiotic suggestion to bring back the GPS bands will inherently prevent them from opening the borders. How many GPS tags and attached cellphones do you think they have?

        Use your brain. Your own misguided “suggestion” is the reason you’re paying thousands to get your daughter here for Christmas.

      • Anonymous says:

        I’m glad your daughter can quarantine. Most of us can not get the added time off from our jobs to spend an extra 5,7, 10 days of travel time. I have not seen family and friends in 2 years. I have the money to travel, but not the time afforded in my job to quarantine. I am an essential worker. We are strapped on time off, so it is very limited. 7 days total is all I am afforded at one given time. The best and safest way to keep people safe is not the quarantine. It is the vaccine, testing, mask wearing when you can’t social distance and hand hygiene.

    • Anonymous says:

      The way I see it, they just saved Christmas.

      • Anonymous says:

        Did you spend Christmas by yourself last year, will you be by yourself again this year?

        • Anonymous says:

          I lost my dad 2 years ago right before covid. My best friend lives in Cayman. I have wanted to get down to visit. I wanted to come for Christmas. We were just talking last week how quarantine was going and I would be able to come down. Last Christmas, I spent alone. This year, I will now spend alone again. I can not tell you how sad this is making me.

  21. Anonymous says:

    Going to need to add more beds at the East End asylum.

  22. Anonymous says:

    My extended family were planning on visiting us for the first time in two years in November. That is all cancelled now.

    We should have stuck with the plan. We expected a small amount of community spread, but Panton went straight into panic mode when we had an expected amount of small community spread.

  23. REM says:

    It’s the end of the world as we know it
    (It’s time I had some time alone)
    It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine

  24. Kevin says:

    You know people mental when they lay claim to stats are proof of what they say when in fact if they thought about it for even a half of a second they would realize they defeated their whole case.

    It is because we locked down that we choked the initial virus out. You cannot now use the fact that we ONLY have 2 deaths as to why we should not lock down.

    Despite that I do not necessarily believe we need a full lock down but I believe we need stop taking people at their word.

    1. Institute government facilities for all travelers.
    2. Remove “self isolation” ability. Form contract with two large hotels. 1 is for pure travelers and 2 is travelers who test positive. Travelers who go to 1 and test positive move to 2. Facility 2 has doctors and nurses. Facility 1 nurses only.

    At this stage we can not trust in travelers. We must snuff this out which means we cannot afford to introduce new cases into our community.

  25. Anonymous says:

    A “slight” overreaction! The only reason we are aware of these cases is because a person went to the hospital for a matter unrelated to COVID, but got mandatorily tested for COVID, and came back positive. That then triggered the testing of about 1,000 people.

    And now we have some mild, mainly asymptomatic cases.

    Rather than slowly learning to live with this while welcoming a limited number of visitors, we are deferring until at least January. Whether we open in October, January or next summer, we will get COVID cases.

    We should have stuck with the plan (which contemplated some cases), rather than lose our nerve. A zero-COVID policy for what is now an endemic pathogen is futile.

  26. Anonymous says:

    Many people here haven’t seen their families since 2019.
    Now we can only hope to see them in 2022.
    I know many people share the same situation here.
    I hope they read this and know – they are not alone in their struggle.

    It’s very saddening.

    • Anonymous says:

      My friends and family that were planning on coming down here have now cancelled their plans. They cant really do 8.5 days locked up in tiny Westin hotel room.

      And with the US airlines likely cancelling any 2021 plans on flying down here, my friends and family would would only be able to route through Miami on CAL, which would turn one day of flying into two, having to overnight both ways.

      So disappointed.

    • Only the faces change says:

      What is going to be different in 2022? Or 2023? Or forevermore? There is no good policy reason for this change of plan and none was given.

    • Anonymous says:

      It is absolutely heartbreaking! There is no science behind a 7 day quarantine. My job will not give me more than 7 days off. Horrible. This is too much !!!!

  27. Anonymous says:

    All I see here on CNS is disgusting human behaviour of vaccinated vs unvaccinated, division and a government introducing fear, control, poverty and more division. Any of you care to guess what path this is? If lies are told often enough they become the norm.

    • Anonymous says:

      People are just frustrated as we had a clear plan outlined since June, and we just ditched it in a matter of days.

      Delta was the primary variant in the UK and US in June when the plan was laid out. Case waves and valleys can be expected in the UK and US for years.

    • Anonymous says:

      Go back to Marl Road with the rest of your uneducated friends then.

      • Anonymous says:

        Here is a news flash for you. Much of the CNS commentary is exactly that! Hundreds of viralogists, epidemic experts and internet doctors!

  28. Kevin says:

    over 4.66 million people dead. Remove quarantine? Damn fool fool.

    You know why we don’t have but two deaths? BECAUSE WE LOCKED DOWN!!!

  29. Anonymous says:

    The government has confirmed that almost all of the 50 quarantine breaches were perpetrated by locals. The government knows who these people are. Why aren’t they prosecuted and put in jail like the woman from the US?? Is it because the perpetrators are Caymanian? Oh, and the group that committed the breaches is probably not vaccinated either. The government panics and acts if though the majority of the people are not vaccinated. A great thank you for being responsible for shutting the country down again.

    • Anonymous says:

      Locals. Such a worthless term here when that includes status holders, and long term residents. I know of some of those breachers and they certainly aren’t just local Caymanians.

  30. Anonymous says:

    Alcatraz FTW! haven’t seen my family since 2019, thank you for extending the pain.

    • Anonymous says:

      9:37 am, if here are so bad what you or your family during here . Stop calling Cayman bad names ,or just leave and never come back .ok

      • Anonymous says:

        you are such an idiot!!
        You can be Caymanian and still have family overseas! why does it matter whether you are Caymanian or not?
        it is the Caymanians who breached the quarantine in the first place. i am sure as hell it was not a white expat playing dominos and drinking beer with their fam that caused this whole damn thing.
        it is stupid people like you that create an even more divisive society.

        • Pot calling the kettle. says:

          @15/09/2021 at 11:37 am – Your “sure as hell it was not a white expat” comment is not divisive at all.

      • Anonymous says:

        I am rubber and you are glue……

      • Anonymous says:

        We had an articulated plan that was communicated months ago and then just scrapped it.

        Most of us were prepared to open in October with some cases expected. Now we scrapped it and still have to wear masks anyway.

      • Anonymous says:

        Here is a fine example of CaymanKind!

  31. Anonymous says:

    I have never been so angry at a decision made by a CI Government in my life… and there have been some shocking decisions in the past.

    • Anonymous says:

      8:30 am, the Government made the right decision except they should made the quarantine 10 days instead of 7days

    • Anonymous says:

      You are not alone. I have never been angrier at the whole lot of them including the PPM idiots who are playing politics with this. It is now clear that the PACT government members panicked yesterday. It would have been wiser to introduce stricter social distancing and left the reopening changes for a few days to properly consider.
      The very sad reality is that in January Covid will still be there and nothing will really have changed. I can see them dragging this out until next summer because none of them are prepared to take any risks at all.

  32. Anonymous says:

    Bermuda now #1 in the world for cases per 100k over last 14 days. Link to NY Times tables below (scroll half way down the page).

    Bermuda +361% cases trajectory last two weeks

    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/covid-cases.html

    • Anonymous says:

      Talk to my colleagues every day in Bermuda. The case numbers are a bit inflated given the amount of testing that has taken place (over 10,000 tests the past week).

      Bermuda’s vax rate is about 10% less than Cayman, and substantially lower than Cayman for over 50s. (Bermuda actually had anti-vax protests a few months ago).

      None of my colleagues are panicking. It is the unvaxxed adults that are running into trouble with serious disease.

      • Anonymous says:

        What’s your friend have to say about that curfew they’re about to start having come Friday?

  33. Kevin says:

    I am not sure I am fond of Dr Lee’s statement about his trip and how he was living there dining and living normal. I see what he is trying to say but he is walking a really fine line and I feel it will be taken wrong.

    Let’s say this. What he is saying is TRUE. One can live rather normal and remain without catching covid but this is more about luck than anything else.

    Being vaccinated reduces your chance to catch covid by 95%. With Delta its anywhere from 88% to 93%. That said Dr. Lee could have come in contact with covid 90 times out of 100 people he made contact with and the vaccine protected him. What if he either bucked the law of averages and acquired it via a “breakthrough” infection? Could have easily happen.

    He is also a Dr and one who is keenly aware of doing all the little things. Someone else might think they too can live this way here and either the law of averages does not work for them or simply they were not ask meticulous with all the hygiene aspects of protecting oneself.

    I guess all I am saying here is people can look at this statement differently. A vaccine skeptic says “See we can live a normal life let’s open up”. A person who respect the virus might think “that’s good but maybe you were just lucky”.

    I think we all need to:

    1. Get vaccinated
    2. Wear mask religiously
    3. Wash and sanitize hands regularly
    4. Limit your exposure – ie don’t be in supermarket every 2 mins.

    You do not need to FEAR the virus so long as you are RESPECTING it.

    PS the old 6ft and 15 mins thing is from the 1800’s. There is little to no science that substantiates that. It’s not a magic bullet. You can walk past someone who sneezes and catch it in 5 seconds. Covid can travel up to 12ft through the air. This theory needs to be done away with.

    Here are some articles I have read and links

    https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/08/27/1031753581/coronavirus-faq-how-does-the-6-feet-15-minutes-rule-apply-to-the-delta-variant

    Queensland’s chief health officer, Dr Jeannette Young, echoed these statements on Wednesday when she announced the state would shut its borders to people from Sydney hotspots.

    “With the Delta variant, we’re seeing very fleeting contact leading to transmission,” Young said.

    “At the start of this pandemic, I spoke about 15 minutes of close contact being a concern. Now it looks like it’s five to 10 seconds that’s a concern. The risk is so much higher now than it was only a year ago.”

    Laboratory studies have found particles of the virus can linger in the air in aerosolised form for up to 16 hours. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32568661/

    • Anonymous says:

      and lucky him that can travel and see his family etc. etc. when thousands here still can’t.

      • Kevin says:

        True.

        My fear is that people will take his words to fit their agenda not realizing the full scope of things such as he may have well been lucky or his hygiene is at such a level it aided him significantly in his travels where other are not near his level.

      • Anonymous says:

        …and seemed to almost boast about his liberating experience to the viewers. I wonder why he supports the new “plan”? Most would like to move to the next phase of life and science now supports that (mental and physical). Why is it forever June 2020 in Cayman? We are living the movie Groundhog Day.

      • Anonymous says:

        Tens of thousands

    • Anonymous says:

      Kevin, good post. (except nbr 1; not everyone is going to get vaccinated unfortunately. And that’s okay.)

      I recently returned from being in Florida for 6+ weeks (NOT on holiday!). Wore masks everywhere. Kept my hands washed and carried sanitizer (used it each time we got back in the car). Kept our distance from others, especially those w/o a mask.
      Sat at bars and restaurants. (most servers wore masks).
      Had 3 PCR tests because of flight issues etc to return. All tests negative and now am 4days into quarantine for my 14day stint.

      Is IS possible to exist people!

      Signed
      UnvaXXed

  34. What did you expect? says:

    Every day, around the world, we’re seeing selfish entitled people thumbing their noses at ANY restrictions that have been imposed to prevent the spread of the virus and protect the vulnerable. I have family members in the US and the UK that tell me on a weekly basis, “Nobody here is wearing a mask.” “Nobody here seems to care.” Did you watch any of the college football games this past weekend? 100,000’s of thousands of people crammed into stadiums. Very very few people wearing masks.

    Yet, our government here in Cayman expect these same people to honor OUR rules when they arrive here, by self isolating without geo-tracking? Seriously?

    You can’t expect people that don’t care in their own country, to all of a sudden care when they get to ours.

    • Anonymous says:

      Well, you don’t have to worry because we’re not coming. And if we did, don’t you have “Rules” in place to make sure I don’t bring Covid, or I’m isolated with a dog collar. Use your brains next time you punch the keys.

      • Anonymous says:

        Yup, the dog collar is coming back. That and instead of 5 days of paying to be imprisoned, they increase it to 7 and people think tourists will still want to come holiday. Almost laughable.

      • What did you expect? says:

        @15/9/2021 at 12:43 pm – Typical. You believe that the sun rises and sets on you, the greatest country in the world. What you fail to admit is that the reason you come to place like Cayman, is that your country probably ain’t as great as you would like to believe. Cayman has faired extremely well for almost two years WITHOUT mass tourism, having kept afloat thanks to the people who live here.

        “We’re not coming”. Music to my ears.

  35. Anonymous says:

    If you read Dr Lee’s comments he says that “Public Health England” has advised the government to consider various points before reopening. So, is government policy on Covid being dictated from the UK? The situation in Cayman is totally different from the UK, and I was under the impression that Cayman controlled its own domestic policies.

    • Anonymous says:

      They are just trying to pass the buck, so that when the sh!t hits the fan, they can blame the UK instead of themselves.

      • Kevin says:

        Very very True. That was my first thought. They want a scape coat.

        Alden and team took the bull by the horns and dealt with it. These guys looking someone to pass the blame on.

    • Anonymous says:

      Public health England offered advice.
      They don’t dictate anything.

    • Anonymous says:

      Public Health England have been since the beginning – British Overseas Territory!

  36. Anonymous says:

    The Chagos islanders are treated better than this.

  37. anonymous says:

    To all those clapping for this during the press conference announcement…let’s cut your pay 30% and see if you still feel the same way. Betting these are unvaccinated civil servants.

    • Anonymous says:

      Better yet pay 30% tax to the government so they can help the tourism sector and people in it!

    • Anonymous says:

      Cut the civil servants pay as they are in the high salary scale anyway

      • Anonymous says:

        And institute mandatory vaccinations for all government workers eligible to get the vaccine. Especially all health care workers and customer facing workers. Also, let businesses institute a vaccinated only policy as they are doing all over the world. Examples: restaurants have indoor dining only to verifiably vaccinated customers; vaccinated only attendees to concerts, plays, sports, etc.

      • Anonymous says:

        No they are not. It is the elected officials, MPs who just got a drastic salary increase. And the most senior civil servants, that make 8k-15k per month!!!! This is what some people earn in a whole year okay. These are the “civil servants” that need to cut back by 30% of their salaries. Not the ones barely earning 2k per month and struggling to make ends meet.

        Did you know that this government also gets public funds to pay for their consistency offices, their staff of up to 3 persons now. This ws recently approved a week or two ago. What are the MPs that do not have consistency offices and staff are doing with that money? They collect it and pocket it. Has anyone noticed that allot of them now drive brand new highly expensive cars? Big shiny gas gugglers, that are driven with only one passenger most of the time. Yet they care for our environment?

        Where is the accountability of public funds that is not being used as it was slated for. These funds should be used to aid the people and our country through this pandemic. Not fatten their bank accounts.

        So disappointed in PACT. And it’s only been a few months. Can’t wait to see if people will protest when they do not live up to their promises.

  38. Anonymous says:

    1971 – The Islands Time Forgot.

    2021 – The Islands the World Forgot

  39. Anonymous says:

    Not only are we not moving forward, but now moving backwards? Moving to 7 days from 5? 7 days is really 8.5 as don’t count day of arrival or day waiting for exit test.

    Not only will this essentially eliminate any possibility of visitors, but also subject returning residents to another two days of quarantine. This is science-based?

  40. Anonymous says:

    Old buddy, you could continue to scream but the majority of people that live in Cayman will just NOT scream with you.

    That fact will not change anytime soon..

  41. Anonymous says:

    Time for vaccine mandates.

    • Anonymous says:

      At this stage how would that help anything at all. We can still catch and spread it so science tells us so we would still need to quarantine. It’s the reduction of the time to just 5 days which has caused community spread as the incubation period can be for 14 days until we see the virus. The virus has been in the community since they allowed 5 days and now we are in this mess. We all hate it but those are the facts.

      • Anonymous says:

        https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/deathsinvolvingcovid19byvaccinationstatusengland/deathsoccurringbetween2januaryand2july2021

        In England, between 2 January and 2 July 2021, there were 51,281 deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19); 640 occurred in people who were fully vaccinated, which includes people who had been infected before they were vaccinated.

        • Anonymous says:

          And how many deaths were there in the same period from other causes? I have also seen reports that nearly 50% of hospital cases reported as Covid admissions were either asymptotic or very mild.
          Statistics 101: “if your head is in a oven that’s on and your feet are in a refrigerator, on average you are at a comfortable temperature”. Or figures can be manipulated!

        • Only the faces change says:

          Yes, a whole 0.00092% of the UK population died after being fully vaccinated, and as you say many of them were ill before achieving that status. Translate that to Cayman and you’d expect between 0-1 deaths.

        • Anonymous says:

          That’s a retarded way of looking at these numbers. Since January when barely anybody was vaccinated and when there was no Delta? The only relevant number is how many vaccinated and unvaccinated are dying and hospitalized NOW.

      • Anonymous says:

        “Mess”?? What “mess”? A few mild cases?

      • Anonymous says:

        Or the quarantine breakers have caused community spread. Or someone coming in on a canoe has caused it. Or someone from CAL, the airport, quarantine taxi drivers or quarantine hotel staff has caused it. Any or all of those are equally possible – where is you evidence for the reduction in quarantine period being the reason? You are just guessing, so no, its not really a fcat at all. And of course, increasing quarantine isn’t going to address any of the above. Irrespective of what we do, Covid is going to get loose in the community – we cant keep the outside world out forever.

  42. Anonymous says:

    If government knew (it did, and repeatedly said so) that dropping the quarantine requirements in October would cause community spread, then why are they backtracking on quarantine easing now?

    The only thing that has changed is that community spread has started a few weeks earlier than expected.

    The government has always said that we would need to rely on vaccination to protect the broader population from serious illness, hospitalization or death. It said so again yesterday and said that the vaccinations are working.

    What is the qualitative difference between community spread in September and October that mandates such a drastic policy change? Why can we not rely on vaccinations going forward? Why does the government insist on knee jerk, panicked policy making and lying to the public?

    • Anonymous says:

      Exactly! Same spread will happen after “the end of the year”. No matter when we open it would have happened. Hell, we ain’t even open and it happened.

      Guarantee some of these current cases are exactly like Governor Roper alluded to…..illicit boat runs to Jamaica under the cover of night.

    • Anonymous says:

      @8:20 Knee jerk is perfect description. The panic and overreaction is completely ridiculous…..and, to be honest, straight up embarrassing.

      It’s like trying to miss a pothole but over correcting and running into a light pole instead!

    • Anonymous says:

      They just don’t know how to run the country and have the balls to stick to a decision. That’s what you get when you have government without a back spine.

    • Anonymous says:

      Furthermore, the govt’s knee jerk reaction has actually provided a disincentive for vaccination – the supposed cornerstone of their supposed reopening policy.

  43. Anonymous says:

    I watched yesterday evening’s press briefing and at the end I felt even more concerned than I did at the beginning.

    What part of “vaccinated and unvaccinated people both get infected and spread the COVID-19 virus and variants” do these people not understand?

    Why then are the vaccinated being given a 7 day quarantine period but the unvaccinated people still being discriminated against with 14 days?

    Allegedly the former Premier, Alden McLaughlin, has blamed this new government’s reduction of quarantine to 5 days for the vaccinated, as the likely cause for the community spread we are now experiencing.

    The Leader of the Opposition, Roy McTaggart, suggested to current Premier, Wayne Panton, and the PACT government, that much has changed and since we know that the science now shows both vaccinated and unvaccinated can become infected and spread infection, the quarantine period for both vaccinated and unvaccinated should be 14 days. McTaggart is right. Now that growing numbers continue to confirm community spread, why is the PACT government continuing to discriminate against the unvaccinated with a 14 day quarantine period, versus a revised 7 day quarantine requirement for the vaccinated? How is this to prevent more community spread?

  44. Anonymous says:

    Keeping the borders closed to protect the minority will have a major effect on the majority of Caymanian people in the future. The 7 day quarantine only brings the elite who are buying up land and homes for what they consider pocket change. Only the Government benefit from this. Prices here are rising for everything. In a year it won’t just be expats leaving it will be Caymanians that can no longer afford to live in their own country. I am here on a work permit and can leave anytime. It’s my friends that are Caymanian that I worry for.

  45. Anonymous says:

    We all got vaccinated for nothing in return. This is f’d up.

    • Anonymous says:

      No you got vaccinated so if you catch Covid-19 YOU don’t DIE!

      • Anonymous says:

        We got the vaccine so we could return to some sort of normality. Being vaccinated and still having to wear masks is not normal.

        • Anonymous says:

          No they are not. It is the elected officials, MPs who just got a drastic salary increase. And the most senior civil servants, that make 8k-15k per month!!!! This is what some people earn in a whole year okay. These are the “civil servants” that need to cut back by 30% of their salaries. Not the ones barely earning 2k per month and struggling to make ends meet.

          Did you know that this government also gets public funds to pay for their consistency offices, their staff of up to 3 persons now. This ws recently approved a week or two ago. What are the MPs that do not have consistency offices and staff are doing with that money? They collect it and pocket it. Has anyone noticed that allot of them now drive brand new highly expensive cars? Big shiny gas gugglers, that are driven with only one passenger most of the time. Yet they care for our environment?

          Where is the accountability of public funds that is not being used as it was slated for. These funds should be used to aid the people and our country through this pandemic. Not fatten their bank accounts.

          So disappointed in PACT. And it’s only been a few months. Can’t wait to see if people will protest when they do not live up to their promises.

      • Anonymous says:

        Highly unlikely to happen though. Keeping healthy is the more common sense route to this whole mess.

      • Anonymous says:

        I got vaccinated so that government could safely open the borders to tourists and allow everyone back to work. I got vaccinated so that I could travel freely and safely. I’m at very little risk from a few community cases and CIG have failed to keep their side of the deal. I really shouldn’t have bothered.

        • Anonymous says:

          I wanted to reason to your points in order
          1.) the government and Public Health following PHEngland notes for reopening determined based on the current outbreak the islands are not ready to open safely due to resources and paused the reopening.
          2.) tourism is never constant, had we gotten hit by a hurricane (look at what grace did) more that tourism would’ve been disrupted and in the long term. Cayman’s tourism boom came from the unfortunate devastation of other islands, Ivan took us out for years. And luckily some of the tourism workers have transitioned to other industries or to hospitality businesses that are stable and not reliant on high and low season.
          3) you can still travel freely and now that you’re vaccinated, and safely to other countries where the risks are higher like the US and UK and Europe with little concern. The quarantine measures were to control what we’re experiencing now.
          Everywhere changes daily based on COVID. UK is gearing up for their lockdown for winter. Other place putting countries on a no flights list. Cayman isn’t the only place that’s changed based on the health climate. And as we are still having people coming in and they are still working out how to manage the opening, vaccination was the safest guarantee. Everywhere else has opened and had deaths. We’re trying to open and not have. Seems like the safest choice to me. I miss different places too, I do hope there is a silver lining soon for your efforts though.

    • Anonymous says:

      Fool! Maybe you should go get unvaccinated.
      Yeah, go figure.

  46. Duppy Conqueror says:

    Cayman’s opening initiative fail simply because those coming here now believe they should not have to practice safe quarantine measures because they took the vaccine and others simply don’t care to do so and are not complying with their own countries quarantine and safety protocols. The problem we have is our government listening to others thought and trusted them for some stupid reasons that they would! A man who cannot govern himself simply cannot govern others ! We keep talking about living with Covid yet some oblivious idiots continue to believe it doesn’t not exist and not taking it serious and appear to be the same destructive @$$holes causing the problems for everybody else! If you don’t like the rules here it’s very simple Go and Live somewhere else with those that think and operate just like you!

  47. Anonymous says:

    This isn’t an over-reaction; this is unfortunately what is needed when you have the recent introduction of the highly infectious Delta variant in 3 recent, unrelated separate instances. It’s here, and it’s spreading.

    There will be undoubtedly be more cases amongst the local population and adding visitors into the mix would only add to the strain on the health care system, leading to the dreaded Christmas lockdown.

    This is not fear-mongering: although I’m sure people do not want to hear it and will shoot the messenger.

    To see the future, look to Bermuda.

    https://www.royalgazette.com/health/news/article/20210914/covid-19-one-death-948-cases-a-new-high/

    • Vigilante says:

      You are right, we are getting a free glimpse into the future with Bermuda’s situation. They are open and trading with the world. They mask, distance and sanitize, and quarantine/isolate for community cases. The only folks in hospital or dying in Bermuda are the unvaxxed, which is a sad but true statistic. A great learning opportunity for Cayman! This latest Govt flip-flop is an over-reaction of the sort I sometimes see in my mentally ill friends. Lots of heat without any light, and quite frankly a concerning statement about the stability of those in charge. Please get a grip and chart a straight and sensible course!

  48. Anon says:

    Pathetic !! Watch everyone leave Cayman now and enjoy their freedom elsewhere. I got vaccinated for a reason and I am not being held hostage

    • Anonymous says:

      Call TravelCayman now.

      The lines are open to accommodate all that wish to leave.

      I also heard that the government is putting on extra departure flights (depending on the demand) for those persons being held hostage inside Cayman.

      • Anonymous says:

        The government is not putting on extra departure flights.
        The government knows if they start loosing more residents it must make a change and open up, or risk having no money!

        • Anonymous says:

          only people we are going to lose are the expats so im not worried, love. they can go home if they want lmao this is my home and my family so im def not concerned about empty threats of expats leaving lmao
          have a nice trip back 🙂

          • Anonymous says:

            Caymankind I see in it’s full glory.

            • Not inclined to be Kind says:

              And these comments are full of Expatkind we’ve stayed hush to for too long, all in for the taking when it’s for their benefit and ready to have tantrums they could never throw in their own county where they are truly voiceless. Caymankind kept the COVID utopia for all the brunch boating buddies to be content this past year. Deal with til December… or take your extended leave.

          • Anonymous says:

            And watch your home sink into oblivion and back to smoke pots and wompers. The expat population keeps this island afloat whether you want to believe that or not……love.

          • Anonymous says:

            As a Caymanian, will be going one way to be with my family not seen in 2 years than be amongst the pre-historic attitudes! Without furriners, Cayman would be nothing now. Go independent and enjoy your isolation!

        • Anonymous says:

          The government is doing exactly that via Cayman Airways.

          It’s a lot easier to replace you than you really think.

          Have you ever thought that just perhaps, CIG wishes to reduce the number of non-natives that are surplus-to-requirement and that don’t really fit in.

          Perhaps, just perhaps house prices will fall along with everything else.

          CaymanKind also involves praticising a little social engineering every now and then.

      • anon says:

        enjoy the income tax in a couple of years when the GOV is bankrupt due to their poor decision making and they have to claw back some of their money

        • Anonymous says:

          Sadly, I see this coming to fruition as well. All those who thought they can sit back and wait it out will be shocked when more drastic measures are implemented to “balance” the budget. This problem is showing how fragile our world economy is. too many things are balanced on a knife’s edge.

          I mean, how else will premiere and KeeKee continue to receive their $200k+ a year and live.

          It was and always will be off of our backs and our work. and, like every law / act, no matter how temporary they say it is it will always and forever be in place.

    • Anonymous says:

      What exactly was your reason? Because the only reason I know of is that the whole world is being told they should to vaccinate is to reduce the effects and transmission. You only got vaccinated for the Cayman Islands?

      You being vaccinated also matters for other parts of the world. That’s why so many “visitors” got vaccinated here before they left. No one is a hostage here, book your flights through the ways available, sure you may have to pay more but no one is being stopped from coming or going.

    • Anonymous says:

      Please bear in mind they may be also losing their lives!! You are also free to go, no one is holding you back.

    • Anonymous says:

      Hostage? If you have a passport and money to buy a ticket… who’s stopping you from going anywhere? Certainly not the CI Govt. Last I checked they had flights to Miami which is an international hub.

  49. Gangwarily says:

    Panton added, “We need to be cautious and carefully consider how we address community spread.”

    We were/are about 4 weeks away from quarantine free travel for vaccinated travellers. This had already acknowledged the inevitable introduction of Covid into the Cayman community. Based on current scientific data, Cayman’s vaccination rates, and the resilience of children in managing this virus, this is/was a very strongly managed risk, that the vast majority of residents supported.

    Is government only now seeing the need to consider how to manage the very small negative risk factors of proceeding as planned? The new swerve in direction is such an over reaction. And, if you listened to Dr Lee yesterday, when he was reassuring us about ‘life with Covid’ seen and experienced outside of Cayman, it would seem that he agrees.

    Our government needs to acknowledge that there will never be a ‘no risk’ scenario for reopening and continue that open and honest dialogue with the residents, rather than the current narrative that seems to suggest that we are in a very distressing situation, worthy of wringing of hands and sad eyes, that we need to run away from.

    We are as ready as we are ever likely to be – and taking the foot of the pedal means that the last minute take up of vaccines will now, one again, stutter and likely stop.

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