PACT seriously mismanaging outbreak, says PPM
(CNS): Opposition Leader Roy McTaggart said he has tried “very hard to give the premier and the government a wide berth to get things together”, but PACT’s “cavalier attitude towards” the COVID-19 pandemic must end, as he accused them of seriously mismanaging the community outbreak. In a press statement from the Progressives, McTaggart said the escalating spread of the virus and the rate of infection now presented the gravest threat to our health and economy since the onset of the pandemic.
CNS asked former premier Alden McLaughlin what he would do if he was still the leader of the country. “We would never have gotten to this state,” he said and accused the PACT Government of making one poor decision after another, which had led the country to the current situation.
“Reducing the quarantine period for vaccinated people to five days and essentially relying on an honour system to keep travellers in quarantine allowed the initial spread of the virus,” McLaughlin said. “They needed to leave in place the strict protocols we had instituted until they were certain the required systems were able to cope.”
However, the re-emergence of the virus in the community has been traced to the first outbreak in North Side, and while there has been speculation about how it arrived, there is no evidence that it involved a breach of isolation.
McLaughlin also accused the current administration of not preparing for the arrival of the coronavirus. “The government had no plan and the systems were not geared to deal with controlling the inevitable spread,” he told CNS.
McTaggart also said that the current situation was a regrettable set of events. “I remain of the view that this is down to serious mismanagement by the government,” he said.
The sudden surge of infections across Cayman since September, after the country had enjoyed more than a year free of the virus plaguing the rest of the world, has been the cause of alarm for many in the community. The government is relying on the massive testing policy being rolled out as a major plank of its plan to deal with the spread, but this will depend on people isolating when they know they are positive or when they have symptoms, and there are real concerns that government is struggling to keep infected people quarantined.
McTaggart said he was worried that, with the reopening date now just ten days away, government was still working on the plan to manage visitors. He said it was debatable if there was a genuinely safe way of reopening the borders but it must still be properly planned.
“So far, this does not seem like a planned border reopening. Rather, it seems we are hurtling toward the November 20th date and praying for the best,” the PPM leader said, adding the government had to show the country real evidence it has this under control, as Wayne Panton had claimed at a press briefing several weeks ago.
He said he had been “trying very hard” to give the premier and the PACT Government a wide berth so they could “get things together while still fulfilling my duty to the country to hold the premier and the government to account. We in the opposition will continue to be vigilant and point out where the government is going wrong. But time is running out.”
McLaughlin said that Cayman is reopening principally to restart tourism but that it “now has the dubious distinction of being the most infectious country in the world”.
The travel advisory by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warning US citizens not to travel to the Cayman Islands was enough to keep people away, he said, but if “that were not disastrous enough, residents here are now staying away from bars, restaurants and stores and gatherings for fear of the dread virus”. Local businesses that have been hanging on by their fingernails are going to fail, McLaughlin warned.
“This is going to be a very bleak Christmas. The premier and his government need to get their heads around the reality that continued uncontrolled spread of the virus is a lose lose situation. No tourists and not much local business. They must take immediate action to curtail the spread. I pray that we are not forced back into lockdown as so many other countries have been. That would truly be fatal to local businesses. And I pray even more that no one dies because of the government’s incompetence,” McLaughlin added.
Meanwhile, the tourism ministry dismissed the CDC’s travel warning and claimed that it was not impacting bookings.
“The Cayman Islands is one of 80 countries around the world on the list of level 4 countries which currently includes the UK, Ireland and Switzerland along with 15 of our Caribbean neighbours,” a release from the ministry said.
Describing the CDC’s travel advisory is “regrettable”, the ministry stated, “Given that we are close to reopening the borders it is understandable that this travel advisory is raising concerns, particularly in relation to tourism. But the reality is, the move to level 4 does not automatically mean that the Cayman Islands tourism industry will be negatively affected.”
The release said that other destinations categorized as level 4 had no long term or immediate negative impacts.
“The Ministry of Tourism has not received any indication from tourism stakeholders that this move by the CDC presents a major hurdle, neither has there been any suggestion that vacation bookings are being cancelled due to the CDC rating. On the contrary, we do not expect that visitors will be deterred and the Department of Tourism stands by its projection that the Cayman Islands will remain on a path of slow and steady growth following the reopening of borders on 20 November, 2021,” the ministry stated.
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Category: Politics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Sjk3f4qC1I
Roy right now
Or…. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CapiqOzWwAA8uf4.jpg
The private sector will have to lead us out of this, there just isn’t the competency or courage inside the government.
When has the private sector in cayman and the expats not lead cayman out of a hole? It’s always the private sector that have to cover the cost.
Ummm. Let’s face it. The Let’s Reopen Cayman group seems to have been doing a pretty good job of getting us into a hole. Maples tends to be pretty good at getting us out.
All hail our mighty Reopen Cabal!
Yes, the segment of people that have been directly responsible for paying every goverment salary of every single employee and every government liabilities that ever existed, including the MLA’s salaries.
Yes…. _those_ people will lead us out.
They need to start by bringing Vax passport system for their premises….it protects the unvaxxed and protects our health service.
FACT CHECKER … Cayman is not the most infectious place on the planet that distinction falls to Guadeloupe at 6x the rate in Cayman. Cayman is the 13th worst and is behind the USA and not far ahead of the UK.
You are either making things up or seriously misinformed/unable to read a chart.
Unfortunately Cayman has recently had the highest rate for new infections in the WORLD.
Guadeloupe currently reports weekly and had 200 cases for the week ending Nov. 4th and 187 in the week before that per Worldometer.
That is across a population of 400k.
If you want to see what a better reporting dashboard looks like you can visit Guadeloupe’s here: https://www.guadeloupe.gouv.fr/Politiques-publiques/Risques-naturels-technologiques-et-sanitaires/Securite-sanitaire/Informations-coronavirus/COVID-19-Point-de-situation-hebdomadaire-au-31-octobre-2021-et-recommandations
As of October 31st they had a rate of 48.6/100k population and a test positivity of 1.3%
We all have access to the same internet so I have no idea why people do stuff like this…
The flipping New York Times has us #1 with a bullet and I think their fact checking is better than yours.
The NY Times does not have data for Guadeloupe in their chart, Not sure why…
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/covid-cases.html
Ummm, because Guadeloupe is part of France?
Guadeloupe is technically France
Try looking at active cases per population
This comment section is amazing! These two muppets would do well to read them and keep their mouths shut in future.
Muppets is a compliment, I rather think they resemble Sesame Street characters.
Muppets be muppeting…
Me too.
Whiners will whine eh!!
There is NO WAY they would have done ANY better.
Every country is doing what they can and what they think is best.
Y’all whiners think anyone knew exactly how best to go about this? NO.
At least they’re not sitting around like PPMP did. Waxing poetically, singsong preaching and talking BS about moon phases while your spouse breaks quarantine. Shhhhhhh…. That was an embarrassment. I used to watch half an hour later on DVR just to speed thru their BS. At first it was funny and quaint but when you realize what those men were actually doing..
Anyway, what we have now is way better for the island as a whole than what we got rid of. I am proud to be one that voted them out.
Roy and Alden, if you want to sort out your issues with Wayne, I suggest you do it at the next Lodge meeting. That’s how it works, right?
Or on a fishing boat
Chris probably feels left out, because he’s in Mechanics Lodge.
Are members of the judiciary allowed to be in the Masonic or Mechanics Lodge?
Seems like it would make way for grand scale abuse of judicial powers.
What about the Attorney General? Is he in the Masonic or Mechanics Lodges? Might explain a lot.
From the wise words of Roy Mctaggart on July 15 demanding full border reopening in September(Sourced from CNS)
“McTaggart also said the 80% target for national vaccination would be impossible to achieve. He argued for a set date for full border reopening in September even in the face of concerns about the resurgence of the virus due to the more infectious variants. The opposition leader argued that a set opening date would spur people to get their shots, knowing that the risk of infection would increase.’’
Wait, let me get this…almost 1/10 of our population are in isolation now and the number is increasing.
Ok, so Government is proceeding to open-up, despite CDC travel warnings about Cayman, despite local conditions, etc., etc.
What is their marker to decide when “embers”, as Trump called covid at one point, will burst into flames?
Cayman Islands PACT Government, is that:
A. when 1/8, 1/5, or 1/2 our population are isolated;
B. at a certain time “T” after watching the flames grow;
C. when ALL our health services are overburdened with covid cases….what is your marker???
It’s all about the severity of the case, please try to keep up.
We need to get over the bickering and continue with our lives. We were never going to stay locked up in Cayman. People have to get a move on with their lives and you HAVE to learn to live with it. Opposition just bitching and complaining for attention. GTFO and allow PACT to do the job they were selected to do.
It’s not bickering it’s the opposition looking out for us and doing their job
Oh please, save it.
This sorry excuse for an Opposition has worked harder in the past 6 months trying to save their own faces and the pocketbooks of their shy slavehandlers, than the last 8 years for the majority of Caymanians.
It is clear they are only looking after themselves and private interests, the only thing they can actually stick to.
Got any brunch specials?
PACT has been saying for some time that the country is broke and that the country can’t continue with status quo.
A decision has been made to put the financial health of the government and the tourism sector above the potentially small number of lives that could be lost by allowing the virus to wash over the land.
The lesson that I want everyone to take away from this experience is the fact that, at the end of the day, you are on your own and can’t rely on the government or any other entity to look out for you and your family.
Like they’d be doing any better
The reason we are here is because we kept kicking the can down the road as we kept ourselves locked-in with hysteria, while everyone else learned to adapt to Covid which by the way, isn’t going anywhere as is not avoidable. We arrogantly professed to be the example of the world, when in fact we are now the laughing stock of the world as Turks, Bermuda and other Caribbean nations tourism economies are flourishing with our tourists while laughing at us.
No, just laughing at you and your comment actually
The comment was accurate. PPM kicked the can down the road. Covid spread and having to open up and live with it was inevitable. We should have done it months ago.
Come now, PPM. We all know that you would be scrambling too. Yes, I grant you that this number of cases is way too high; but there is no guarantee that they would be any lower under your watch. Every single citizen must think, “If I get it, I could pass it on to my family, coworkers and friends” — and observe the safety protocols! If we all do that, we will curb the community spread.
CNS – Is there evidence that the North Side outbreak started the current wave of COVID? (“the re-emergence of the virus in the community has been traced to the first outbreak in North Side”)
From the published reports as I recall there was no contact traced between the North Side and GT Primary outbreaks. Or the other, subsequent, community detections. So while the genetic results sow that they are all the same ‘variety’ of the delta strain of COVID-19 there is no ‘case 0’ identified through contact tracing. (And the genetics are unlikely to provide a case 0 either.) As you said it is unknown how the strain got in, or when, or how it spread. Just that the first detection was someone from North Side, followed very quickly by GT Primary, etc. So it does not seem accurate to say that “the re-emergence of the virus in the community has been traced to the first outbreak in North Side”. That was simply the first point of detection of the COVID which was in the community.
Its a minor issue but the problem is that once something is written it becomes the record and future reports pick up and repeat it. – Thank you for all of your effort covering this locally. Especially in your comments section, which goes above and beyond the other local media.
CNS: It was in one of Dr Lee’s reports that the genomic sequencing linked everything back to the first tests in North Side, including the GTPS cases. See here. Maybe the word ‘trace’ was confusing. Many thanks for the note of appreciation.
Agree with this note. If we recall, the case in North Side was detected as the result of a test due to the person entering hospital for a non-COVID related matter.
It’s quite probable that there is an initial case and potential further links in the chain that ultimately connect the NS cases and the GTPS cases. This may be due to quarantine breaches, or it may be due to purported drug canoes. In any instance, we really can’t say and probably never will be able to do so.
It wasn’t the drug canoe. You think the drug canoe hung around long enough to play dominoes, go clubbing, hung out in big crowds in the community. FFS.
I do agree that PACTs downfall has been their failure to implement any policies to lower the transmission rate. But if Roy has such good ideas why doesn’t he share them with the rest of us to help Cayman. Also didn’t he want to open in September?
Yup exactly… all this talk about PACT not doing good but then he provides no solutions.. They were going to open up regardless. The opposition is just upset that they weren’t selected and now are being badmind towards the selected government. Noone was ever going to stay locked up in Cayman. you have to get a move on with your life and travel…. The whole world has been functioning like normal for over a year now.
Roy’s plan is to lockdown and put his head in the sand.
That’s what they know best… anything else they wouldn’t have a clue.
I would like to second that appreciation for CNS. Sunday morning reading and censoring 300 posts about COVID, many abusive, before they go live on here must be exhausting.
It would’ve been the same with the PPM. Covid is here to stay and PACT realistically couldn’t keep the virus away forever. We did well last year, but an outbreak here was inevitable.
No, if PPM were in power (instead of PACT), it would be more merciless persecution.
We’re better off without the PPM, even if it is with the PACT.
Wayne is a better person than Alden, but Alden is smart and a good strategist.
Thank you PPM, now go back to sleep as you both look wore out!
but those clowns didn’t do anything when they had a chance.
But Roy said on 15 July was demanding full border reopening in September…(source CNS)
“McTaggart also said the 80% target for national vaccination would be impossible to achieve. He argued for a set date for full border reopening in September even in the face of concerns about the resurgence of the virus due to the more infectious variants. The opposition leader argued that a set opening date would spur people to get their shots, knowing that the risk of infection would increase.’’
Disgusting a set of fraudsters pretending to care all they want is power!
Very true.
PPM cannot be trusted
We can never ever trust PPM.
Neither can PACT.
Oh brother, these two clowns are at it again? This morning they had Joey Who and Jon-Jon on the radio show, with JJ spouting off the reason why we do not have serious issues with all the Covid cases could be because of the salt spray or maybe all the shots we received when we were younger. The show host brought up perhaps it was because of the high rate of vaccinations but the two guests really did not know. Now we get these pearls of wisdom from Mutt & Jeff. Why don’t these PPM gang just go back to their office and chill out. Alden, if it is not too much trouble out of your busy days, could you please go get that Red Bay park cleaned up?
Alden’s Red Bay park project is a bit like the PPM’s election results, a total collapse.
Ha Ha Ha, his gazebos collapsed and still laying on the ground!!!!
Yes! We need a story dedicated to this failure of a project.
Politrics!
Alden is a really good ventriloquist.
His lips aren’t even moving.
All of the “pace-of-reopening” critics had better re-read the hysterical statements above, and fully understand the position of the anti-vax “never-reopen” back benches. What they communicate might even be funny if it was satire, and that’s literally the alternative. Soak it in.
Do you know what, – they’re not wrong 😑
Crock of shit. There’s no way of avoiding where we are at unless we stay locked down forever and that is not feasibly possible. Let’s not forget that the former administration treated us all like criminals.
There is absolutely no evidence that the outbreak was the result of the five day quarantine. It was never connected to a traveller through contact tracing. It could just as easily have been a breach but that doesn’t have the same appeal to unvaccinated voters. Or it could have been an accidental transmission at the airport or the bus taking people to quarantine. Other countries with stricter quarantine procedures than ours have had outbreaks because the delta variant is so contagious. Nobody knows and it is wrong to say that they do.
People will never forget how Alden Moses Joey Roy sold out Caymanians and the country to special interests. That is the political legacy they left behind that we dealing with and part of why we suffering now
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Well said. Alden, Joey, Roy, Moses sold out Cayman to special interests and wealthy foreigners.
Dump deal went to DART.
CILPA-CARA AML regime fiasco, discriminatorily targeting Caymanian attorneys.
Chucky Clifford, Dr. Lee and others acting unlawfully concerning Doctors Express, because they did not like medical cannabis, although it is legal.
Giving Jon Jon the Ministry of Health was not criminal, just stupid to let it happen.
They didn’t have any plan for over 12 months except keeping people locked down which they are suggesting again. Lockdown may have been necessary then but time to move on as is happening now. The are fooling themselves if they think this virus was not comming here. Stop trying to stir things and if they have better ideas, say so, otherwise go sit down.
I wish the progressives would just STFU
Can the PPM explain their role in the giveaways and concessions to financiers and developers during Cayman’s construction boom in the last 8 years?
For example:
1995: Auditor general raises concerns with waivers
2015: Auditor general report: Government revenue collection ‘open to abuse’
2016: CIG-Dart deal adds $13M to duty cap – Before it was signed McLaughlin said PwC had reviewed the deal and concluded that although it “remained imperfect”, it now had a greater commitment from the developer and the removal of the 50% accommodation tax concession was important.
2019: Duty waivers still not monitored
2021: Pageant Beach Hotel got CI$10M duty waiver
http://www.legislativeassembly.ky/portal/pls/portal/docs/1/9782619.PDF
https://www.caymancompass.com/2015/10/16/auditor-general-report-government-revenue-collection-open-to-abuse/
https://caymannewsservice.com/2016/06/cig-dart-deal-adds-13m-to-duty-cap/
https://caymannewsservice.com/2019/10/duty-waivers-still-not-monitored/
https://caymannewsservice.com/2021/10/pageant-beach-hotel-got-ci10m-duty-waiver/
Well researched.
As much as I do not care for anything that comes out of Alden’s or Roy’s mouth, because it’s usually hot air, they do have a point this one time.
PACT is on a collision course with COVID in Cayman, and with poor leadership and governance style, Cayman is in a mess. I hope no one dies.
That’s a harsh thing for Alden to say. For the last two months PACT have made no attempt to manage anything, they just decided to “let ‘er rip” and here we are.
yawn…from no-plan-ppm.
they had one plan…lock us down and close the borders.
medical profession is not concerned with current outbreak due to high (almost 100%) vaccination rate of risk groups.
ppm are playing politics and fear monerging. end of story.
The PPM had no plan and have flip flopped on every position or decision to date.
First it was Keep Cayman Closed. Then we need to reopen to save the economy, to its their fault Cayman has covid cases now. Cayman is now experiencing its first wave. Cayman was always going to have what is happening now; it has occurred in every country in the world.
This his all cringe worthy, Alden McLaughlin writes messages in chat groups that are the opposite of what the leader of opposition says in his chat groups. Please accept that you did not form the government because the country does not trust the PPM. The positions they take are all driven by desperation for power. It’s embarrassing i expected better from McTaggart as the leader. PPM had no plan and are not interested in sharing any solutions. Every press release is clear that the focus is to attempt to destabilize the current government.
This is not a political battle but a global pandemic that impacts the Cayman Islands. When will the opposition learn this is not the time for the usual politics?
Well said.
Never thought I’d see the day come where I’d say I miss Alden. You really have to be careful what you wish for. I wasted time and energy advocating for PACT, time I will never get back but I learned my lesson. NEVER EVER AGAIN!
PACT is not performing competently for a few months.
PPM (under Alden’s poor leadership) was horrible for 8 straight years.
Helloooo Alden … it is “the most infectious country in the world” because it is one of the most VACCINATED ! So, people can blame government mismanagement all they want. But both you and Panton was for inoculating the country… now talking about our children! Under my dead body!
The Tourism minister is delusional to think that the CDC category 4 rating for Cayman does not have negative consequences for the tourism sector. We already know a group of people who have decided yesterday to not come to Cayman.
When is PACT coming with a proper response to the foreign press as a response to the New York Times and other articles to clarify: that Cayman test X times more than any other country, no people have died due to COVID itself, X percent is vaccinated on island and it is the 4th highest in the world, only X number of people are in the hospital are in the hospital solely to be treated for COVID etc. PACT needs to be pro-active and manage foreign press and mitigate damage.
Lets be honest. ANYONE that’s willing to travel on holiday atm doesn’t care about COVID, so being on the CDC cat 4 list isn’t going to be a big deal to them.
We care about covid, but we have been living with it since March 2020 and know how to wear masks, social distance and stay out of crowds. We also got vaccinated the first chance possible and got our booster shot.
Is the PPM in the Wine business.
It seems they specialize in sour grapes!
Fine for the PPM to hold Government to account, but when is anyone going hold a clearly failing civil service to account? This is not all the fault of politicians.
Civil service needs improvement. Politicians are, in certain instances, directly to blame.
The virus rules, not people. The sooner it rips through 80% vaccinated Cayman population the better.
Stop hysteria.
Roy is Alden’s puppet. Such a shame I thought he was his own man. It’s Roy is a mouth piece for the real leader of the progressives pulling all the strings from south coast bar.
True. Roy PPM leader officially, Alden calls the shots in reality.
Wayne is PACT’s leader officially, but who is really calling the shots? Chris?
Or are the Lodges calling the shots? Masonic? Mechanics?
What about the judicial branch of government? Does the Lodge call shots?
Just asking some questions. What do you think?
Bla, bla, bla…Give us a break…
Roy in that photo:
“saw wa bobo” when he read the compass and saw the tourism ministry say CDC advisory for cayman wont negatively impact the tourist sector.
Alden still thinks he can control a pandemic. Not remotely surprised. 800 going to die, right Alden? His way would be a second complete lock down which would only delay the inevitable. Delta will burn out by mid November so relax people. Try and live a little instead of living in fear.
Ministry of Tourism and the Minister: IDIOTS
Thank you PPM for speaking out! Pact is seriously dropping the ball with this outbreak. Do not get me wrong, I think we all knew that Covid would come back to our shores and restrictions were rolled back. However, if we are not even opened yet and our healthcare system is already bowing under the pressure…what do we think will happen when we are fully opened? Clearly our healthcare system was ill prepared due to mismanagement. This is simply not acceptable. Yes, we need to reopen at some point, that is clear. However, we need to have proper plans in place to do so! Why are people not being trained for certain positions ie. call center, flu hotline, Covid results response, etc. I know of a woman whom the ambulance was called for due to a serious matter, the ambulance never showed. They are overwhelmed, are constantly on the road, being pulled left, right, and center. The poor folks do not even have time to eat. We cannot continue the way we are. Pact needs to actually formulate a plan that will work in order for us to move forward successfully.
I know someone who had to call they ambulance last night. They live in George Town and it still took an ambulance 45 mins to get there. Then when they get to A&E, still had to wait almost an hour for a doctor to see them, when they were having severe breathing difficulties. Caymans healthcare system cannot handle the issues we have now much less Nov 20. I dislike PPM as much as the next person but they have some very valid points here. I went to A*E myself at 3am about 5 weeks ago and still had to wait an hour and 15 minutes to be seen by a doctor who was very disinterested btw.
Thanks for absolutely nothing PPM, you were the worst thing to happen to the Cayman Islands (worse than PACT, UDP, CDP).
@4:09 Pact just said “hold my beer”. Just look at the damage Pact has inflicted in just a few months and we have years left of them.
PPM is worse, we had them for 8 difficult years. Thankfully, PPM Is gone.
Sadly, their plan is to let COVID RIP THRU the community!
Can you explain to everyone here what has happened as a result of all this covid in Cayman? Anyone died? Yeah didn’t think so.
Hopefully you won’t find out in 2 or 3 weeks as that’s been the lag time in other countries.
Do try to keep up!
It’s already been 2 or 3 weeks! What do we have the extended Delta version?
And how would you have kept Covid out of cayman Einstein? Nowhere else in the world managed it because it’s IMPOSSIBLE.
Any try hush like any could do any better it was going to happen anyway dony care who in office there is only 14 hospitalized the vaccine works
I love the picture it looks like Jeff Dunham with one of his dummies. Notice that the dummies lips are moving but not the person controlling it.