Out of 385 test results Friday, one was positive, who is a traveller and in isolation.

·         There were no calls to the ‘flu clinic.

·         A new programme for persons quarantining at home began Thursday, for which new regulations were released the same day.

·         All 29 in home quarantine trial have tested negative on arrival.

·         One breach that will attract a fine is a person in home quarantine allowing another person to visit them.

·         The fine for this breach is CI$1,000 and a possible prison term of six months.

·         Government has now successfully negotiated a line of credit from a local consortium of four local banks for $330 million, which will provide a cushion for Government should it become necessary to draw down the funds in dealing with the COVID-19 response.

·         Coming Constitutional amendments are also highlighted.

Grand Cayman (GIS) – At the COVID-19 press conference today, Friday, 18 September 2020, Cayman Islands’ leaders announced the monitoring of a selected number of passengers who arrived on the BA flight from London on Thursday to take part in a quarantine at home programme.

This is an important opportunity to test the home isolation programme prior to the phased borders opening that is set to begin on 1 October.

To facilitate the new test programme, two new sets of regulations have been issued that outline the quarantine at home process.

The regulations cover the requirements to be followed by 29 persons from 12 households quarantining at home, as well as fines and possible imprisonment for breaching these requirements.

These include making it a crime for a person quarantining at home to permit another person to visit them, other than the Medical Officer of Health (MOH) or persons with written permission from the MOH.

            Additionally, the leaders also announced that Government now has set up a line of credit with a consortium of four local banks. Government will access this line of credit (LoC) only if required and forms a cushion for ongoing expenses necessitated primarily by the COVID-19 pandemic response.

            Changes to the Cayman Islands Constitution that are coming as agreed to by the UK Government were also highlighted.

           Prayer was led by Pastor Mike Irby.

Chief Medical Officer, Dr. John Lee reported:

• Out of 385 test results today, one was positive.
• There were no calls to the ‘flu line.

Premier Hon. Alden McLaughlin said:

• In an update on the BA flight that arrived on Thursday afternoon carrying 96 persons, a total of 29 persons from 12 households were placed in the home quarantine programme now being tested. The remaining persons from the flight were sent to the government managed isolation facility.
• There was some concern with one individual who arrived on the BA flight without proper authorization who was thought to be a visitor and who it was advised would be returned to the UK. It now seems that this individual has ties to the Cayman Islands and will remain in quarantine. A separate statement will be issued by Customs and Border Control.
• Requirements for the home isolation include persons wearing iMSafe smart wristbands, for geofencing purposes.
• The iMSafe device provides automatic location monitoring and reporting, alerts and notifies authorities to undertake efficient quarantine management.
• Changes were made Thursday to the Control of COVID regulations to address any breaches of home quarantine, including permitting other persons to visit them.
• Persons found to have committed an offence against the regulations face a fine of CI$1,000 and possible imprisonment for six months.
• Government has received confirmation that the UK is moving ahead with amendments to the CI Constitution by way of a new Draft Order in Council.
• Amendments include the Legislative Assembly to be changed to Parliament and MLAs to MPs.
• However, the change sought to Section 81 which grants the Governor the power to legislate where necessary will not be granted. The reason not to remove this section was because the Governor had to use the section to uphold the rule of law following the failure of the Legislative Assembly to approve the Domestic Partnership Bill.
• For more from the Premier, see sidebars below.

His Excellency the Governor, Mr. Martyn Roper said:

• Social gatherings continue to be one of the biggest spreaders of COVID as seen in worsening conditions in Europe and the concerning situation is the UK.
• Cayman’s significant set of prevention measures to manage the risk faced from incoming travellers continues to make sense. “There probably isn’t any other country in the world just now going to these lengths to protect its population particularly our elderly and vulnerable. The community should take confidence from the care and attention that is going in to this.”
• However, “we should all remain alert and not let our guard down.”
• Cayman Islands’ ability to ramp up capacity to as many as 3,300 tests a week is laudable.
• RCIPS will deal with the worst of the comments in response to the Civil Partnership Law.
• In relation to the Constitutional changes, the UK fully supports and respects Cayman’s extensive responsibility for domestic affairs.
• Two more Caymanians from the Cayman Regiment left for London today to receive junior officer training at Sandhurst and the next phase of recruitment for reservists is now underway. A bill is now out for public comment on how the Regiment will operate and be governed.
• For more from the Governor, see sidebar below.

Health Minister Hon. Dwayne Seymour said:

• Facemasks have to be worn at all HSA locations, at care homes and also at pharmacies.
• The new operational hours at the George Town Landfill are Mondays to Fridays, 7 am to 5 pm, Saturdays, 7 am to 1 pm and closed on Sunday. However, 24-hour landfill drop off will remain operational for disposal of small quantities of garbage.
• The start of the annual 2020-2021 general ‘flu vaccine programme will be announced in October. The value of this ‘flu vaccine, particularly to the elderly, the vulnerable include those with conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and chronic lung disease cannot be emphasised enough. “Getting vaccinated yourself may also protect people around you, especially those who are most vulnerable and whom we have made great strides to protect.”
• For more from Minster Seymour, see sidebar below.

Finance Minister Hon. Roy McTaggart said:

• Government has awarded the provision of a stand-by line of credit to a consortium of four local banks for a total of $303.4 million or US$403 million.
• A further long-term loan for $170 million will be sought for a total of $500 million available to Government should the need arise.
• Both loans are priced at 3.25% per annum, which is the current prime rate offered by local banks.
• An appropriation for the $500 million will be presented to the Legislative Assembly and the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FOC) for approval prior to accessing any of the funds from the line of credit.
• “Whilst we have access to this line of credit, we do not expect to need to use it before the end of Q2, 2021. In effect, this is a much needed ‘insurance policy’ for the Cayman Islands.”
• Cayman Airways has received a contract to deliver mail to the Cayman Islands from the US.  The first shipment of mail will arrive on Monday, 21 September and expect it to be in Grand Cayman Post Office boxes no later than Wednesday, 23 September.
• For more from Minister McTaggart, see separate release at https://bit.ly/2FKep1T.

Also responding to media queries at the press conference was Programme Management Office Director, Dr. Tasha Ebanks.

Sidebar: Premier Focuses on Home Quarantine Test Underway

I’ll provide you first with an update on the BA flight that landed yesterday and the commencement of the home isolation trial.  

Yesterday’s BA flight provides us with an important opportunity to extensively test the individual components of the Phased Opening of our Borders Programme prior to 1 October.

The BA flight arrived in Grand Cayman on Thursday afternoon carrying 96 persons.  A total of 29 persons from 12 households who arrived on the flight were onboarded onto the home isolation programme with the remaining passengers going into a Government managed isolation facility.

The home isolation participants are required to:

·         Wear an iMSafe smart wristband

·         Quarantine in residential or other accommodations approved by the Medical Officer of Health

·         Undergo COVID-19 testing upon arrival and again on day 15; and remain in quarantine for a minimum of 14 days after which a negative test result and sign off by the Medical Officer of Health will be required prior to receiving clearance to go out into the community.

The participants were also provided with an information pack that included:

1.         Quarantine at Residence general information

• 2.         Food, medication and essential supplies purchase and delivery guidelines,
• 3.         Useful contacts (e.g. Travel Support Team, Flu hotline, prescription refills, supermarkets and restaurant directory)

4.         Isolation guidelines (from the COVID website)

5.         Managing COVID anxiety (from the COVID website)

• 6.         Managing mental health for young adults (from the COVID website)
• 7.         Pen, notepad, thermometer and first aid kit (provided by Health Services Authority)

The iMSafe technology solution, developed by tracesafe, has been procured for the Testing Programme and the October pilot. iMSafe is marketed as a “complete, intuitive solution for self-quarantine management” and has been used in Hong Kong as part of their COVID-19 strategy.

The solution includes: a light-weight, hypoallergenic, waterproof, latex free, hospital grade wristband; a mobile application for users; and a web dashboard for the monitoring station. It provides automatic location monitoring and reporting, giving alerts and notifications to authorities for efficient quarantine management.

The complete solution comprises of the following key components:

1.         a smart wristband that wirelessly communicates over Bluetooth Low Energy and associates the traveller to the custom mobile application;

2.         a HUB, an Android or IOS phone, that transmits information from the smart wristband to the mobile phone and then to servers which continuously analyses data received and triggers alerts and notifications; and

3.         a monitoring station where alerts are received via the web dashboard and processed in accordance with established protocols.

Pre-selected participants were identified based on established criteria, from travellers approved by TravelTime to travel on the BA Flight.  A variety of different types and locations of accommodations was chosen to help test how robust the technology is under different circumstances.

Once they had been processed at the airport, all of the persons selected for the home isolation trial left the Owen Roberts International Airport for their approved home isolation in authorised taxis. Taxi drivers were given the location of the isolation and were advised to take travellers directly to their location, making no stops on the way.

Yesterday, all travellers reached their home isolation location, the monitoring team was alerted and the geofence was established. The monitoring team is alerted if someone leaves their isolation location.

In addition to conducting testing with travellers off the 17 September BA flight, testing of the interaction of the iMSafe device with the alert-handling infrastructure is also being conducted with participants who are not travellers (i.e. civil servants and others working with the September Testing Team).

The Department of Public Safety Communications (911) is responsible for monitoring the dashboard and actioning any alerts based on established protocols.

A Mobile Monitoring Team has been established. This team will respond to any non-law enforcement alerts and conduct random home visits to travellers in home isolation. 

A Traveller Support Team will check-in with travellers via phone and are standing-by to receive calls from travellers should they have any questions or problems they need support with. 

Changes were made yesterday to the Control of COVID regulations to address any breaches of Home Quarantine in particular, including permitting other persons to visit them. Persons found to have committed an offence against the regulations will face a fine of $1,000 and possible imprisonment for six months. 

On another matter, of the 95 of 96 passengers mentioned previously who all applied to TravelTime, and after being vetted by CBC, were provided personalized letters authorising their entry into the Cayman Islands.

The safety and well-being of everyone who lives in our Islands is paramount to this Government. As I have said before, we will not rely solely on technology but with boots on the ground and we will continue to watch and monitor this trial very carefully.

Sidebar 2 – Premier: UK Agrees to Most Constitutional Amendments Sought

I think everyone will recall that in December of last year the Legislative Assembly debated and unanimously agreed to support a package of constitutional reforms contained in what was then called the Cayman Islands Constitution Amendment Order 2019.  This package of reforms was negotiated in December of 2018 but unfortunately became bogged down in London as issues with Brexit held the attention of the UK Government.  Later the UK elections and more recently the management of COVID understandably were the main focus of the UK Government.

Nonetheless, I continued to follow up, either with the Governor or directly with the Minister responsible for the Overseas Territories whenever we had the opportunity to speak. 

I spoke with Baroness Sugg at the end of August and she indicated then that the package of reforms was being considered but that one change, in particular, would not likely go forward.  But she agreed to provide confirmation along with a new Draft Order in Council as soon as she could.

I am pleased to announce today that I have now received confirmation from the Minister that the package of reforms is moving forward as an amended Draft Order In Council – which is entitled “The Cayman Islands Constitutional (Amendment) Order 2020”.

In her letter to me Baroness Sugg noted that the Draft Order in Council will be sent shortly to the Foreign Affairs Committee for 28 days and then to the Privy Council. She also confirmed to me, however, that the UK would not be able to include the provision which would remove section 81 of the current Constitution, which grants to the Governor the power to legislate where he or she considers it necessary to do so in respect of any matters for which the Governor has special responsibility under Section 55. She further noted that the decision to not remove this section was because the Governor has had to use section 81 recently to uphold the rule of law following the failure of the Legislative Assembly to approve the Domestic Partnership Bill.

Those who attended the negotiations in London in 2018, including MLA Alva Suckoo, and then Leader of the Opposition, MLA Ezzard Miller, can attest that the negotiated package of reforms, including the removal of Section 81 was hard-won and brought significant benefits to the Cayman Islands. These wins came about because the UK Government recognised how far we have matured as a country and as a Legislature and in the end had agreed to many of the reforms being sought.  However, as indicated by Baroness Sugg, the new Draft Order in Council now does not include the removal of section 81.

I am a pragmatist and so I have come to accept that Section 81 will now remain in the Constitution, but I will always regret the opportunity that we as legislators and as a country have lost.  Hopefully, some future Government will be able to achieve what we came so close to doing.

But let us focus now instead on what is still a very important and useful set of reforms that will not only advance our Islands and Constitution but will provide our Islands with several protections.

      The often-mentioned Section 125 of the current Constitution reserves unto Her Majesty the power to legislate for peace, order and good government of the territory; a provision that is common through almost all of the Overseas Territories’ constitutions.

In light of some of the issues that we have grappled with over the last few years, involving what we viewed as overreach by the British Parliament in particular.  We sought to put some parameters around this provision and were successful in getting the UK Government to agree to insert a new Section 126, which doesn’t exist in the current Constitution, which would read as follows:

“Notification of proposed Acts of Parliament extending to the Cayman Islands or Orders in Council extending such Acts of Parliament to the Cayman Islands

126. (1) Where it is proposed that—

(a)  any provision of a draft Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom should apply directly to the Cayman Islands, or

(b)  an Order in Council should be made extending to the Cayman Islands any provision of an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom,

the proposal shall normally be brought by a Secretary of State to the attention of the Premier so that the Cayman Islands Cabinet may signify its view on it.

(2) This section does not affect the power of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to make laws for the Cayman Islands or the power of Her Majesty to make an Order in Council extending to the Cayman Islands any provision of an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom.”

This new provision is listed at the end of the package of reforms but I am mentioning it first given its importance to us as a Country.  What this does for the first time is to put into the Cayman Islands Constitution a provision that appears in no other constitution of any Overseas Territory; a mandatory provision that before the UK Government or the Parliament may legislate for us that at a minimum they must consult with the Premier and the Cabinet has to signify its view on the proposal.

This buys not only time but the opportunity for broader consultation across Whitehall and Westminster in the UK so that we don’t wind up with situations where the UK Parliament, simply on a whim, can amend legislation that is progressing through the House of Commons and that has the effect of intervening in areas of domestic policy by legislating for us.

Similarly, and in the same vein, is the agreement to the following provision being added to our Constitution in Section 44:

“(5) For the avoidance of doubt it is declared, subject to this Constitution, that the Cabinet possesses autonomous and exclusive capacity in domestic affairs for any matter that is not one of the following—

(a)  a special responsibility of the Governor under section 55(1);

(b)  a function which the Governor must exercise under this Constitution or any other law in his or her discretion or judgement or in accordance with instructions from Her Majesty through a Secretary of State; or

(c)  a function which the Governor is empowered or directed, either expressly or by necessary implication, to exercise without consulting with the Cabinet or to exercise on the recommendation or advice of, or after consultation with, any person or authority other than the Cabinet”.

This new section makes plain that the responsibility for the domestic policy of these Islands is a matter squarely for the elected Government and not for the UK.  This is similar to a provision that applies in the States of Jersey, in the Channel Islands, and will provide us, as it does them, with some increased insulation from intervention by the UK Parliament and indeed the UK Government, in areas which are devolved responsibilities of the local government.

The UK has also agreed to remove Section 80 which is the Secretary of States Power to disallow legislation passed by the Legislative Assembly.   This is another significant concession, even with Section 81 remaining in place.

These changes are by themselves significant and will help advance our Islands politically and constitutionally – giving us greater responsibility to control our own destiny.  What also caps this off for me is the UK’s agreement for the Legislative Assembly name to be changed to the Parliament of the Cayman Islands and for the elected members to be called Members of Parliament.

This change reflects the true standing that we will have in constitutional terms.  In addition, as I have said previously this change is hugely important when elected members are dealing with international matters, or indeed when dealing with the UK Government or any other government.  Government Officials understand intuitively that a legislative assembly is an inferior body in constitutional terms to that of a parliament.

I believe that it is less likely that the UK Parliament will seek to deal with another parliament in the way that, on occasion, they have dealt with this Legislative Assembly in the past.

But besides that, this change is an important step for us, particularly as we are now also moving forward with plans to make the administration of the Legislative Assembly independent of the Executive.

Another important change is an additional section that will allow the introduction of Parliamentary Secretaries who will be an elected representative appointed by the Governor acting on the advice of the Premier.  Parliamentary Secretaries will assume the roles which Councillors now have.  

Other important changes include:

·         the UK agreeing to amend Section 71 of the Constitution to confer the power and authority to create standing orders to the Legislative Assembly and to remove that responsibility from the Governor.  

·         and section 44(1) will be amended to allow the next Government, following the general election, to increase the number of ministers from 6 to 7 plus the Premier, which makes for a cabinet of 8 elected members in addition to the Attorney General, the Deputy Governor and the Governor as chair.

·         And for a new provision in the Constitution to create a police service commission,

There are a few other changes, mainly administrative, but in the main, the ones that I have mentioned are the significant ones. 

This package of reforms constitutes important changes to the overall advancement of these Islands and indeed some are critical to the well-being of these Islands. 

In addition to the unanimous support that these changes had in the Legislative Assembly, they also received the written support from the financial services industry, from the Chamber of Commerce as well as from the Cayman Ministers Association.

We can all be proud of the significance of these constitutional reforms that will help to move this country to a whole new level, where we have greater autonomy, greater responsibility and a greater sense of insulation from international assaults on our right to control our own destiny.

I wish again to thank all those who have been involved in allowing us to get to where we are today.  In particular I pay tribute to the Honourable Attorney General for his counsel and hard work and to His Excellency The Governor for his, not only support but intervention on more than one occasion in moving this forward and indeed to Baroness Sugg and her predecessor in office, Lord Ahmad as well as to the UK Government in general. 

Sidebar: Governor Underscores Continuing Importance of CI COVID Mitigations

·         As we’ve heard, the quarantine at home trial using yesterday’s BA flight has started well. My huge thanks to the civil service team led by the Deputy Governor for an enormous amount of work. A reminder that there will now be scheduled fortnightly BA flights from October until the end of November.

·         I acknowledge the concerns about the situation in the UK, which is worsening as it is across the whole of Europe. The UK Health Minister said today that this is a big moment for the UK. Consideration is being given to additional nationwide measures to restrict social gatherings while leaving schools and offices open. This is intended to act as a circuit breaker on the infection spreading and preventing an increase in deaths from Covid. It is relevant to us that all the evidence in UK suggests that COVID spreads most in social gatherings. Much less evidence for spread in schools or workplaces.   

·         Many countries continue to experience challenges managing COVID. But the reality is that have to find a way to live with this virus and get on with our lives.

·         It is why we have put in place a significant set of mitigations to manage the risk we face from incoming travellers, which remains significant from UK, US and Jamaica.  This includes isolation for 14 days (at home or in a government facility), technology to track movements, a step up in physical surveillance, large fine and even prison sentence for breaking the isolation rules, test on arrival and after 15 days before release into the community.  

·         There probably isn’t any other country in the world just now going to these lengths to protect its population particularly our elderly and vulnerable. The community should take confidence from the care and attention that is going in to this.

·         So we continue to proceed carefully and cautiously. We remain one of the safest places in the world to be just now and all of us remain determined to keep it that way.

·         Remain alert

·         But as we have constantly underlined, we should all remain alert and not let our guard down. We have lifted most of the restrictions but as the CMO has said we can still take sensible precautions. Hands, face and space will remain key going forward to protect ourselves and our elderly and vulnerable. Continue with good basic hygiene, wear masks where we ask you to do so, stick firmly to the regulations around social gatherings.

·         Testing

·         Our performance on testing has been impressive. We have capacity to ramp it up quickly to as many as 3300 tests a week if we need to do so. The quality of our testing continues to be high and compares very favourably with many other countries in the world. This is confirmed by PAHO (regional WHO body for the Americas) but also more recently through a HSA interaction directly with the WHO.

·         That should also give us confidence that we can deal with whatever situation we might face and quickly isolate any outbreak of Covid cases. We’ve had one new case today so it is inevitable we will have more cases either from travellers or community transmission. But from what I have observed, we are ready and can cope with it.

·         Courtesy, dignity and respect

·         I want to make a renewed plea today for everyone in our community to treat everyone else with courtesy, dignity and respect at all times. Dealing with this global pandemic creates its own unique stresses and strains. We have all felt that despite our favourable circumstances.

·         But I have seen a number of comments made on WhatsApp in recent days concerning the civil partnerships bill which are deeply irresponsible. I find them shocking. The worst ones have been referred to the Police to look into. I will not single out individuals or organisations but I call on both sides in this debate to lower the temperature and think twice before posting anything on social media that will offend others in our community. Just think also about the damage you do to our international reputation. We are known for CaymanKind. Unfortunately, a small number of people in our community are falling below acceptable standards of behaviour.

·         Tahir Chaudhry, a Muslim Imam, provides a role model for us all. Speaking to Compass yesterday, he said that he may not personally agree with homosexuality. But his faith requires him to show compassion, to love everyone and to not discriminate. I find that inspiring and ask everyone to reflect on his words.

·         Constitutional change

·         The Premier mentioned constitutional change. This should not come as a surprise. The Premier indicated previously that this was likely to be the impact of Legislative Assembly rejecting Civil Partnership Legislation. The UK needs to be able to exercise its responsibilities and international obligations in an Overseas Territory.  Similar provisions exist in other OT constitutions. The situation over this Bill demonstrated a need for the UK to retain this element of the constitution.

·         I can assure you the decision was not taken lightly. UK fully supports and respects Cayman’s extensive responsibility for domestic affairs. And I know that the UK has great respect for the Honourable Premier and his Government in how they have addressed so many challenges in recent years and handled Covid so impressively.  

·         It has been, and will be very rare, for these situations to occur. S81 only used once previously in Cayman. UK passed an Order in Council in some OTs to enable it to meet its international obligations to abolish the death penalty in 1991 and legalise homosexuality in 2000. 

·         Remainder of Constitutional Reform package going ahead and is on track for delivery in next few months. It is a good package for Cayman reinforcing its autonomy for domestic affairs, advancing our good governance arrangements and modernising the UK/Cayman relationship.

·         Agreement on a constitutional change package is an important achievement. The successful outcome reflects well on the Cayman negotiating team ably led by the Honourable Premier with the support of the then Leader of the Opposition Mr Miller and current Deputy Leader of the Opposition Mr Suckoo. I was an observer and know that the united front presented by the Cayman team at the talks had a big impact on the success of the discussions.

·         Defence Regiment

·         Finally, the Cayman Regiment has asked me to note that 2 more Caymanians will leave for London today to go to Sandhurst for junior officer training. The next phase of the recruitment for reservists is now underway. Please do consider applying.

·         Let me repeat again that this is Cayman’s Regiment. The UK has no economic, political, security or national interest in anything other than supporting Cayman and the region in disaster preparedness and resilience. Cabinet and the National Security Council, including the Leader of the Opposition, approved and supported the creation of a Regiment. Cabinet and the National Security Council accepted the UK offer of technical support. My job is to ensure that that support is delivered rapidly and effectively. 

·         The Legislative Assembly will next month debate a Bill on how the Regiment will operate and be governed. The legislation is currently available for public comment.         

Sidebar – Minister Seymour Highlights Need for Masks at HSA Facilities

Good Afternoon Caymanians, Residents and Caymanians listening in overseas. As the number world-wide cases has now grown to over 30 million I want to start today by thanking God for His continued mercies on our islands. The devastation in the US has been almost unbearable to hear about and we must stay united in our faith and continue to practice good hygiene measures and wearing masks when visiting the vulnerable and elderly.

I would like to remind the community that facemasks are still required at ALL HSA locations including district clinics. They are also still required at police stations and at care homes and also at pharmacies.

The most recent regulations states [Wearing of masks Section 5(2)(a)] that a Healthcare Facility may require that any person who visits any of such places shall wear a mask and *a person who refuses to do so shall be refused entry*. 

I wanted to take the time to share this as the HSA is still seeing a lot of patients arriving without masks.

I would also like to congratulate the HSA team who came together to successfully run the COVID-19 testing pilot programme for the BA flight yesterday.  It has taken a lot of manpower and organisation from various departments – Senior Management, Public Health, Health Information Management, Facilities, IT, Lab, just to name a few. We have been able to take away so much from our first run through and over-all it went very smoothly.

Dr Lee also met the arriving passengers yesterday and so many have reached out to say how grateful they were to see him there.

I also wanted to remind the community that as of September 14^th The Department of Environmental Health has revised their post COVID-19 lockdown hours at the George Town Landfill. Their operational hours are as follows:

Monday to Friday – 7am to 5pm

Saturday – 7am to 1pm and closed on Sundays.

The 24-hour landfill drop-off will remain open 24 hours a day accessible to the public for the disposal of small quantities of garbage.

Lastly, I would like to address some of the talk around flu vaccines and questions whether we should get one or not.

According to the CDC, it’s likely that flu viruses and the virus that causes COVID-19 will both spread this fall and winter. This means getting a flu vaccine during 2020-2021 is more important than ever.

While getting a flu vaccine will not protect against COVID-19, there are many important benefits, such as:

1.    Flu vaccines have been shown to reduce the risk of flu illness, hospitalization, and death.

2.    Getting a flu vaccine can also save healthcare resources for the care of patients with other severe illnesses or COVID-19.

3.    Flu vaccination can reduce the risk of flu-associated hospitalization for children, working age adults, and older adults. As I’ve mentioned several times before this should be coupled with policies that allow unwell employees and students to stay home whether to work from home or rest.

4.    It is an important preventive tool for people with chronic health conditions. For example,

o    Flu vaccinations have been associated with lower rates of some cardiac events among people with heart disease, especially among those who had had a cardiac event in the past year.

o    They can also help reduce worsening and hospitalization for flu-related chronic lung disease, such as in persons with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or C.O.P.D.

o    According to the CDC Flu vaccination also has been shown in separate studies to be associated with reduced hospitalizations among people with diabetes and chronic lung disease.

o    Flu vaccination helps protect women during and after pregnancy.

5.    Getting vaccinated yourself may also protect people around you, especially those who are most vulnerable and whom we have made great strides to protect.

Despite the many benefits offered by flu vaccination, not everyone will go get one. However, as we approach the flu season and prepare for flu vaccines to soon arrive to the Cayman Islands we must be mindful that the flu still causes many illnesses, hospitalizations and in some cases can cause death. With a vaccination we continue to protect our people, the elderly and vulnerable even from the flu.

Public Health will be announcing their flu vaccine programme in October.

God Bless.

Statement by Customs and Border Control on Unauthorised Entry

Grand Cayman (GIS) – Despite not having proper Travel Time documentation, British Airways allowed a passenger to board its flight from London to Grand Cayman on Thursday, 17 September 2020.

Upon arrival at Owen Roberts International Airport (ORIA), preliminary vetting by Customs and Border Control (CBC) indicated the passenger was a visitor. The Cayman Islands borders are currently closed to visitors, with the country only accepting returning Caymanians, Permanent Residents and work permit holders.

Speaking to the strength of CBC protocols at the airport, the passenger was pulled aside and sent to a Government isolation facility while further investigations were undertaken.

Late afternoon Friday, 18 September 2020, the outcome of those investigations confirmed that the passenger is a dependent of a permanent resident in the Cayman Islands and permission to remain on Island was reinstated prior to the planned departure of British Airways that evening.

As such, the passenger remains at the mandatory isolation facility for the remainder of the quarantine period.