Grand Cayman, 17 February 2022 – Further COVID-19 restrictions will be eased tomorrow (Friday, 18 February 2022) as Phase 5 of the Cayman Islands reopening plan continues, Premier Hon. Wayne Panton announced today.

These include the lifting of post-arrival test requirements for vaccinated travellers.    Meanwhile, the quarantine period for partially vaccinated, the non-securely verifiable vaccinated, and unvaccinated persons has dropped to seven days.

The pre-flight testing requirement has been lifted for vaccinated persons travelling between Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. In addition, officials noted that the arrival today of 2,000 UK donated vaccines on the British Airways flight means that vaccinations for children 5-11 can start soon.

At a COVID-19 community update press conference held at the Government Information Services Studio in the Government Administration Building (GAB), the Premier highlighted the Cabinet approved changes to support the Cayman Islands economy and allow people “to safely live with COVID-19 as we continue to take a balanced, pragmatic approach.”   

            Also addressing the conference were Deputy Premier, Hon. Chris Saunders, Health and Wellness Minister, Hon. Sabrina Turner, Tourism and Transport Minister, Hon. Kenneth Bryan, and Medical Officer of Health Dr. Samuel Williams-Rodriguez. Prayer was led by Bishop Nicholas Sykes of Anglican – Christian Episcopal Church.

            Highlights from the Premier about the updated Regulations:

·         Removal of the post arrival testing requirement for Day 2, 5 and 7 for fully vaccinated and securely verified travellers. Pre-arrival tests remain in place.

·         Lowering of the quarantine period for unvaccinated travellers from 10 to seven days.

·         With respect to inter-island travel, only unvaccinated travellers need to have a negative LFT/PCR test prior to travel between Grand Cayman and the Sister Islands. The restriction on vaccinated travellers has been lifted.  

·         Social distancing requirements remain in place.

·         Expanding the gathering limit to 500 persons for indoor activities and no more than 1,000 persons for outdoor activities. Exceptions will be considered only if specific criteria are met, as determined by the Medical Officer of Health. 

·         The new gathering limits for indoor and outdoor venues, as mentioned above, apply to sporting venues.

·         Outdoor sporting activities can now have up to 1,000 participants and spectators in total (in line with the new outdoor social gathering limit). No mask wearing is required for spectators.

·         Increasing gathering capacity for boats to 500 persons per boat, subject to each vessel’s own rated carrying capacity. 

·         Testing restrictions on gyms have been lifted.

Public Health Policy- as guided by the Medical Officer of Health will also change as follows:

o   Reduce requirements for a traveller’s vaccinated household occupants to LFT daily for seven days (down from the current 10 days) and a traveller’s unvaccinated household occupants to quarantine for seven days (down from the current 10 days).

o   Additionally, implementation of the following new quarantine exit testing options for travellers –

§  Day 7 PCR 

§  Or two consecutive negative certified LFTs on Days 6 and 7. 

Minister for Health and Wellness highlighted:

·         Children between 5-11 years can now get vaccinated against COVID-19 following the arrival on today’s British Airways flight of 2,000 vaccines donated by the UK Government.

·         Public Health is working on a schedule for the vaccine roll out and will be released early next week. They are in conversation with various private paediatric clinics to partner in administering the vaccine to their patients. Public Health is also in conversation with the schools and anticipate making it available in the district clinics.

Minister for Tourism and Transport underscored:

·         After welcoming back last Saturday United Airlines flying into the Cayman Islands from four locations – Newark, Washington, Chicago and Houston, Government today welcomed American Airlines resuming daily service from Miami, with two flights on Saturday.

·         The recent meeting with cruise tourism officials was fruitful and the cruise tourism sector in the Cayman Islands should get ready for “an exciting announcement next week”.

·         Regular operating hours of bars and nightclubs (as previously approved by the Liquor Licensing Board) are to be reinstated.

Deputy Premier emphasised:

·         A four-week campaign to showcase all the jobs available on government’s JobsCayman portal will include a printed job listing insert in the weekly newspapers, a digital campaign directing job seekers to the newspapers and WORC site, and radio ads. 

·         While the campaign is ongoing, the JobsCayman portal will be upgraded to allow for viewing job ads without prior registration, and to streamline the registration process.

·         The national deficit for 2021 was $10 million, down from $98 million projected.

·         Preliminary census figures give a population of 69,656 people. The full report is expected in June 2022.

The entire broadcast can be viewed on CIGTV’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAHj1hPHxOo.

            Meanwhile, the new regulations published today are available from the Legislative Gazette section of gazettes.gov.ky

Note:

1. Control of Covid-19 (Travel) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations, 2022

2. Control and Management of Covid-19 (Amendment) (No. 2)

Photos: Lorena Morejon, DoC