Premier ‘optimistic’ that COVID restrictions could soon be eased

Premier Alden McLaughlin struck an optimistic note Friday, suggesting some of the curfew restrictions could be rolled back “in short order” depending on the results of an ongoing mass-testing programme.

He said he was hopeful that the tests would show the spread of the virus locally was limited and that a plan could be put in place to open up more services and give more freedom to people.

He warned, however, that there would not be a swift return to business as usual and Cayman must carefully manage any reopening of the economy to avoid a bounce-back of the disease.

The premier’s comments came as health officials announced four new cases of the virus from the latest batch of testing.

Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Lee said 150 new samples had been tested, with four coming back positive. Two were linked to previous cases and two were locally acquired.

He added that CTMH Doctors Hospital had now opened its own testing lab and was working in partnership with the Health Services Authority on a wider testing regime.

Lee said the intent was not to test everyone in the Cayman Islands but to do “sampling” of key groups, including health professionals, and elderly and vulnerable people.

Hundreds of screening tests have already taken place and there have been no confirmed positives from those, he said. So far, all confirmed cases are linked to people who have travelled and their contacts, or to people who called the flu line or went to their doctor because they felt sick.

McLaughlin said he was encouraged by the results, despite the total number of positive cases now rising to 70.

“The results over the course of the next week or 10 days will be very telling and certainly will help shape what the rest of the response of the government will be to this crisis,” the premier said.

He added that a careful, phased re-opening of parts of the domestic economy could be possible if the results from screening tests are encouraging.

“If things go as well as I and everyone is hoping,” he said, “we will probably start to see, in short order, significant adjustments to the shelter-in-place provisions, which we hope will allow access to more facilities and greater convenience to the general public without simply returning to normal.”

Lee said the screening tests of seemingly healthy people would show the prevalence of the virus.

“If it shows there is a lot of disease out there and it hasn’t appeared in our hospitals, that would be interesting,” he said. “It might show there is not a lot of disease out there. Either way, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. We have not had a lot of people flood our hospitals and push them to over capacity.”

Medical supply chain under control

Governor Martyn Roper said Cayman was in a good place in terms of procurement of vital medical equipment.

Though the testing capacity was massively enhanced by the arrival of more than 100,000 test kits from South Korea, he said there were other elements to the testing process that also had to be sourced from overseas.

“A lot of work has been going on,” Roper said, “and we are now confident that we do have sufficient swabs and extraction kits to be able to step up the massively important testing programme.”

He highlighted the work of the Health Services Authority and his own staff in sourcing medical equipment. He said sourcing swabs had involved consulting with British trade teams in China to identify reliable suppliers.

Flights to Miami and Mexico

The governor also announced an additional flight to Miami on 1 May. A previously announced flight on that day sold out in two hours, he said.

A flight to Cancun, Mexico, has also been arranged for next week.

In addition, a British Airways flight to London is planned for next week.

Addressing concerns that some work-permit holders from farther-flung countries are struggling with obtaining transit visas through London, the governor recognised this was a major issue. He said many airlines would not allow those without permission to be in the UK to board unless they had an onward ticket.

He said his office may look to link with other governments to try to arrange connecting charter flights, but he warned this was an extremely complex process.

Economic impact

The premier acknowledged a Chamber of Commerce-commissioned report that forecast more than 10,000 jobs could be lost by the end of the year.

He said his government was not considering a wider unemployment benefit for those who lose jobs.

“We have already put in place a programme for those people who need financial assistance through the Needs Assessment Unit,” he said. “That is still in place, and we have extended assistance to people who are not Caymanian.”

He added that the ability to access pension funds should provide most who needed it with access to cash to see them through the crisis.

He added that the projections were that would put $500 million into people’s pockets.

US policy

McLaughlin said he did not see much reason for hope in the news that some US states were beginning to open up their economies, warning that they were courting “death and disaster”.

“The US is a great friend of the Cayman Islands and a place where all of us go for just about everything,” he said.

But he said he believes the federal and state governments are making decisions that will impact the health and well-being of their people.

“That is their call,” he said, insisting that Cayman would not be mirroring those policies.

He said he was optimistic, however, that recent test results suggested a phased re-opening of Cayman’s domestic economy – with the air and sea border remaining closed – could soon be possible.