As Cayman prepares to drop quarantine for verified vaccinated travellers on Saturday, effectively reopening the borders to international visitors, Customs and Border Control officials say they’re ready to welcome travellers back to the Islands.
Speaking Wednesday on the Compass weekly talk show ‘The Resh Hour‘, Chief Officer Wesley Howell stressed that the recent community outbreak, bringing with it the reintroduction of mask mandates and social distancing, had been a “positive development” for those charged with protecting Cayman’s borders on the frontline.
“One of the fortunate sides of our unfortunate position of having community spread is that our entire population has changed their practice in relation to mask-wearing, hand-sanitising, so we’re more defensive against COVID as we go about our lives,” Howell told Compass journalist Reshma Ragoonath.
“We’re are confident that we’re able to facilitate the opening of the borders, quite comfortably,” CBC Deputy Director Kevin Walton added.
He said officers are “resilient” and accustomed to transition, having dealt with challenges posed by other global health crises from swine flu to SARS and Ebola.
Walton acknowledged there would be some “challenges” around reopening on 20 Nov., but staff were well-trained and collaborating with the wider ministry and partners such as the Health Services Authority and Travel Cayman, plus the airlines themselves, to ensure a smooth reopening.
He stressed that, while there was some anxiety, “we’ve been through Ivan,” and listed the department’s ability to manage the import of a large numbers of goods, as well as record numbers of passengers.
“We have been there, done that, and we will continue to serve the public accordingly,” Walton said.
Six flights, 700 passengers expected on Saturday
Howell revealed that six flights are scheduled to fly into Owen Roberts International Airport on Saturday. These passengers will be the first to go through the new process, which will see verified vaccinated travellers exit the airport without quarantine.
They will be expected to do lateral flow tests on days two, five and 10 of their trip.
These tests will be “supervised”, Howell said, and performed by a medical professional; the results will be reported to government.
The “supervised and certified” lateral flow tests can be used by US travellers returning home as proof of COVID status, and will be accepted by US immigration officials. However, Canadian visitors will have to get a PCR test to return home, Howell said.
There will be 30 locations, or “service providers”, where travellers can access the tests. Howell said this was “manageable” with the 700 passengers projected to arrive on Saturday.
As for the issue of payment for the testing, Howell said the nuances were still being finalised. He said government would carry the cost for the first arriving visitors, but later “the providers would transition into collecting for that”, perhaps through a system where people would be required to pay upfront, prior to departing their home countries.
“That’s in the works, that will be coming in the days and weeks to come,” Howell promised.
Howell also outlined how the new process for visiting the jurisdiction will change on Saturday, when phase 4 of the border-reopening plan comes into effect.
“The most obvious changes, in addition to the original travel request that persons would have made if they were travelling internationally over the last 16/18 months, there is now an option to do what’s called the travel declaration… open to persons who are fully vaccinated,” Howell explained.
The travel declaration uses a QR code or other electronic means to validate a traveller’s vaccination and gives the option to submit a paper document of an accepted, verified vaccination card, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention card for US visitors. Once validated, travellers are able to come and go from Cayman for three months, so long as they follow rules regarding testing or quarantine, if travelling with unvaccinated passengers, such as children.
The whole process – from uploading documents to receiving approval – takes three minutes “from start to finish”, Howell said. So far, 2,100 applications have gone through the system.
Technology key to reopening success
The introduction of 10 automated kiosks at the airport, Howell explained, is an essential part of the “tool kit” for the border control agency as they look ahead to Saturday’s reopening.
Removing the requirement to manually verify travel documents, such as checking the validity of passengers’ passports, will speed up the arrivals process, Howell said, adding that using the kiosks is taking passengers from 30-45 seconds. They are presented with a printout that allows them to pass through controls.
The technology will also minimise the proximity and time arriving travellers will spend face-to-face with border control agents
15 CBC staff impacted in recent outbreak
While Cayman’s COVID numbers continue to surge, taking the Islands’ number of cases to over 5,000 since the pandemic began, CBC has itself been impacted by positive cases among its staff. Walton revealed that 15 staff have been affected, of whom 12 have tested positive for COVID.
Government’s lateral flow test policy, Howell said, has allowed many staff to continue working. Lowering the density of people in offices and staggering the working day or transitioning to remote work have also been adopted as polices by the ministry and its agencies.
“Because of lateral flow, at this point, there is nobody from our ministry of 23 who is out at this time,” Howell said.
66% fully vaccinated among CBC frontline workers
Walton revealed 69% of CBC employees have had one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine and 66% have completed the two-dose course.
“We continue that drive, we continue to encourage our officers to come and get vaccinated. But as Mr. Howell did say, our now lateral flow testing also helps us to mitigate that risk,” Walton added.
Howell added that the proportion of vaccinated staff in the ministry was “in the high 90s”, with many – including himself – availing of the booster programme to receive a third shot.
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I find it hilarious that people are required to be vaccinated to enter Cayman, yet only 2/3 of the CBC frontline workers are vaccinated. That makes no sense whatsoever, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
Where can we get more information on the “supervised and certified” lateral flow tests/”service provider” locations for future travel?
Seriously, why aren’t more of the CBC employees vaccinated? 66% is much lower than the general population and the CBC staff is in direct contact with incoming visitors!
So now having to possibly pay for 3 lateral flow tests during a stay…really!!! So as of now, my family of 4 is scheduled to come from the US to your country December 21st. All 4 of us have our Phizer vaccines plus boosters. Because you are requesting “PCR” testing which is more difficult to get and turnaround time on average where we live is 48-72 hours, and if our results don’t come back in time for our flight, we may be forced to do a PCR test in Miami at the cost of $179/each x 4 which is $716USD. So now lets add 12 total further tests for 4 people that you are going to make us pay for and, I don’t know, maybe another $200-400 for these tests. This is really making me rethink this trip with the possibility of dishing out $1,000+ in testing!!!
Ouch!
Note that Lateral flow tests cost about $6 each (CI$) on island.
While the above conversation is interesting and important, I would like to point out that despite the much-ballyhooed “Grand Re-opening” expected in the next few days, there are STILL no international airlines – except Cayman Air, British Air, Air Canada and Jet Blue who are ready to book flights to Grand Cayman.
I just went on the Travelocity website – one of the largest travel websites in operation – and tried to book a flight from either New York or Chicago to Grand Cayman looking for ANY airline that would accept me as a passenger. Other than the 4 listed above, THERE ARE NO FLIGHTS AVAILABLE UNTIL FEBRUARY 15!!!!!
Maybe Tourism Minister Bryan should be spending his energies getting the airlines to resume flights NOW instead of worrying about the cruise lines 4 months from now. We have heard NO news from the government about negotiations with the airline industry since all the news about Phase 4 starting on November 20. If the government wants to get tourism going again, it can’t depend on Cayman Airlines and British Air to fill that demand.
Further, Cayman Airways has changed its flight times from Miami and Tampa 3 times in the last few weeks. It is almost impossible now to fly into Cayman from the US Midwest or West Coast in one day, except on Saturdays. Poor planning.
Why the consternation that only 66% of CBC employees are vaccinated, this is par for the course for the Civil Service. Mr Manderson is dealing with it by “urging’ them to get their shots.
Give the critical level of Covid vs. quarantine on the island, how many on the flights are Caymanians or residents?
Really!! The CBC employees should have a mandatory employment rule stating that they MUST be fully vaccinated to work when being around fully vaccinated travelers. Why should travelers be exposed to a CDC employee who refuses to be vaccinated?
The CBC vaccination numbers show that this Government is completely out of touch with issues of competence and effective stewardship of the Islands. Lateral Flow tests are NOT an effective response given the gestation periods for the Virus. The experience of far more sophisticated countries like Singapore, Australia and Japan shows that a zero-COVID policy which Cayman has pursued for the last 2 years simply doesn’t work. Effectively demonizing visitors when you fail to police your own Government employees for vaccination but erect barriers and obstacles to tourists and returning residents has inflicted a tremendous cost to the Tourist industry and the Islands….. for no apparent benefit at all.