US set to lift COVID testing entry requirements

US President Joe Biden is set to lift the country’s COVID testing requirements on Sunday, a move welcomed by local tourism leaders.

“The decision by the US to lift the testing requirement for travellers is welcomed news for our industry. It will remove the constant fear and concerns of people of having to quarantine in Cayman if they tested positive,” said Cayman Islands Tourism Association president Marc Langevin in an emailed statement Friday afternoon.

CNN, on Friday, reported that the “US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will lift its requirement for travelers to test negative for Covid-19 before entering the US, according to a senior administration official and a US Centers For Disease Control and Prevention official”.

That report has since been picked up by multiple media organisations.

Biden is yet to make a formal announcement, but CNN has reported that the changes will take effect for US-bound air travellers at midnight on Sunday.

However, CNN reported that the “CDC will reassess its decision in 90 days and if officials decide they need to reinstate it, because of a concerning new variant, for example, will do so”.

The testing requirement for US travel was introduced in January 2021.

Here in Cayman, government extended its COVID requirements, which includes COVID testing 24 hours before arrival, until 30 June.

Government will undertake a further review prior to the expiration of that deadline.

However, calls have been growing in the community to lift mask mandates and discontinue the Travel Cayman approval process for entry.

Langevin pointed to this in his statement on the impending US changes.

“Hopefully this will allow the government to fully review other restrictions including Travel Cayman, mask mandates and testing and vaccination requirements. Tourism Minister the Hon Kenneth Bryan said during the last CITA meeting that his goal for stay over visitation was [200,000] for this year. If those regulations were progressively removed, we anticipate that Cayman would easily surpass that figure in a large way and lead us to a full recovery,” he said.

Tourism officials have been registering their anxiety over the lack of changes to local protocols as the rebuilding of the industry continues.

They have openly been calling on government to drop Cayman’s mask mandate and a requirement for incoming airline passengers to obtain travel authorisations from Travel Cayman, which they say are a deterrent to travellers.

Governor Martyn Roper, speaking on the Compass Facebook talkshow The Resh Hour this week, acknowledged the calls for changes.

However, ultimately, he said the decision lies with the government and the advice from local health officials.

Discussions around the continuation of regulations will be held soon and it will be decided whether there will be a relaxing of the remaining rules.

“I do expect to see our policy change. I think we’ve got the [ongoing regulations] now until the end of June, but I expect there will be discussions soon about that decision point and clearly, the government will be taking a decision at that point based on how many people we have in hospital, how much COVID we have in the community and you know, basically where we are,” Roper said.

The Compass has reached out to Premier Wayne Panton for comment; however, by press time he was still in Parliament and unable to reply.

Cases drop

Public Health, in its spotlight newsletter on Thursday, reported that the COVID key indicators continue to decrease in the Cayman Islands, however, there is also a decline in the number of tests conducted.

“There continue to be encouraging signals of decline in the current wave of infection, however the level of testing will need to remain sufficient in the coming weeks to confirm this,” the newsletter stated.

The number of new cases reported in Week 22 decreased by 23% from 566 to 437 cases, it said with the daily new average of new positives falling to 62 from 81, a reduction of 23%.

“Whilst the number of new cases has fallen, the test positivity rate has remained stable at 25% in Epidemiological Week 22 (29 May – 4 June 2022) as the number of PCR tests conducted has decreased by 20% from 2,279 to 1,814,” the newsletter stated.

Seven new admissions to the two local hospitals were registered during Epi. Week 22, a slight increase on the previous week where five new admissions were reported.

A total of 12 patients required inpatient treatment (two more than the previous week).

As of Friday, the number of active cases was estimated at 995 across all three islands.