Cayman Compass - 4 June, 2021

Rodeo King Cheesy Melty Goodness © 2021 Burger King Corporation. cayman compass Your most trusted news source Established 1965 $1 | Funding local journalism | Weekly, 4-10 June 2021 #is she supported? Our investigation reveals sexual harassment is rife and protections are lacking. Page 10 "The one that stands out the most is being a young child of about 12 and a much older man was licking his lips at me." "I have been asked to expose myself and have also been raped after I blacked out." "I have been harassed in the supermarket and stalked by someone I happened to be waiting in line with at the bank." "My boss took me out for lunch to “discuss my future with the ﬁ rm” and asked me directly if I would have an affair with him." "Had to keep it quiet because my life felt threatened." "I have been harassed by clients, professional partners, potential donors, and others trying to 'score'. All of this was seen as 'coming with the territory' of being young and working in Cayman and dealing with men in positions of power." "I was ﬂ ashed at Smith Cove while snorkelling." WARNING: READERS MAY FIND THE CONTENT IN THIS ARTICLE DISTURBINGCPA approves land clearing for site of new Health City hospital The Central Planning Authority has given Health City Cayman Islands the green light to clear and ﬁ ll a 3.44 acre plot which will be used for its new $100 million medical campus in Camana Bay. The application to clear the site located on Minerva Drive – a portion of a parcel owned by Cayman Shores Development Ltd – was approved last week by the CPA. Cayman Shores, a subsidiary of Dart, gave consent to submit the application, CPA documents stated. Shomari Scott, chief business ofﬁ cer at Health City, in a statement to the Cayman Compass on 1 June, said the organisation was excited to see this ﬁ rst step forward in the progress towards the construction of a “comprehensive, highly specialized hospital that will reduce and, in some cases, eliminate the need for traveling off island” to receive medical care. Nine arrested and 30 ticketed in police trafﬁ c operation Nine people have been arrested on suspicion of DUI as part of a police initiative launched last weekend dubbed ‘Operation Quaker’. Ofﬁ cers also issued 30 tickets to drivers contravening the Trafﬁ c Law, the majority for speeding offences. The operation was launched on 28 May in response to concerns about the growing number of recent collisions, some of which have been fatal. There were also just under 20 calls to police regarding road collisions over the weekend of 28-30 May. “It is alarming that, despite prior caution to the public, asking them to be responsible on our roads, we still have so many road violations occurring daily,” Inspector Dwayne Jones, in charge of the Trafﬁ c and Roads Policing Unit, said in a press release. Headed for the road: Gov’t approves CayMAS street parade CayMAS will be heading for the road on Saturday, 7 Aug., CayMAS director Craig Frederick has conﬁ rmed. He said the CayMAS Carnival has been granted special permission from government and agreed to its stipulated terms, after weeks of negotiations, to be able to hold its street parade in August. The conditions include the requirement for participants to be vaccinated, according to Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan speaking on the Crosstalk radio show on 31 May. “CayMAS Carnival is happening for 2021 and when I say ‘carnival’ I am talking about the full product,” Frederick said on 27 May, when he sat down with the Cayman Compass to discuss plans for the popular event. The recently published regulations, which are in effect until 15 July, maintain a ban on parades, including carnival. Any exception to that ban requires Cabinet approval via amended legislation. Cayman Airways adding more Miami and Kingston ﬂ ights Cayman Airways has announced it is increasing the frequency of its Miami and Kingston ﬂ ights, as it conﬁ rmed its travel schedule for July. The airline said that due to increased demand, starting in July, it will be putting on three ﬂ ights a week to Miami, instead of the current two on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The additional ﬂ ight will depart Cayman on Sundays. CAL is also adding two additional ﬂ ights a week – on Sundays and Thursdays – to its usual weekly Friday departures to Kingston, Jamaica. However, there are no ﬂ ights to or from Kingston scheduled for 4 and 18 July (Thursdays), and 15 and 29 July (Sundays). The full schedule can be found at caymancompass.com. Weather service gets new tools for 2021 hurricane season With the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season ofﬁ cially under way, Cayman’s forecasters are making ﬁ nal preparations in anticipation of what is expected to be a busy season. “One of the shortcomings of the national weather service was our website… because when hurricane season hits, we get so many hits on our website that it shuts down computer services’ website,” said John Tibbetts the director general of the Cayman Islands National Weather Service, speaking on Cayman Crosstalk on 2 June. The new website is expected to be up and running in mid-July and, when it does come online, Tibbetts said it will be hosted on servers located off-island. Another addition to the NWS weather monitoring tools is automatic weather observation stations, the ﬁ rst of which is expected to come online in by the end of the week. Matinees (matinee price before 6pm) • Seniors $8.00 (Mon-Fri before 6pm) Additional charges apply per 3D/VIP tickets 640-FILM (640-3456) Cayman Cinema@cbcinema6cbcinema6 SATURDAY NIGHT: For your viewing pleasure, minors under the age of 18 will not be admitted to any film starting after 6pm, unless accompanied by their parent. WHAT’S PLAYING THIS WEEK A QUIET PLACE PART II (PG-13) (FRI & MON & WED-THURS) 4:00 VIP | 4:50 | 7:30 VIP | 9:50 | 10:00 VIP (SAT) 1:15 | 1:30 VIP | 4:00 VIP | 4:50 | 7:30 VIP | 9:30 | 10:00 VIP (SUN) 4:00 VIP | 4:20 | 4:50 | 7:30 VIP | 9:15 VIP | 9:50 | 10:00 VIP | 10:15 (TUES) 4:00 VIP | 4:50 | 7:35 VIP | 9:45 VIP | 9:50 CRUELLA (PG-13) (FRI & MON-THURS) 4:25 | 6:30 VIP | 6:45 (SAT) 1:00 VIP | 1:05 | 4:25 VIP | 6:30 VIP | 6:45 (SUN) 3:30 VIP | 4:25 VIP | 6:30 VIP | 6:45 | 7:15 GODZILLA VS. KONG (PG-13) (FRI-SAT & MON-WED) 3:45 | 7:15 | 9:35 VIP (SUN) 3:45 | 7:15 | 9:35 VIP | 9:55 (THURS) 7:15 | 9:35 VIP SPIRAL (R) (FRI & SAT) 6:50 | 10:00 (MON-THURS) 6:50 | 10:00 SPIRIT UNTAMED (PG) (FRI & MON & WED-THUR) 3:50 | 7:00 VIP | 9:15 (SAT) 2:00 VIP | 4:10 | 7:00 VIP | 9:15 (SUN) 3:50 | 7:00 VIP | 7:00 | 9:15 (TUES) 3:50 | 9:15 THE CONJURING: THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT (R) (FRI & MON & WED-THURS) 3:30 | 4:15 VIP | 7:20 | 9:15 VIP | 10:00 (SAT) 12:30 | 3:30 | 4:15 VIP | 7:20 | 9:30 VIP | 10:00 (TUES) 3:30 | 4:15 VIP | 7:20 | 10:00 | 10:00 VIP(TUES) 3:30 | 4:15 VIP | 7:20 | 10:00 | CLASSICS BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON (R) TUESDAY 7PM VIP For your viewing pleasure, minors under the age of 18 will not be admitted KIDS CLUB BEAUTY & THE BEAST (2017) (PG) SATURDAY 10AM VIP AVAILABLE PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY: Cayman Compass Ltd. Compass Centre, Shedden Road, George Town, Cayman Islands SEND US YOUR VIEWS OR NEWS: P.O. Box 1365 Grand Cayman, KY1-1108 Cayman Islands Telephone: (345) 815-0095 Email: newsdesk@compassmedia.ky ADVERTISE WITH US: T: (345) 949-5111 E: sales@compassmedia.ky W: caymancompass.com PUBLISHER KATHLEEN CAPETTA EDITORINCHIEF KEVIN MORALES weather Friday Forecast FORECAST Partly cloudy skies with a 40% chance of showers and possible thunder. SEA STATE Slight with wave heights of 1 to 3 feet. caymancompass.comfacebook.com/caycompass cayman_compass@cayCompassCayman Compass WINDS East to southeast at 5 to 10 knots. 88°F HIGH 77°F LOW SAT 89°F HIGH 77°F LOW SUN 89°F HIGH 78°F LOW MON 89°F HIGH 78°F LOW TUES 89°F HIGH 78°F LOW WED 89°F HIGH 78°F LOW FRI 89°F HIGH 78°F LOW FIND US ONLINE Caymancompass.com Facebook.com/Caycompass cayman_compass@cayCompassCayman Compass John Tibbetts, director general of the National Weather Service, discusses its newest tools as the 2021 hurricane season gets under way. - Photo: Taneos Ramsay news in brief The last CayMAS parade took place in May 2019; this year participants will have to be vaccinated to take part.- Photo: Taneos Ramsay cayman compass 2 N news FRIDAY, 4 JUNE 2021NORMA CONNOLLY nconnolly@compassmedia.ky In its ﬁ rst review of its ‘trafﬁ c- light’ travel categories, the United Kingdom government again has excluded Cayman from its quarantine-free green list. This means that the Cayman Islands remains on the amber list and travellers from here will continue to be required to spend 10 days in quarantine upon arrival in the UK. Premier Wayne Panton described the UK’s decision on 3 June to keep the Cayman Islands on its amber travel list as ‘unfair’. In a statement, Panton said when Cayman was ﬁ rst placed on the amber list last month, he wrote to UK Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps, outlining “Cayman’s amazing record of remaining free of COVID for 327 days and the fact that we now have the ability to do genome sequencing to identify variants in positive COVID results”. Panton said the government would continue its push to get Cayman on the green list when it is reviewed again in three weeks. “This is an unfair situation; yet we remain optimistic, but because it is a political decision the outcome is obviously hard to predict,” Panton said. Fears over a COVID-19 variant impacting the planned lifting of the UK’s lockdown later this month led to the British government’s decision not to add more countries and jurisdictions to its green travel list. Despite hopes that the Cayman Islands and a number of other places would be moved from amber to green, the only change to the green list was the removal of Portugal, which will go into effect on 8 June. Governor Martyn Roper, in a statement, said that like many in the local community, he was “very disappointed that Cayman, along with all Overseas Territories in the region, will for now remain on the amber list”. He said the UK government had taken the political decision not to add any countries or territories to the green list because of an increase in COVID cases in the UK due to the Delta variant (also known as Indian variant). “Over the last three weeks,” he said, “my ofﬁ ce has provided lots of information to the UK Department of Transport on Cayman’s Covid policies, vaccine uptake and our recently acquired capacity to undertake genomic sequencing used to detect variants of concern. The Premier wrote to UK Ministers. I have personally raised this at senior levels in the UK. “We have set out a compelling case as to why Cayman should be green. I recognise it is hard to understand why we are not green. I very much hope that happens at the next review in 3 weeks and we will continue to urge that outcome. As we have now started (as of 3 June) to demonstrate our genomic sequencing capability, that strengthens our case even more.” He added that the decision reﬂ ected on the British government’s “great caution about international travel and the extremely difﬁ cult challenge the UK faces in managing the risks from Covid. It is no reﬂ ection whatsoever on Cayman’s outstanding Covid response.” Shapps, in a televised interview on 3 June, said infection rates in Portugal had nearly doubled since it was added to the list. He added that there is also “a sort of Nepal mutation of the so-called Indian variant which has been detected, and we just don’t know the potential for that to be a vaccine defeating mutation”. Shapps said the UK was taking a “safety ﬁ rst approach” because it “simply did not want to take the risk” of the variant preventing England from lifting lockdown restrictions on 21 June. He said Britons should not be travelling to amber-list destinations except in emergencies. British Airways, with the cooperation of the Cayman Islands and British governments, has been operating fortnightly repatriation ﬂ ights between Grand Cayman and Heathrow since last year. Anyone arriving in from amber- list locations such as Cayman must take a pre-departure COVID test, quarantine for 10 days and do two PCR tests during their isolation period. With Portugal being removed, there are now only 11 countries or British Overseas Territories on the green list. These include Australia, Brunei, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Israel, New Zealand, Singapore, Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and Saint Helena, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha. In the interview, when asked if more countries could be added to the green list when it is reviewed again in three weeks, Shapps responded, “We will always act the moment we have information which is relevant.” The UK has also added seven new countries to its red list, also to come into effect 8 June – Trinidad and Tobago, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Costa Rica, Egypt, Sudan and Sri Lanka. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Ofﬁ ce has also conﬁ rmed there have been no changes to the green list except for removing Portugal. Travel industry criticises UK move The decision has been met with widespread criticism from the travel industry in Britain. The British Airline Pilots Association, in a statement, said, “This excessive caution could be the ﬁ nal nail in the cofﬁ n for the travel industry which has borne the economic brunt of the COVID-19 crisis with no help from the Government.” The association said it was concerned that ofﬁ cial criteria for inclusion in the green list appear to have been ignored. Those criteria include vaccination rates, infection rates, access to genome sequencing and reliable local scientiﬁ c data. BALPA’s acting general secretary Brian Strutton said in the statement, “This decision is a total disaster for the already fragile travel industry and is likely to lead to further airline failures and many more job losses. “We understand that safety comes ﬁ rst, but with vaccination programmes going well in many countries, it seems the Government is ignoring the evidence and is allowing safe countries to languish in the amber and red categories for no valid reason. “Any shred of public conﬁ dence is in tatters and the trafﬁ c light system seems stuck on red.” “This is an unfair situation; yet we remain optimistic, but because it is a political decision the outcome is obviously hard to predict.” Premier Wayne Panton 11 The number of places on the UK green travel list Cayman remains on UK ‘amber’ travel list cayman compass 3 news N news FRIDAY, 4 JUNE 20211234567 89 101112 13 1415 16 171819 20 212223 2425 1234567 89 101112 13 1415 16 171819 20 212223 2425 ACROSS 1 Plentiful (7) 5 Trouble taken (5) 8 Apart (2,3,4) 9 An amount of money (3) 10 Otherwise (4) 12 Cumbersome (8) 14 Procedure regularly followed (6) 15 Wrecked (6) 17 Superficially improving (8) 18 Indecent (4) 21 Form a knot (3) 22 Wide of the mark (3,6) 24 Compare (5) 25 A crustacean (7) DOWN 1 Tedious task (5) 2 In favour of (3) 3 In excess (4) 4 Emaciated (6) 5 Prior (8) 6 Without saying anything (2,7) 7 Breed of Siberian sled dog (7) 11 As it were (2,2,5) 13 South African city (4,4) 14 Solo musical performance (7) 16 Spasmodic (6) 19 Discourage (5) 20 Paint crudely (4) 23 Instinctive (3) The Compass Crossword Puzzle The Compass universal kakuro Puzzle 16709 The numbers in the black cells are clues. Numbers above the slash are across clues. Number below the slash are down clues. The goal is to enter digits 1 - 9 in the white cells to add up to the number clues. You cannot enter any digit more than once when adding up to clue. TODAY'S SOLUTIONS Puzzle 16709 ACROSS: 1 Copious, 5 Pains, 8 On one side, 9 Sum, 10 Else, 12 Unwieldy, 14 Ritual, 15 Ruined, 17 Cosmetic, 18 Lewd, 21 Tie, 22 Off target, 24 Liken, 25 Lobster. DOWN: 1 Chore, 2 Pro, 3 Over, 4 Skinny, 5 Previous, 6 In silence, 7 Samoyed, 11 So to speak, 13 Cape Town, 14 Recital, 16 Fitful, 19 Deter, 20 Daub, 23 Gut. In today’s culture, the new normal is $800,000-and-up properties, and the rich are staying wealthy while the middle class suffer, as if to say they are also considered poor. As a young Caymanian, born and raised, I purchased my first property at the age of 19, therefore using my first-time-buyer stamp duty exemption. Even then, due to the value of the property exceeding the waiver, I was still required to pay a portion of stamp duty. With that being said, I did not even qualify for the mortgage by myself, so the property was purchased jointly. 12 years later, my first property is being put up for sale. Proceeds then have to be split. Now over the timeframe of the 12 years, I have developed a good relationship with (Dan Peek was a member of the band America from 1970-1977. He and his wife, Catherine, lived in Bodden Town for 12 years until 2002.) I was recalling an encounter of uncommon kindness with the Peeks in the Cayman Islands with a friend just yesterday. Alas, as I searched the internet for current news of this couple, I learned of Dan’s passing [in 2011] through your article ‘Cayman remembers Dan Peek’ and of Catherine’s passing in March [this year]. I met Catherine on the beach in front of a house on Manse Road. I was sketching this house and the trim detail when this shadow fell across my work and this tremulous voice with a distinct British accent asked, “ I say, are you doing a drawing of my house?” I looked up to a smiling Catherine and explained how I was captivated by the house and the trim around its eaves. She laughed and said “Why, those are Granny Britches.” I found my sketch book from years ago and the sketch with the note, “Katherine (sic) Granny Britches” Catherine invited me into their home and introduced me to Dan. They were very gracious. We shared our backgrounds of moving around Caymanians can’t afford to live in our birthplace Sharing a story of kindness cartoon Discrimination - By Caymanman the bank. I am now in the process of buying land to build or buying a house for my family. Keeping in mind that my first- time Caymanian stamp duty waiver has already been used up, I am now looking at paying around $50,000 on stamp duty, another $50,000 on the down payment required by the bank and, to top it all off, another $50,000 to the developers to secure my house lot. A standard three-bedroom home is now at least $400,000. Now, imagine going to the bank to apply for that mortgage and they tell you that you do not qualify. So where does that leave the young Caymanians that are hardworking individuals, driven and determined to buy property, build their home for their families? And being told that you are unable to apply at this time. Now herein lies the problem that the government is not addressing. You should not have to suffer to find this amount of cash to get a mortgage on a home, while the millionaires are buying up the island to do these developments that only foreigners can afford to purchase. Let me also address that the affordable housing schemes that are being done are not adequate, in terms of the amount that is going to be developed, which leaves people on the waiting list for years. I am pleading to the Cayman Islands government to consider adjusting the terms of the stamp duty waiver. Didn’t the developer already have to pay stamp duty on the entire development? Or are they exempt from that, and is that being passed onto the individual buyers? Address this situation now; you are selling our little island paradise out. Where are Caymanians to go if we can’t even afford to live in the place of our birth? Alisha Jackson the world while growing up, and the following day my family and I were invited by Catherine and Dan to a picnic with them on the other side of the island. I am sharing the story because of the memory of their generosity, which in my opinion is testament of their faith in God and love for their fellow man. Gordon Osborne cayman compass 4 news N news FRIDAY, 4 JUNE 2021Issues include sextortion, targeting kids on social media RESHMA RAGOONATH rragoonath@compassmedia.ky Cayman’s Digital Forensic Hub has seen an increase in cyber-related crimes locally from sextortion to predators reaching out to children via popular social media platforms. Stephen Reed, a cyber forensic operative at the hub, is urging the public and parents in particular, to be alert since they have noted a rise in children under the age of 18 sending indecent photos to each other. “A lot of children are not being educated in this area enough really,” he said, explaining that “these images are shared between classmates, and they might not realise what they’re doing is actually illegal and then it may get onto the wrong person’s phone and then that is shared again throughout the school”, or in other places. He said when the hub picks up on these cases they investigate to establish exactly where it originated from, “making sure there’s no children at risk”. Recently released RCIPS 2020 crime statistics pointed to 40 cybercrimes investigated by the hub, 10 of which related to offences including possession and distribution of indecent images of a child, sextortion and social media impersonation/fraud. Reed said protecting children is a massive part of what the hub does while working with partners like the Multi-Agency Child Safeguarding Hub, known as MASH. WhatsApp key platform for grooming Reed said at the hub they have noted that popular applications like TikTok, Discord and gaming platform Twitch are being utilised by predators to establish contact with children. However, he said, in Cayman the WhatsApp messaging platform is used a lot to engage with children and even arrange contact. “There are a few investigations that we’ve had so far this year that relate to underage females being targeted by older males via WhatsApp. I can’t obviously go into the details of that as there are a couple that are still under investigation... So that’s the area that we’re seeing is rising slightly,” he said. Reed said it is unclear if the rise may be because these incidents are being reported more and the issue is more out in the open, or that parents are actually getting more information and recognising signs. According to the crime statistics report, “cyber-enabled crime linked to sexual offences is often difficult to identify and, like sexual offences generally, is likely to be under reported. Of all cyber- enabled crime 3% (7) linked to sexual offences or 8% of all sexual offences were cyber-enabled. All the recorded crimes relate to a child (under 16) and include both contact and non-contact offending.” Contact offending relates to physical contact between offender and victim; non-contact can still involve abuse, the report stated. Reed said that quite a lot of police inquiries relating to rapes and sexual assaults, as well as other offences, also have a digital aspect to them. The hub, he said, investigates cellphones and hard drives in pursuit of those cases. “The devices that we will take will help assist the officers investigating those matters... So, we’ve seen a rise in that area as well,” he said. The crime statistics, released last month, showed that over 350 digital forensic devices were examined by the hub, an increase of more than 150 devices compared to 2019. Reed said another main increase they have noted is in cases of sextortion; while only two investigations of sextortion were recorded, he believes it is happening more often than the statistics show. There are a “rising number” of sextortion cases, he said, but explained that “quite a few” don’t get reported, for example where a victim is contacted by an overseas actor who will invite the victim, usually through a chat feature, to share photos of themselves undressed. “[T]hose images will then be used as a bargaining chip to try and extort money from that person and the usual factor that they’ll go for is ‘We’re going to share this with your friends and colleagues, unless you pay me this amount of money,’” he said. Vigilance is important Parents, Reed said, should take note of any changes in their children’s behaviour, especially when online or on their phones. Predators using the platforms to reach children often start with compliments or enticing them with gifts. “If your younger children or your teenage children are becoming more secretive around their phones, becoming more closed in… if their activity online can’t be explained, if they’re receiving gifts that have come out of nowhere. If you know that you’re not giving them pocket money or anything like that, and they’re coming out with a brand- new pair of Nikes… ‘Where have you got that from?’ ‘A friend gave it to me,’ that is a big warning sign straight away,” he said. Reed encouraged parents to report any concerns or even if their child thinks that they might be being groomed. “We can investigate it and we can make sure that the perpetrators do come to justice. Even if it’s not on island, which quite a lot of them are not, we can pass it on to the authorities in the relevant jurisdictions,” he said. As for sextortion, Reed said there is a simple way to protect against that. “The easiest way of not becoming a victim of sextortion would be don’t share pictures of yourself online. It’s on the internet... [even] if they’ve said they deleted it or whatever, it will be there forever. You can’t get rid of it,” he said. Digital Hub cyber forensic operative Stephen Reed. – Photo: Reshma Ragoonath Cyber predators on the rise in Cayman (223) of total recorded crime was confirmed as cyber-enabled 2020 • Assisted in 40 cyber investigations • Supported 149 digital forensic investigations 2019 • Forensic analysis in 28 attempted cybercrimes • Forensic analysis in 20 committed cybercrimes or cyber-enabled crimes • Supported 53 criminal investigations • 187 digital devices examined 2020 (50) linked to acquisitive crime or money laundering (50) crimes linked to public order offences such as harassment, alarm or distress (109) were use of an ICT service to defraud, abuse, annoy, threaten or harass 6% 49% 22% 22% Digital Forensic Hub statistics cayman compass 5 news N news FRIDAY, 4 JUNE 2021FOR SALE (Owner Retiring.) BUSINESS FOR SALE BUSINESSBUSINESS CAR WASH A UNIQUE POSITIVE CASH FLOW BUSINESS TWO PURCHASE SCENARIOS AVAILABLE All Business Assets and Rights with an average Return on Equity (ROE) of 12% per annum Purchase price $2.3 Million. Property and infrastructure $1.5 Million. TOTAL SALE; $3.8 Million. Or Purchase Business with Assets and Rights $2.5 Million and Property lease for up to 10 years. •The business is uniquely situated in a high traffic location. It generates an average of over $75,000 per month in gross revenue and carries little to no receivables. •All new equipment recently installed which increased the number of vehicles that can be washed each day which will increase the profitably, while also reducing the average cost and time to wash each vehicle. •The business represents a solid investment with over six years of financial records to demonstrate performance and track history. The business has hundred s of loyal customers and the owner is willing to offer consulting service for a limited period to transition new owner. Autospacayman@gmail.com 943-1946 RESHMA RAGOONATH rragoonath@compassmedia.ky Governor Martyn Roper has said while the recent uptick in vaccinations will take Cayman closer to the goal of reopening borders, it will still take more public support to make it happen. Roper, speaking on the Cayman Compass weekly talk show The Resh Hour on 3 June, acknowledged that people are anxious to know what Cayman’s border-reopening plan will look like, but he said the vaccination rate is the key factor in the direction that scheme will take. He urged patience as discussions continue on the issue. “I think we have to give the government the time it wants to work out that plan,” Roper said. Discussions continue He explained that while he is involved in the border-reopening discussions, any announcement on the plan or initiatives will come from the government. Already, he said, some possible direction on that plan has been shared with the public by Premier Wayne Panton, but nothing has been ﬁ nalised. “The premier has said publicly, a ﬁ rst step could well be to reduce that quarantine time for those vaccinated travellers, perhaps to ﬁ ve days as he said, and that’s still under discussions. So that will be the ﬁ rst step. But once you’ve shown that works and that hasn’t led to any sort of COVID cases or increasing COVID cases, then you can consider moving to the next step, which will be to remove the quarantine regulation completely for vaccinated travellers,” the governor said. Cayman, he said, will get there, “it’s just not clear when and at what point and that’s still under discussion.” Roper said this will be another step on the way to reopening fully and going back to the sort of commercial ﬂ ights that residents were very familiar with pre-pandemic. Herd immunity While there had been discussion about requiring a target of 70% of the population to be fully vaccinated for the reopening, Roper said that may not be the magic number for herd immunity. “The scientists say that actually you can’t really establish a speciﬁ c target for herd immunity. We don’t know whether it’s 70, 75, 80. I think the key thing is just to vaccinate as many people as possible. So, we should aim to vaccinate everybody if we can. I mean, obviously that will be difﬁ cult because there are some people who really don’t want to take it. I wouldn’t get hooked up just now on a speciﬁ c target. It’s really just about trying to vaccinate as many people as possible,” he said. The governor added that Cayman’s Pﬁ zer-BioNTech vaccine supplies will be replenished when the next BA ﬂ ight arrives around 16 June. The total number of doses, he said, is yet to be conﬁ rmed. “I think it is about 5,800 in a box. Whether we get one box or two boxes, that’s still under discussion. We’ll obviously be seeking advice from Dr. [John] Lee on what he needs, but given the way the vaccine rollout is going”, he said, he believes government will be looking to get from 11,000 to 12,000 doses. No approval yet for vaccinating kids Although Canadian and US regulators have approved the use of the Pﬁ zer vaccine for 12-15 year olds, Roper said Cayman is still awaiting the green light from Public Health England to be able to use it for children here. “We’re just waiting for the UK regulator to conﬁ rm it. I’ve been told we can expect that very soon and that’s really important because if we want to get the maximum number of people vaccinated... being able to vaccinate 12-15 year olds will be hugely beneﬁ cial to our overall vaccine take-up, but I also think it’s really important in public health terms,” he said. He said COVID affects older people in a much more serious way than younger people and “thankfully, particularly children don’t seem to be affected”. However, he pointed out that if someone contracts COVID there is the possibility of getting what is known as ‘long COVID’, which a lot of people in the UK have had. “This is where the COVID symptoms last for many months and can be really debilitating and keep people off work. We don’t want to take that risk with our children that any of them get COVID in case they get long COVID. I think there’s a strong public health reason for us being able to vaccinate our 12-15 year olds at the moment,” Roper said. Roper: Give gov’t time on reopening “We should aim to vaccinate everybody if we can.” Governor Martyn Roper cayman compass 6 news N news FRIDAY, 4 JUNE 2021FREE ENTRY! JUNE COMPASS CENTRE PARKING LOT 5th 4-8pm BURGERS | FRIED CHICKEN | DONUTS | HOT DOGS | JERK CHICKEN | DRINKS LIVE MUIS C! DJ Marz | Sea N B | Zosia McGregor | Mo vin Brooks | Teri Quappe cOMe for the food stay for the music! cayman compass 7 FRIDAY, 4 JUNE 2021Community Announcements Condolences can be registered at boddenfuneralservice.com & Bodden Funeral Service Facebook page The family of the late Horace DuQuesnay regret to announce his passing. A funeral service will be held on Friday, June 11 at 4:00 p.m. at Saint George’s Anglican Church in Grand Cayman. A celebra�on of his life will be held at 6:00 p.m. at Sea Harvest-Sunset House. Interment of his ashes will be held privately. Condolences can be registered at boddenfuneralservice.com & Bodden Funeral Service Facebook page The family of the late Pa�y Lou Glidden regret to announce her passing on 18 May, 2021. A funeral service will be held 10:00 a.m. at Church of God (Universal) on Saturday, 5 June 2021. Interment will follow at the West Bay Cemetery. Condolences can be registered at boddenfuneralservice.com & Bodden Funeral Service Facebook page The family of the late Owen Robert Yates regret to announce his passing on 14 May, 2021. A funeral service will be held 11 :00 a.m. at Savannah United Church, on Saturday, 5 June 2021. Interment will follow at the Tall Tree Cemetery. $7.3 million paid to cullers since launch of initiative in 2018 NORMA CONNOLLY nconnolly@compassmedia.ky Cullers are now earning $10 per large adult iguana weighing more than ﬁ ve pounds, compared to the ﬂ at rate of $5 per iguana when the eradication programme launched in October 2018. Under the latest payment arrangement, the cullers also can earn $7 for smaller adults, and hatchlings will fetch $5. The 2021 breeding season is currently under way and will continue until August, adding impetus to the culling efforts that seek to keep the population from expanding exponentially. Between 1,000 and 1,400 green iguanas have been delivered each week to the landﬁ ll during 2021, according to the Department of Environment, which is spearheading efforts to rid the islands of the invasive species. As of 29 May, cullers had killed 24,246 iguanas this year, earning among them $305,214. For 2021, the government has budgeted more than $1.8 million for iguana culling. Since the programme started, nearly 1.3 million green iguanas have been killed. Government has paid those cullers more than $7.3 million in bounties. The Department of Environment said there are 140 cullers registered to take part in the programme this year, with about 60 being regularly active on Grand Cayman. In a recent issue of the DoE magazine Flickr, the department stated, “As is to be expected, as the iguana population is driven down, iguanas become increasingly difﬁ cult to ﬁ nd and there is considerable evidence that many of the individuals remaining are now keenly aware of the hunting pressure, making them skittish and wary of human activity.” Sister Islands culling While the culling programme is technically only being run on Grand Cayman, volunteers on the Sister Islands are also on the hunt for green iguanas. Since October 2016, just over 410 green iguanas have been found and killed on Cayman Brac. On Little Cayman, there have been reports of green iguanas being spotted there since 2007, and it is estimated that up to 70 green iguanas have been culled since then, with about 30 of those killed since October 2016, according to the DoE. 1.3 million The number of green iguanas that have been culled on Grand Cayman since October 2018 As of 29 May, cullers had killed 24,246 iguanas this year, earning between them $305,214. NUMBERCOST Iguanas culled from Nov-Dec 2018298,106$1,543,511 Iguanas culled in 2019825,420$4,475,559 Iguanas culled in 2020139,032$1,020,451 Iguanas culled from 1 Jan-29 May 202124,246$305,214 TOTAL CULLED SINCE NOVEMBER 20181,286,804$7,344,735 Bounty on green iguanas doubles cayman compass 8 news N news FRIDAY, 4 JUNE 2021 3.2% -0.4% -7.2% -2.7% 1.2% 1.2% 1.3% 2.7% 2.8% 3.2% 3.2% 4.2% 3.8% 1.9% -0.1% -2.5% 2.6% 1.6% 2.2% 1.8% 2.5% 3.1% 1.7% 2.3% 3.0% 2.2% 98.9islandfm.ky alexa skill Life Insurance ONLIN Get Life Insurance coverage online with no medical required. Choose your insurance coverage Apply Online Pay with credit/debit card Live the Scan for a quote today elife.sagicorcayman.com Call (345) 949-8211 cayman compass 9 FRIDAY, 4 JUNE 2021Next >