Cayman possible border reopening without quarantine by April or May!

[AggieDiver]

I heard that one of the boats lost an engine at some point.

That very well could be true. I know they were making 10-12 knots for most of the 1st half of the trip, but slowed down to about 8-9 knots around the time they made the turn towards Great Inagua. I wasn't sure if it was a mechanical issue, just the rough seas, or if they were trying to save fuel due to the longer route. If they lost an engine, it would have made sense to want to be alot closer to land in case they needed to tow it anywhere.

 

[tridacna]

That very well could be true. I know they were making 10-12 knots for most of the 1st half of the trip, but slowed down to about 8-9 knots around the time they made the turn towards Great Inagua. I wasn't sure if it was a mechanical issue, just the rough seas, or if they were trying to save fuel due to the longer route. If they lost an engine, it would have made sense to want to be alot closer to land in case they needed to tow it anywhere.

I suspect that they were denied making land in the Bahamas for Covid reasons.

 

[Kaneda13]

Found this today, maybe a glimmer of hope:

Cayman Reopening Updates

 

[KathyV]

Found this today, maybe a glimmer of hope:

Cayman Reopening Updates

Wow, that's big news!

 

[drrich2]

From the article "The primary message to the Cayman people was that after October 14th, the risk to unvaccinated residents would rise. He and his cabinet strongly encouraged any unvaccinated residents to get vaccinated straightaway."

This is a powerful evolving theme in larger society; the notion that at some point, the rest of the (first) world (with vaccination widely available) resolves to get on with life, including immigration and business, and those who prefer to play viral Russian roulette can take their chances. It remains a problem for kids too young to be approved for vaccination, and people who get breakthrough infections.

"Cayman’s current fully-vaccinated rate is almost 75%."

Congratulations, Caymans!

Is this sufficiently credible to justify people booking flights and trips, or need they wait for more supporting developments?

 

[KathyV]

From the article "The primary message to the Cayman people was that after October 14th, the risk to unvaccinated residents would rise. He and his cabinet strongly encouraged any unvaccinated residents to get vaccinated straightaway."

This is a powerful evolving theme in larger society; the notion that at some point, the rest of the (first) world (with vaccination widely available) resolves to get on with life, including immigration and business, and those who prefer to play viral Russian roulette can take their chances. It remains a problem for kids too young to be approved for vaccination, and people who get breakthrough infections.

"Cayman’s current fully-vaccinated rate is almost 75%."

Congratulations, Caymans!

Is this sufficiently credible to justify people booking flights and trips, or need they wait for more supporting developments?

My first thought was "let's wait and see if it really happens" but it is encouraging news!

 

[AggieDiver]

From the article "The primary message to the Cayman people was that after October 14th, the risk to unvaccinated residents would rise. He and his cabinet strongly encouraged any unvaccinated residents to get vaccinated straightaway."

This is a powerful evolving theme in larger society; the notion that at some point, the rest of the (first) world (with vaccination widely available) resolves to get on with life, including immigration and business, and those who prefer to play viral Russian roulette can take their chances. It remains a problem for kids too young to be approved for vaccination, and people who get breakthrough infections.

"Cayman’s current fully-vaccinated rate is almost 75%."

Congratulations, Caymans!

Is this sufficiently credible to justify people booking flights and trips, or need they wait for more supporting developments?

That has been my question ever since we reached the point where we started having to offer incentives to try to get people to get vaccinated. When does their welfare cease to be the responsibility of the government? When the vaccine is widely available and free, and they have decided not to get it, why is government (not just in the Caymans, but anywhere) feeling the need to spend taxpayer money to incentivize people who don't want to get vaccinated? It is a risk decision for them, and they have decided not to get vaccinated, so why can't we all just nod our heads, say "ok then" and get on with our normal lives while they take their chances?

 

[tridacna]

That has been my question ever since we reached the point where we started having to offer incentives to try to get people to get vaccinated. When does their welfare cease to be the responsibility of the government? When the vaccine is widely available and free, and they have decided not to get it, why is government (not just in the Caymans, but anywhere) feeling the need to spend taxpayer money to incentivize people who don't want to get vaccinated? It is a risk decision for them, and they have decided not to get vaccinated, so why can't we all just nod our heads, say "ok then" and get on with our normal lives while they take their chances?

Easy: Incentives are cheaper than treatment.

 

[tridacna]

Bryan: 5 airlines confirm readiness to return to Cayman

I’m interested to see how they will determine “certified confirmed vaccine status”.

 

[Kaneda13]

From what I've been able to gather, they are sticking to their guns on the SMART Health Card, which unfortunately rules out a majority of the US population at this time.