Cayman possible border reopening without quarantine by April or May!

[Divetech Cayman]

Hello all,

I've put up a page on our website at www.divetech.com/border, which has a summary of all of the factual information on the state of the Cayman reopening situation. Since October 22, I've made an effort to post this 3 times, but each time I've deleted my comments at the request of someone in the Cayman Islands Government. To quote "I was causing negative comments" with my information, despite the fact that none of it is factually inaccurate.

Around the time of the press conference on October 22, I saw many of our fellow watersports operators immediately begin to post that Cayman would be "open on November 20!" I saw many social media posts, and even marketing emails from large hotels say with certainty, that Cayman would be welcoming tourists back.

I was quick to point out that what would possibly happen was that on November 20, Cayman would move into phase 4 of our reopening plan, which still has travel restrictions. Although CIG has removed the list of Phase 4 restrictions on their website, the fact remains that nothing has been put into writing about how we will enter phase 4, and what the procedure will be to travel here. It will not be 'open borders' circa 2019.

I was accused of being too negative. I've tried very hard to be supportive of Government. The reality is, I'm trying manage expectations for our customers. I grow tired of having to respond to angry customer emails and phone calls and explain why they were not allowed to board their flight to Cayman, or why the airline canceled their flight or cruise, or why the hotel canceled their reservation. Or how their group travel got screwed because their trip leaded listened to a post on Facebook about our borders which had no basis in fact or reality. With all the misinformation circulating about our border opening, there is no shortage of these angry emails.

There's only one fact at the present moment. That is the Premier made an announcement on October 22, that we would welcome back vaccinated travelers on November 20. As of today, no plan has been put into writing or published by the Cayman Islands Gazette office. (No law is official here until it has been gazetted.)

Now, I've heard many rumors. We know a few things and we can reasonably assume a few others, which are:

• The reopening plan is supposed to be announced on November 12. If they can have it ready by then.
• There is an insane amount of variables to determine for said plan. How often do we test, who pays for the tests, what's the procedure when someone tests positive? What do we do with staff who have been exposed to a positive? Where do they quarantine, who pays for this? The list goes on and on.
• The members of Cabinet must agree on the reopening plan before it becomes law. It has been represented to me, that there is disagreement amongst these members on how to do this.
• Cayman is a democracy. (Technically a Parliamentary dependency under a constitutional monarchy.) This means Parliament members are elected to represent the beliefs of their constituents. Some of this voter base have made it clear they do not wish for the borders to be reopen.

I get we are losing market share. I understand people are finding other destinations that have white sand, great diving, and cold tropical drinks for less money. We are just a frustrated as you are.

The takeaway is don't believe the marketing emails or FB posts you see until the information has been put in writing by Government. In the meantime, I will continue to update our border reopening page with all of the factual information as often as updates are available.

Tony

 

[Divetech Cayman]

Michigan does not offer any digital verified vaccine QR code either. However, in the past month, our hospital system implemented Smart QR Codes in their MyChart by Epic system so we now have access to the Smart Digital Health QR code. I've got it on paper as well as on my phone.

Anything with a QR code is considered securely verified here. So this would be perfectly adequate. On our border re-opening page, I put up a list of the digital issuers Cayman currently accepts.

In addition to electronic proof, what are the government’s Covid test requirements for entry?

Will be interesting to see how soon the resorts can ramp up with staff to accomodate this “rapid” opening.

That's one of the big variables they are trying to determine now.

I suspect various health care systems will be more likely to offer electronic records than the states because of all the politics around it. They may not advertise it well, I discovered I had this ironically by seeing the list that Cayman was going to accept. So it’s worth checking.

Yes, the SMART Health Cards which are part of the CommonTrust Network seems to be the most popular.

They’ve also got nothing in the way of hospital capacity for very ill people.

I'm not an expert here, however as part of my work with CITA, I've sat through many meetings with Government officials, and the heads of HSA are always a part of these. It has been represented to us, that Cayman has more than adequate resources for COVID hospitalizations. Remember, we have 2 hospitals in Georgetown alone with ICU capacity, plus that megalopolis of Health City on the East End. Per capita, I've been told it's well above average.

We get some of the health care practitioners diving with us from all 3 hospitals. The worst thing I had heard was that there was a shortage of staff trained on the use of the ventilators, but I ave since been assured that had been rectified.

Tony

 

[tursiops]

Tony, thank you for valiantly trying to keep us validly informed.
May things go better for you, for DiveTech, and for the CIs in the near future.

 

[Skeptic14]

Its really a shame what's happening to the business owners and others being negatively impacted by something that has nothing to do "with following the science".

 

[drrich2]

Since October 22, I've made an effort to post this 3 times, but each time I've deleted my comments at the request of someone in the Cayman Islands Government. To quote "I was causing negative comments" with my information, despite the fact that none of it is factually inaccurate.

Sounds like the concept of 'an inconvenient truth' is not exclusively an American one. Wonder what would've happened if you'd said 'No' to that request?

I was accused of being too negative.

Reality is often like that.

Some of this voter base have made it clear they do not wish for the borders to be reopen.

Any idea why? Is it a belief tourism will bring in a new wave of COVID-19? Vaccine is widely available there. Do they think they can live in a bubble into perpetuity?

We are just a frustrated as you are.

You are more so, because your livelihood depends on it. What moves you to support the government as much as you do, in light of what you've been dealing with, I don't know.

 

[Divetech Cayman]

Sounds like the concept of 'an inconvenient truth' is not exclusively an American one. Wonder what would've happened if you'd said 'No' to that request?

I'm summarizing the situation, I had some information on our page that Government said was out of date. The issue was the information appeared on the Government website, so I still thought it was current. I'll take the blame as I was too quick on getting our information up.

The persons involved all have good intentions, and do want what's best for tourism. I only brought it up to explain why I didn't make this post sooner.

Any idea why? Is it a belief tourism will bring in a new wave of COVID-19? Vaccine is widely available there. Do they think they can live in a bubble into perpetuity?

All of this is really just speculation based on comments I've seen on local social media. But it seems that some people believe just this - that we can live in our own little bubble. Some do not understand the economic impact. Others seem to like the island without tourists. Anecdotally, it seems many people here have an association that COVID = certain death. There is also a very high anti-vax sentiment amongst the island.

You are more so, because your livelihood depends on it. What moves you to support the government as much as you do, in light of what you've been dealing with, I don't know.

As an American living here, it makes me sad to see the state of extreme polarization in the United States. I don't want to contribute to that here. Getting into a pissing contest with Government services no purpose, and only serves to make everyone look bad. Us especially. So we work together.

 

[boulderjohn]

My long-planned 3-week dive trip to the Caymans was originally supposed to begin right at the start of the pandemic. It's third attempt was supposed to start next week. Next week my substitute 3-week dive trip to Roatan will start instead. It is likely I will never again see the Cayman Islands.

I was very much looking forward to the DiveTech portion of my experience, and I am quite saddened to know it will likely never happen. As painful as this is for me, I cannot imagine how bad it must be for you. You have my deepest sympathy.

 

[KathyV]

I’ve recently spoken with a Caymanian business manager who said that it is likely that Cayman will re-open on November 20 as recently announced. He said that “there is now a strong public feeling in favor of re-opening despite the recent increase in local cases of covid.”

However, he went on to say that it will take time for many businesses to get ready to reopen. They cannot bring non-Cayman staff back until after the quarantine has been lifted on Nov 20.

He suggested that late December or January should be a safe time to plan a trip to Cayman.

Also, a GC divemaster told me that it is his understanding that the ClearlyCayman/ Reef Divers resorts plan to reopen Little Cayman first, Cobalt Coast on GC next, and Cayman Brac last, but of course, their new resort on South Caicos is already open for business in TCI.

 

[Alucard]

I have been going to the Cayman Islands since 2005 - I got OW certified there - and now own property there. I have seen how the Cayman Government works, and I would absolutely go with DiveTech's Tony's assessment on this one.

Until the Cayman Government actually passes whatever it needs to get all the terms and conditions for reopening set up I'm not going to believe any date estimates enough to make any plans. Remember - it's only Caymanians that vote in elections for the legislative body, not permanent residents. It's the PR's that own a lot of the tourism-facing businesses that wish the island to open. You really don't have to look very far on social media around Cayman to see that there is a quite vocal portion of Caymanians that would very much like the non-tourism bubble to continue - they believe (erroneously in my opinion) that that will make them safer, to the point where many don't need to get the vaccine. I will let Tony or anyone else that is currently in Cayman correct me if my feelings are erroneous.

So for me, the bottom line is: I continue to wait until the government has its act together about reopening. Then I will see what they manage to put in place and make my plans accordingly.

 

[tkaelin]

Thanks Tony for the informative post. I started diving GC in the 80s and have been back many times and hope to again in the future.

Having been to GC and a number of other islands over the years, especially those that had a big and busy cruise tourism business, I think I can understand the sentiment among some on the island that they did not miss all that came with large influx of tourists. We will continue to patiently wait and return when the time is right.

I feel for all the tourism based businesses on the island and hope this can be put behind them sometime soon.

Skimming the Cayman Compass these past 18 months or so, I am paying just as much attention to the concerning number of violent crime reports as I do to the reopening news. I can't tell if the stories represent an increase or not.

I look forward to our return, hopefully sometime in 2022, and diving with Divetech and some of the other high quality dive ops we have dove with in the past.