Beaches could be reopened for exercise next week and the full Sunday lockdown could be lifted as early as this weekend, Premier Alden McLaughlin said Wednesday.
Cabinet is considering easing up the Shelter in Place regulations and is looking at the issues of fishing, access to the beach and the Sunday hard curfew, he said.
“We have certainly decided that the beaches should be reopened but only for exercise.”
He said he was still concerned about partying on the beach and it would be a limited reopening only.
“Assuming all goes well we should see significant relaxation in the current regulations as early as Tuesday next week or even Sunday in respect of the hard curfew,” he added.
He said there was real hope and promise that if results continue as they are, some normalcy could resume. There was one new case of the virus announced Wednesday along with 328 negative cases, but health officials warned COVID-19 is still lurking in the community.
Reopening of construction sector
McLaughlin also highlighted the reopening of the construction industry as a significant boost for the economy.
But he said managing the “overwhelming number” of businesses and workers that would be coming back on the job was challenging and would have to be handled carefully and in stages.
Parts of the trade, including hardware stores, are scheduled to reopen next Tuesday, under current plans which are contingent on results coming out of the testing labs on a daily basis.
Testing is taking place with some construction workers and government is in talks with developers on protocols to ensure that sites can reopen safely.
By the beginning of next week, he said a number of key projects that had been paused since the crisis began would likely recommence, providing a significant boost to the island’s struggling economy.
COVID-19 still present in the community
The Cayman Islands has just one new case of COVID-19 out of 329 test results, announced Wednesday.
Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Lee said the case was community acquired.
Earlier today Cost-U-Less supermarket announced that it had been informed that one of its staff members had tested positive in a COVID-19 screening test. Dr. Lee declined to say if that was the same case but conceded there was a “striking alignment with the two announcements”.
Cost-U-Less said in a statement that the store had been deep cleaned overnight and the employee was in quarantine. It said it was co-operating with all Public Health guidelines.
Overall Cayman has 86 positive cases, 4,807 negative cases and one death.
Despite an encouraging trend of results, Dr. Lee said the fact that odd cases kept popping up showed “the virus is definitely still here”.
He said he was concerned there was a “hidden undercurrent of COVID still going through the community”.
He added, “We are still getting cases and we don’t really understand where they are coming from because our borders have been closed.”
Dr. Lee said he did not believe that people were breaking isolation procedures, but he accepted some could be avoiding contact tracers, trying to track the interactions of patients who had tested positive for COVID-19.
He said it was more likely that the virus was ‘smouldering away’ in the community.
Asked if employers could make COVID-19 tests mandatory for their employees as the economy opens up, Dr. Lee said he thought that would not be possible and that forcing a medical procedure on someone would be considered assault.
He said all organisations would need to do their own risk assessments and put protocols in place, especially hand hygiene.
The premier said the results showed the virus was still in the community and Cayman should not be lulled into a false sense of security.
He said the virus could still spread and overwhelm hospitals.
For that reason, he said the reopening of the economy would proceed with caution.
Governor Martyn Roper echoed the cautious optimism of others on the panel.
He added his commendation to the civil service who he said had adapted well to working from home, suggesting this could be a template for the future for some roles.
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