Cayman remains one of very few Caribbean countries in the level 1 low risk group of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the only English-speaking Caribbean country in this grouping. This is the best possible category to be in for travel purposes, but with the upsurge in community transmission, Public Health personnel wait to see if the Centers of Disease Control adjusts Cayman’s risk ranking.
On Friday Chief Medical Officer John Lee announced that there were 21 positive cases, all of which were found in the community, 16 of which were unvaccinated children (including infants) and 2 of which were in the hospital.
As of Friday (October 8) there were 148 active cases in the Cayman Islands with a total of 3 in hospital. 78 of these were symptomatic while 70 were asymptomatic, bringing the total number of positives to date to 958.
Other countries in the level 1 low risk group are Montserrat, Sint Eustatius and Saba. The CDC warning for travel to level one countries is to be vaccinated.
The Dominican Republic is the only Caribbean nation in the level 2 moderate risk group. For level 2 countries, the CDC warning is “Make sure you are fully vaccinated before traveling to these destinations. Unvaccinated travelers who are at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19 should avoid nonessential travel to the these destinations.”
In the level 3, high risk, group are Anguilla, Bonaire, Honduras, Panama, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and Turks & Caicos. The CDC warning for level 3 countries is “Make sure you are fully vaccinated before traveling to these destinations. Unvaccinated travelers should avoid nonessential travel to these destinations.”
The level 4 very high risk group contains Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, The British Virgin Islands, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Sint Martin and the US Virgin Islands. The warning for level 4 travelers is “Avoid travel to these destinations. If you must travel to these destinations, make sure you are fully vaccinated before travel.”
As level 4 Caribbean countries continue to be open to foreign tourism, they continue to struggle with the realities of the delta variant surge and grapple with solutions to overcome insufficient access to the coronavirus vaccine.
While Cayman has struggled with an upsurge in its positive cases of late, the country is in the unique position of having almost 80 per cent of its population vaccinated. To date, there have been 108,614 COVID-19 vaccinations given in total in the Cayman Islands. Of these, 55,530 (78 per cent of 71,106) have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 52,822 (74 per cent) have completed the two dose course. Additionally, 262 have had a third or booster dose.
