COVID CASES PLUMMET AS VACCINATION RATES CONTINUE TO SOAR

The Cayman Islands once again demonstrate its resiliency in the face of the latest COVID threat.

Almost 20-months after the Cayman Islands closed its border to tourist traffic, the islands have moved to Phase 4 of the Government’s official reopening plan. The easing of these regulations opens the door for vaccinated tourists to return to the island without having to quarantine. *

The move to this latest phase of the reopening plan coincided with a spike in positive cases of the virus, triggering concern amongst the local community about the viability of the reopening plan in the lead up to the highly anticipated ‘high-season’. It also prompted fears that welcoming back international travellers would result in a further surge in cases.

Almost one month on from the reopening and the Islands’ testing and active case statistics are showing that the trend is quite the opposite.

On Friday 10^th December, Chief Medical Officer, Dr John Lee reported only 30 positive cases of COVID-19 out of 1,132 PCR tests carried out between 8am Thursday and 8am Friday. This is the lowest number of new daily cases since 21^st of October. Of those new cases, only two were found in travellers. Over the course of the week, the share of positive tests dropped by almost half compared to the week before.

The decline in both active and new cases can largely be attributed to Cayman’s proactive and rigorous testing protocol as well as the prolific vaccination programme.

As of Friday morning, 56,536 people had received a two-dose course of the Pfizer Biontech vaccine. Based on a conservative population estimate of 71,106, this means that Cayman has reached the target of having 80% of the population fully vaccinated. However, preliminary figures from the 2021 census suggest that Cayman’s population may be closer to 67,000 people, effectively increasing the percentage vaccination rate to approximately 84%.

An additional 13,542 people, 19% of the population have received the third, “booster” dose.

Now more than ever, Cayman’s ability to manage the threat of the virus and implement protocol to protect the local community and visiting travellers, is proving to be an attractive draw for international real estate investors.

*Specific details regarding the travel protocol, testing and quarantine requirements can be found at https://www.exploregov.ky/reopening-plan