Tower and Town, November 2020

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Colour Supplement: In Grand Cayman

My name is Molly de Saram and I live in the Cayman Islands. Lockdown was just as hard but a little different from other places. This is what happened.

It all started when an Italian tourist arrived on one of the many cruise ships that regularly visit Cayman; he tested positive for Covid 19 and later died of a heart attack. This was in March. Restrictions were almost immediately set in place, and we could only go out every other day, according to what letter our last name started with, and only for essentials.

Lockdown was worst over the Easter break. Trapped in our house day and night, we couldn’t go to the beaches, we couldn’t see friends and family; we didn’t even have online school to distract ourselves with. It was not very fun.

Then, after about two weeks, the government eased off a bit. First, we were allowed out for exercise, then we got our beautiful beaches back. Our summer holiday usually enables us to leave the island for a change of scene, but our airport has been closed for months. Still, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we joined with several other families to rent a big holiday villa at the far end of the island (all of 20 miles away) and spent our days exploring the magical reef and waters that surround us - even swimming with a nurse shark!

We wore masks for a bit. Now, in September, we are back in school and we can go anywhere and everywhere. The only difference from before this worldwide pandemic is that our borders are closed; many small shops and businesses have already shut down because there are no tourists. Also, gatherings of more than 250 people are still banned.

Corona virus is basically gone from the Cayman Islands, but our government is taking no risks. That will be worth it if it keeps us all safe.

[Ed: Grand Cayman is about one hour flight south of Havana, Cuba]

Molly de Saram