Bingo!

Hey guys,

I hope you all are hanging in there.

We are doing just fine here on our little island. Our government has implemented a combination of "soft curfew" hours and "hard curfew" hours over the next 2 weeks. Here's how it works: If your surname begins with A-K you are allowed to leave your house on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to go to the grocery store, bank, and/or pharmacy between the hours of 6am and 7pm. Surnames L-Z can leave the house on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays during those same hours. From 7pm until 6am, we are in "hard curfew," which means that you are not allowed to leave your house. In addition, Sundays are now considered "hard curfew" days, which means that you cannot leave your house at all on Sundays. Essential services are exempt from the curfew. There are check stops scattered around the island and police are checking ID for surnames and issuing $250 CI to $500 CI tickets for breaking curfew rules. In addition, police helicopters, quads, and boats are constantly patrolling the shoreline for anyone in breach of curfew. It's pretty surreal to let the dog out for a pee at 8pm and hear complete silence other than the distance whirring of a helicopter blade.

And what about our precious beach time? We are allowed to exercise at the beach for 90 min a day during soft curfew hours. Here is where it gets tricky: apparently everyone has a different view of "exercise." Most would assume it means walking or swimming, but some people think that drinking a pina colada in their beach chair qualifies! Ha. I was walking on the beach the other day and noticed a family of 4 sitting under their umbrella. As the flashing lights of a police boat approached, I heard the father shout, "Stand up and do jumping jacks!" I had to laugh as his wife and 2 children quickly went into "exercise" mode.

We now have 35 confirmed positive cases in the Cayman Islands, with our first positive case on Cayman Brac announced yesterday. The case on the Brac is very concerning, as the island's population is less than 3000 and is comprised heavily of elderly residents. Most of the cases in Grand can be traced back to travel, but we do now have a couple with no known history, indicating community spread.

It's such a strange time for everyone, isn' it?  I feel extremely isolated from the rest of the world, which makes me alternate between feeling terrified and feeling comforted.

There is one daily event that brings me comfort (and provides a few laughs), and that is our routine press conference at 2pm. Everyday our Premier, Chief Medical Officer (My favorite, Dr. Lee), Police Commissioner, and Minister of Health address the public and update us on the latest. Dr Lee reports new cases in his always calm manner, our Premier (self-proclaimed Grim Reaper) lists the latest death toll around the world (whilst making us feel shame for leaving our house), the police Commissioner details some ridiculous crime some loser has committed (evading police on a motorbike for curfew violation), and our Health Minister shares one of his "interesting" poems, recites "stay at home" in a different language each day, and then prays for us. It sounds quite dull, but it isn't. You see, Cayman has really gotten into the spirit of things and has created Bingo cards to use while you are watching (Bingo squares include: panel laughs at dumb question from facebook, Dr. Lee's voice is soothing AF, audio malfunction). Alternatively, you can turn this into a drinking game and get absolutely bombed in 10 minutes. It's all quite entertaining. In addition, talented Caymanians have also begun producing songs/jingles, using press conference coverage for the #stayhomecayman campaign. They have innovatively turned the Health Ministers poem into a reggae sensation, and added instrumentals to the Premier's warnings. It's all really creative and although it's an alarming and upsetting topic, I typically leave the 2pm press conference engaged in humorous whatsapp convos with friends, commenting on the Minister's efforts to speak Swahili, wondering which language he will tackle tomorrow, and anticipating the next remix.

Now I know that is all very serious business, and some might think it's ignorant to joke around about what essentially is a somber press conference, but let me explain what this is actually doing for our island. When you spend an hour a day with this panel, you feel like you are personally involved. You feel directly responsible for every positive case. When thousands of people tune in at 2pm everyday, although they are whatsapping each other funny press conference memes, they are listening to the very important message being conveyed. When only 1-2 people out of 60,000 are breaching curfew, you know that people are taking this seriously. I feel like I am a part of very tight-knit community that takes great pride in where we live, and will do anything to protect it and it's people. So I really do believe that this daily live press conference is an incredible thing that is increasing compliance in Cayman, as well as bringing us together during such a weird time...and if it results in a drinking game gone bad, well, at least you are safe at home, hey?

Cheers everyone. Stay safe.