We can do this (together)

“This is essentially a lockdown…people need to stay at home,” Premier Alden McLaughlin declared on Tuesday morning, as he notified the public of heightened measures being implemented in a bid to stem the spread of the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19).

The measures do not appear to have been taken lightly. If you listened to the Premier the day prior to announcing the “lockdown” and the morning that he did, his tone and demeanour changed. He was no longer simply an authoritative source of information. He was like a stern father handing doling out the consequences after the typical “who can’t hear will feel” message.

But to think of it, that is exactly what he was doing. After more than a week of his and other authority figures urging the community to take the necessary precautions, groups of people could still be seen flouting the warnings they were given. They could be seen frolicking in large groups at Rum Point and playing sports in large groups.

“You can’t expect this virus that we can’t even see to be cramping our style. It can’t be as bad as in other places. Not in a small and special place like Cayman!” you can only imagine some of those people saying.

By now, we would have felt what it is like to be under curfew and a lockdown of all but essential services. For those of us who lived in the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan and Paloma, we know that things may seem bleak now, but we pray to God that better times are just around the corner.

We, at Caymanian Times, call on our community to heed the warnings of the health officials and the images that flood our social media and television screens of the pandemic taking root elsewhere. We can get through this but only if we ALL play our part. We can do this, Cayman! We have no other choice if we are to get through this.