2020 Year in review
• January – February
• March – April
As the final minutes of 2019 began to tick down, people across the Cayman Islands gathered in churches, yards, public beaches and elsewhere to ring in the new year. For most, 2020 started with a bang, as brilliant displays of fireworks lit up the night sky. Little did the world know at the time that 2020 would be one year for the history books.
SEPTEMBER
Back to school for Cayman students
By the beginning of September, all students had left remote learning behind and returned to their schools. Government had announced the lifting of mandatory requirements for the wearing of masks and social-distancing. Much to the delight of parents, the Department of Education Services also abandoned plans for a staggered reopening of schools, which would have involved various year groups returning to class on different dates.
Governor approves same-sex partnership law
On 4 Sept., Governor Martyn Roper assented to the Civil Partnership Law, making same-sex partnerships legal in the Cayman Islands. Formerly titled the Domestic Partnership Bill, the law was defeated in the Legislative Assembly on 29 July when lawmakers voted down the bill, nine to eight. However, Roper, using his reserved power to write legislation, opted to reintroduce the bill and assent to it following 21 days of public consultation.
Clean-up planned after ship dumps sand on Eden Rock coral
The Cayman Islands Department of Environment appealed on divers to help save coral at Eden Rock after a ship left large amounts of sand on the reef. The first of several clean-up efforts was launched on 16 Sept.
British Airways arrivals testing geofencing tech
Passengers who arrived on the 17 Sept. British Airways flight were the first test subjects in Cayman to trial geofencing technology and quarantine procedures in preparation for the phased border reopening on 1 Oct. The arrivals, all wearing masks, disembarked at Owen Roberts International Airport, on board the first fortnightly-scheduled BA flight. Members of 20-25 households on the flight were chosen to take part in the trial programme before the ‘soft reopening’ of the borders.
Time for Greek alphabet: Storms Alpha and Beta form
The Atlantic hurricane season ran through the year’s list of named storms on 18 Sept. and moved right into the back-up naming system using the Greek alphabet. On that day, four tropical formations were active in the Atlantic – Hurricane Teddy, Tropical Storm Wilfred and Subtropical Storms Alpha and Beta.
OCTOBER
Five international inbound flights touch down
Cayman commenced its soft border reopening on 1 Oct. with five international inbound flights, three of which were private planes.
Public gatherings raised to 500
On 2 Oct., government raised the limit on public gatherings, doubling the maximum from 250 to 500 people. Premier Alden McLaughlin announced the new maximum limit at the media briefing that day.
Killer whales spotted off Cayman
Sightings of a pod of killer whales off the coast of the Cayman Islands marked only the eighth occasion the elusive mammals had been officially recorded in local waters. Fisherman Chris Briggs got drone footage after sighting the pod off East End and a group of scuba divers from Ocean Frontiers, en route to Little Cayman, spotted them around five miles off Grand Cayman.
Hurricane Delta lashes Cayman
Category 4 Hurricane Delta brought strong winds, heavy rains and high seas to the Cayman Islands on 6 Oct. Following the passage of the storm, Harbour Drive remained closed due to increased wave action in George Town, finally reopening on the evening of 7 Oct. Several waterfront businesses, including Grand Old House and Cayman Cabana, reported significant damage to their decks.
Community mourns loss of martial arts master
Tributes poured in for martial arts master Bob Daigle, who passed away on 7 Oct. at the age of 59, after an 11-month battle with stage-four brain cancer. Daigle moved from his native Boston, in the US, to Cayman in January 1987, and within weeks he opened the Cayman Karate Academy. For the better part of the past 33 years, he served as a trailblazer for the sport in Cayman.
Red Bay Primary School student tests positive for COVID-19
A Red Bay Primary School student produced “weakly positive” COVID-19 results, Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Lee reported on 9 Oct. Public Health officials were dispatched to the school on the same day and completed 200 swab tests on Year 2 classmates of the student, parents, teachers and other staff. The child’s parents and sibling all tested negative for COVID-19 and subsequent contact tracing returned all negative results.
Queen awards Dr. Lee an OBE
Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Lee was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for his outstanding contribution to health services in the Cayman Islands, Governor Martyn Roper announced on 9 Oct. The queen, in her birthday honours list, additionally conferred on Angela Marie Tanzillo-Swarts, forensic DNA specialist at the Health Services Authority, the award of Honorary Member of the British Empire for her contribution to Cayman’s capacity and ability to carry out wide-scale testing. Several members of the local community were also honoured for their work in responding to the COVID-19 crisis.
Bush returns to Speaker’s chair
McKeeva Bush returned to the Speaker’s chair on 14 Oct. for the first time since taking a leave of absence in February. He presided over the first meeting of the 2020-2021 sitting of the Legislative Assembly. Opposition MLA Ezzard Miller protested Bush’s return by absenting himself from the Speaker’s opening speech, the only legislator to do so. Bush had taken a leave of absence from his speakership duties following criminal charges arising from an alleged assault at a bar.
43 North Wall dive sites close as coral disease spreads
The Department of Environment shut down 43 dive sites along Grand Cayman’s North Wall on 16 Oct. for three months as the island tried to combat the spread of the deadly Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease, first reported locally on 3 Sept. The affected dive sites were located between Bear’s Paw at the edge of West Bay and Delia’s Delight off North Side, predominantly along the entrance/exit of the North Sound.
Global Citizen initiative begins
On 21 Oct., Tourism Minister Moses Kirkconnell confirmed Cayman was accepting applications for its new Global Citizen Concierge programme. Cayman joined Barbados, Bahamas and Bermuda in offering this option to individuals who wish to work remotely and reside outside of their home country.
First same-sex couples celebrate civil unions
Samantha Louise Erksine and Alice Hillman Lopez became the first same-sex couple in Cayman to have their union legally recognised under the new Civil Partnership Law. The couple, who got married in the United Kingdom three years ago, received their Registration of Overseas Relationship certificate from Joy Basdeo of Simply Weddings on 29 Oct.
Overstayer amnesty ends
An amnesty that allowed people to remain in the Cayman Islands, having overstayed the duration allowed by their immigration visas because of the COVID-19 lockdown and associated restrictions, came to an end on 31 Oct.
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