An American college student and her boyfriend have been jailed for four months in the Cayman Islands after breaking their Covid-19 rules, with the news apparently causing quite some interest in the USA, with ‘Cayman Islands’ trending as high as fourth in the U.S. rankings on Twitter this morning as people discussed the matter.
Cayman — a British Overseas Territory like Bermuda — has regulations [PDF] that state a person who contravenes them “commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of ten thousand dollars and to imprisonment for two years.”
A story on CNN said, “An 18-year-old college student from Georgia has been sentenced to four months in prison in the Cayman Islands after breaking the British Caribbean territory’s Covid-19 protocol while visiting her boyfriend for a jet skiing competition, according to her family.
“Skylar Mack, a pre-med student at Mercer University, left for the Islands November 27 after testing negative for Covid-19 at home, her grandmother, Jeanne Mack, told CNN.
“When Mack landed, she was given another Covid-19 test, which came back negative and she was told to remain in isolation for two weeks. Instead, she decided to attend her boyfriend’s jet ski competition two days later.
“She did wrong. We’re not doubting what she did wrong. I just don’t think the punishment meets that,” Jeanne Mack told CNN.
A story in the local press in the island, the Cayman Compass, said, “Skylar Mack and Vanjae Ramgeet were immediately taken into custody Tuesday to begin their four-month prison sentences for breaching mandatory quarantine, after the government successfully appealed an earlier judgment that imposed community service and the cost of isolation accommodation.
“Mack, 18, and her boyfriend Ramgeet, 24, each pleaded guilty to one count of failing to comply with COVID-19-suppression regulations.”
“The charge stems from an incident on 29 Nov., when Mack attended a crowded jet-ski event in South Sound, in which Ramgeet was participating. Mack, who had arrived on island two days prior to the breach, was required to self-isolate for 14 days before she could leave her home or interact with the public,” the Cayman Compass report.
“Despite these requirements, on the day of the breach, Mack is said to have interacted with the public for more than seven hours. When police arrived at the event, she was not wearing a mask and was not practising social distancing.”
According to their latest official figures, the Cayman Islands currently has 311 confirmed cases to date, with 27 active cases.
