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I have arrived.
I have arrived in paradise.
I have arrived in paradise and there are no tourists.
I have arrived in paradise and there are no tourists or cases of Covid-19.
I have arrive in paradise…and it is weird
And wonderful.
Last Friday I went to happy hour, okay two happy hours. Both were held indoors with no masks or physical distancing. Besides the hand sanitizer at the door and the extra gratuity left for the servers, there were no signs of a global pandemic.
I enjoyed myself greatly. I laughed. A lot and hard. It was so good for my soul. Not once did I consider viral load. I didn’t imagine tiny Corona viruses wafting about in the air conditioning. I leaned into private conversations, not away from them. It was as if, I don’t know, things were normal?
Because, to be honest, it is.
The Cayman Islands has not had a case of community transferred Covid-19 in about two months (since July 15th). The cases that have been logged recently (4 in the past two months) have been attributed to incoming travelers, all of whom were in government quarantine facilities at the time of testing. The government has set up strict quarantine and testing requirements for those returning to the island. This has controlled the community spread to the point where there just isn’t any.
To be sure, Covid was squashed due to very strict measures taken early on in the pandemic. The island knew its limitations in terms of hospital capacity and took measures accordingly. It is ONLY due to the sacrifice of Caymanians and residents that I am able to enjoy life without a mask.
So, I have arrived in paradise at a very special time.
There are no cases of Covid.
Because of this, I am back in school. I am teaching kids, in a classroom, without masks. I take my students’ temperatures each morning and spray their hands with sanitizer at the beginning of each lesson. I clean their tables at the end of each lesson. But to be honest, this is basically the extent of our “new normal.” The limitations are minor.
Because Covid doesn’t exist in my world right now, I am eating out. I am drinking out. I am going shopping. I am doing ALLLLLLL the things. Everything I missed doing in my last months in Germany and in the US this summer, I am doing now. I got a haircut for the first time in over a year! I am doing the things! (I suppose I need to schedule a massage and a visit to the tattoo parlor.) ALLL the things!
There are no tourists.
The airport is closed to non-government approved flights. Cruise ships are banned until 2021, at least. The only people I have to share paradise with are people who reside and work in Grand Cayman. So you better believe I am taking advantage of this.
Since the waters have quieted, the marine life has flourished. While snorkeling off the beach, I have seen an Eagle Ray, Sting Ray, barracuda, conchs, lobster and fish, fish, fish, everywhere. My students have described seeing nurse sharks close to shore and there was a rumor of a sperm whale nearby.The coral is healing and coming back in areas due to the work of some intrepid divers who are certified to care for the coral. At Starfish Point, I stood in one spot and counted 24 starfish in my line of sight. It’s amazing what can happen when tourists aren’t here to muck things up.
But they will come. And we need them to come.
The island is hurting economically. Some hotels are open, but they are empty, and they can only make so much off of “staycations.” So we need them and the money they bring.
And, more likely than not, they will also bring Covid with them.
It will just take one person, not adhering to the quarantine restrictions, just one, and this happy, Covid-free bubble will burst.
And I will put my mask back on
and shutter my classroom
and retreat to my apartment
to teach online
and socialize via Zoom
and cook for myself
and drink by myself
and laugh a little less often.
But NOT YET.
