TCI: Parrot Cay, maybe first Worldwide with 100 percent residents vaccinated

#TurksandCaicos, March 25, 2021 – There is likely nowhere else on planet earth that can boast of having all of its residents vaccinated for Covid-19 but a 1,000 acre private island in the Turks and Caicos – COMO Parrot Cay – can.

It is a small cay soaked in legendary intrigue and modern day luxuries and very likely the first destination where every resident is guarded against the debilitating and deadly coronavirus by inoculation. 

“One hundred percent of the residents of Parrot Cay are fully vaccinated; with both shots.  It’s an amazing feeling, it’s an amazing thing and it’s great for our guests and a great story for Turks (and Caicos) and we are working hard to make sure that that rest of our team from North and Provo come along for the ride as well,” said Tapahari Tibble, General Manager of COMO Parrot Cay.

To simply say that this sliver of paradise in the Turks and Caicos Islands is world renowned for its exquisite amenities would be an understatement, but to say that it has gained an edge due to its Covid vaccine progress is absolutely true.

“Currently we are at about 80 percent occupancy which is amazing.  The people that are travelling are very respectful of other guests, respectful of staff and just really just happy to be out and many of them have had vaccinations as well,”  Tibble confirmed that travellers are coming now almost exclusively from the United States.  “Over this COVID period the market got a bit younger than it was historically because it was the younger generation, that were prepared to travel regardless.  Now we are seeing the ages go up a bit more and we are seeing the intergenerational families come back because the vaccination program has really kicked off properly in the United States as well.  I think there is a potential for by Q4 it could be a record for the country.”

With around 300 staff at Parrot Cay, having the 204 of the team who are resident on the resort island already vaccinated reflects a 68 percent vaccination rate.    Guests find this alluring and relieving.

“For guests, the feeling of them coming to a safe destination with people around them testing and vaccinated, they’re happy to be out and travelling and really, they see this as a safe destination and that’s not just Parrot Cay, that’s Turks and Caicos as a whole.” 

Guests come into the Turks and Caicos already PCR-tested for the coronavirus using the TCI Assured travel portal established jointly by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Tourism in time for a July 22, 2020 reopening of the British overseas territory. 

“I think the support by the Government and the Governor and the UK have been unbelievable.  I come from New Zealand which has been heralded as a place that has done very, very well and I would actually almost say that a destination like this, that didn’t close the way New Zealand closed is actually doing better.  The people in power have protected jobs and businesses and that is going a long way to pushing this destination forward in the entire region,” shared Mr. Tibble who is a second term Vice-President of the Turks and Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association.  

Protocols on the resort private island which is a 30-minute boat ride from Providenciales and features rooms, suites and entire villas are in line with the rest of the country; face masks are donned, distance is kept and sanitization stations and cleaning protocols ramped up.  Parrot Cay is one of 15 government approved sites around the Turks and Caicos for lateral flow or rapid antigen testing for the virus.

“Out of the antigen testing that we’ve done since 26 January we have one person positive.  We have our procedures, quarantine rooms set aside so we had a young lady test positive from the US.  She did her two weeks quarantine and flew out quickly.  So one out of the numbers that we have had is quite phenomenal and we are seeing that across the resorts, it’s not just us,” informed the General Manager.

Grace Bay Medical runs the testing center for COMO Parrot Cay; around 1,000 tests have been performed since regulations required it in January for travellers into the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.