Teen 'deserves' jail sentence for breaking COVID restrictions

After spending more than a month in a Cayman Islands jail, a US teen has admitted she was wrong for breaking COVID-19 quarantine rules.

Skylar Mack, 18, from the state of Georgia, was released from custody on Friday and is back home in the US.

She was sentenced to two months in jail by a Cayman Islands judge because authorities said she broke quarantine rules to attend her boyfriend's jet ski competition.

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In an exclusive interview on ABC's "Good Morning America," Ms Mack said she made a mistake and "deserved" her punishment.

The Cayman Islands Court of Appeal reduced the original sentence of Ms Mack and her boyfriend, Vanjae Ramgeet, 24, to two months on December 22, after the court agreed the original term of four months was not appropriate under the circumstances.

Ms 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.

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When she 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 Mr Ramgeet's competition, two days later.

Race attendees, who knew Ms Mack, reported her breach of isolation and officials arrested her.

In her interview with "Good Morning America," Ms Mack said breaking the quarantine rules was a "selfish decision."

"I would have never been able to live with myself, knowing that I could have been the reason that somebody could have even just been sick. It eats me up," Ms Mack said on GMA.