Gov’t begins travel bans to combat COVID-19
(CNS): As the new strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, hovers on the edge of becoming a global pandemic, the Cayman Islands Government has formalised a series of travel bans and restrictions on people entering the country that it announced earlier this month. On Friday Cabinet issued regulations, which it approved on 10 February, to control the entry of people with a travel history to mainland China under the Public Health Law. Visitors who have been in China in the preceding fourteen days will be denied entry.
Officials said returning residents who have travelled to mainland China will be quarantined under the direction of the Medical Officer of Health. But this is likely to be in the traveller’s home. Public Health officials have confirmed that, as of Friday afternoon, there are no cases of COVID-19 in Cayman.
The Ministry of Health and the Public Health Department also advised the public to avoid all but essential travel to mainland China until there is a measurable change in the global situation and the ban is lifted. People travelling to countries with significant in-country transmission of COVID-19 are advised to consider the need for the journey.
The ministry of PHD recommends only essential travel between Cayman and another dozen countries that have had five or more cases of COVID-19: France, Germany, Hong Kong, Iran, Italy, Japan, Macau, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.
Although the US is currently coping with two COVID-10 cases of unknown origin, both in California, there is no recommended travel restriction to our very important neighbour, which has had 60 confirmed cases, including more than 40 who were stuck aboard the Princess Diamond cruise ship.
People returning to Cayman from any countries where there have been cases of the new virus within the last 14 days, should advise Public Health immediately if they have a cough, fever or shortness of breath.
Health Minister Dwayne Seymour said the first priority was to keep Caymanians and residents safe and mitigate any public health threat expeditiously. “The ban will take immediate effect,” he said, adding that today’s announcement is to give clear notice to travellers, businesses and organisations that may be affected.
“Rest assured that border control measures to screen passengers on all flights and vessels from mainland China and for people who have been in, or transited through, mainland China in the past 14 days will be ongoing. I want to continue to remind the public to be vigilant and to assure the people of the Cayman Islands that we are prepared for this threat to global health,” the minister said.
Officials said arriving passengers with symptoms suggestive of respiratory illness should seek medical attention and share their travel history with their healthcare provider, even if arriving from countries where fewer cases have occurred. Common symptoms of the COVID-19 infection include shortness of breath and cough, along with flu-like symptoms and fever. People should learn about COVID-19 when traveling abroad and to practice general infection control measures.
That includes frequent hand cleansing, covering the nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing, avoiding close contact with people suffering from acute respiratory infections, and avoiding unprotected contact with farm or wild animals.
The Health Services Authority management assured the community that it has the capability to manage any imported cases of the coronavirus and is following national contingency plans as needed. Cabinet has also approved funding for the HSA for the preparation and implementation of a coronavirus (COVID-19) treatment unit.
For more information on the coronavirus (COVID-19) call the Public Health Department on 244-2621 or visit the HSA website.
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
Category: Health, Medical Health
Obviously there’s no limitations on the US! They ought to be the ones we center around the most in light of the fact that they’re solidly in our terrace and anything that spreads there will unquestionably advance down here!
See how mass media twists and turns “fact” to catch your eye.
February 13,2018
Stories about tragic flu deaths wrongly portray Tamiflu as a panacea.
https://www.healthnewsreview.org/2018/02/stories-about-tragic-flu-deaths-wrongly-portray-tamiflu-as-a-panacea/
researchers aren’t entirely sure why children appear to be less susceptible to the novel coronavirus, which can present in a similar way to the flu and causes a disease called COVID-19.
Something unique to children’s bodies may protect them from coronavirus
And they don’t wash their hands often.
They now say children don’t get sick from coronavirus.
May be it is a sign?
No children under 10 appear to have died from the coronavirus, even though kids have been infected.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/no-children-under-10-died-from-coronavirus-2020-2%3famp
Those of you calling for a travel ban are cool with not leaving the island, right? Also cool with our own Caymanians being told they can’t return from school/work trips/vacations? You’re cool with supporting your friends/neighbours that work in the hospitality industry when they get laid off? Should we stop importing our food for fear of lingering germs on it?
See how ridiculous it gets to fear monger!
It’s no worse than the flu. Less lethal in fact. Wash your damn hands and go on about your business.
Okay pal, stop it. This is something that must be taken seriously. It’s worse than the flu as more are dying from it and it’s spreading fast. Not to mention we have no clue how to contain it. Travel bans and proper screening is the only way right now.
Do some intelligent reading before commenting, the death rate is no worse than the normal flu, and like normal flu the worst affected are those that already have health issues and the elderly. Some 600,000 a year die due to flu related complications, and average of some 2% of those infected. So far, this is no different, so OK pal, get educated and stop spouting shit.
Instead of insulting people, why don’t you do some real research? I get it that you want to be reassured, however COVID-19 thus far has a mortality of about 3.4%, which is approximately three times the rate of the seasonal influenza; toss out the high numbers of Iran, and you’re at about 3%.
Moreover, it’s transmissibility is several times more than the seasonal influenza. You can discover this with a calculator and the link I’ve posted below.
We are in the opening throes of this virus. Hopefully, it will be contained and/or burn out and everything will be krisss. There are some concerns as two women in Japan were tested as positive, treated tested as negative and then two weeks later tested positive again. Reinfected? Virus just so dormant in the lungs it couldn’t be detected? Failed testing protocols? Anomalies? Nobody, not you or me, knows at this point.
I am not in a panic. I am watching. My family is safe, and I hope yours is also.
You could do much better and be more sensible than to insult people with which you disagree. Pal. Be safe.
There is no treatment for viruses. For any virus. It runs it course, killing some people, but most recover with no consequences. There are treatments for complications caused by a virus, if bacterial infection develops for example, there is life support equipment to help you to stay alive while your body fights a virus. But there is NO treatments, per se, for any virus. Antibiotics are useless.
There are indeed treatments for viruses. One example is Tamiflu which is an antiviral medication used to treat influenza. You are correct, however, that antibiotics are not used to treat viruses.
Tamiflu may pose especially serious health risks to children, causing confusion and hallucinations, vomiting, nausea.
It’s effective in reducing flu symptoms. REDUCING FLU SYMPTOMS is all it does. If you’re in good health and come down with the flu, you don’t necessarily need Tamiflu or another antiviral medication, because you’ll most likely get better on your own within one to two weeks using self-care strategies
Tamiflu….small benefits on symptom relief, namely shortening duration of symptoms by half a day on average…there’s little evidence that drugs reduce hospital admissions, lower the risk of developing pneumonia, or prevent the spread of the flu.
Baking soda protocol will shorten duration of symptoms with no side effects.
Always read real people reviews on drugs.com before taking any medicine.
Forgot to give you the links:
https://covid19info.live/
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/geographical-distribution-2019-ncov-cases
🙄 Definitely NOT more people dying from Corona virus than from the flu. You’ve got your stats flip-flopped! Wash your hands and live life!
You need to understand how statistics work before commenting.
In the good news column, there are now more “Recovered” (45,000+ )and “Dead” (3000+) than “Current Active Cases” (43,800 global, 10,000+ ex-China).
I wonder about the rest? 85k sick, 46k recovered, 3k died, leaves 37k unaccounted for.
Currently active
With the amount of tourists and cruise shippers we have here, pretty certain we will have it soon. When you talk to people, you have no idea where they have been or come from, or if they work with or are family of people who just accidentally picked up the damn thing somewhere, or themselves met some random person who was carrying it. On the plus side, death rate is seemingly no worse than ordinary flu, and I really do wonder if this is either a distraction or deliberately released to cause panic and mayhem, or perhaps even to allow certain people to profit from it.
https://weather.com/health/cold-flu/news/2019-02-15-flu-season-vaccine-illnesses-deaths
Clam the hell down people!
We’re clam. This is an unknown, but with some initial concerning numbers. I don’t fault anyone for wanting to talk about it.
Do you?
Darn autocorrect. 😀
11:56
Stop listening to what CNN says. Use your own brain.
What you say is not Not true.
China didn’t know the extend of virus spreading. Once it became known it took draconian measures.
The US, the self proclaimed world’s police, on the other hand has no idea how to stop virus spreading. What they do is pure idiocy. They evacuated US citizen and some of them were quarantined for 14 days. Epidemiologists must know that some incubation periods could be 28 days. Regardless of that, one person is all it takes for virus to spread. Doesn’t matter who they were in contact with. You simply can’t track it.
Good thing, it is Still 0.00%. And most cases are mild.
DAily Mail must be forbidden to spread panic. Fear kills, as it weakens immune system.
Include Italy in this ban
Stop listening to media hysterics including believing the panic driven comments.
Wash your hands, cover coughs and sneezes, take extra vitamin C. Everyone chill.
By Wednesday, we’ll have our first case.
no…and i will bet on it.
but it will come eventually…
Government is in a tough position. They have to be seen to be doing something positive to respond to coronavirus; I just don’t think travel bans are the answer. Realistically coronavirus will make its way to Cayman and most probably it will arrive from the country that we have the most travelers from. This is the US. Banning travel to the US would be economic suicide so what other options are available? We could stock up on antiviral or retroviral medicines to treat any cases. We could invest in additional mechanical ventilation systems to to provide breathing support to patients with severe infection. We could invest in steroid medications to reduce lung swelling or we could purchase additional stocks of blood plasma. personally I this additional mechanical ventilators would be the best response as they would have so many additional uses for other ailments.
My parents are on a two week luxury cruise that due to random Covid-19 Caribbean port closures, is now steaming back to Miami at flank, having canceled the balance of its scheduled Eastern Caribbean itinerary, in addition to their next 8 sailings this season. Disappointing for the passengers, but calamitous for the crew, many of which will probably be put on indefinite furlough or laid off.
Lets be realistic. This small waterlocked Island will be am ideal breeding ground for the spread of this virus. Might even be here already!
When we have a govt where most members have an IQ smaller than their shoe size, and have MLAs in charge of ministries who have absolutely no expierience or knowledge of said ministries! What can we really expect?
We didn’t allow a cruise ship berth here last week when a crew member didn’t even have a confirmed case of coronavirus!!
Imagine what damage one or two confirmed cases here will do for the economy, who’s going to want to hop on a plane and come here and the cruise ships might choose no to dock here.
What fun we’d have then☹️
It’s already all over. We’re in a unique position. Lock the door to keep it out.
How naive. You simply can’t.. Geometrical progression.
Will any children returning today and tomorrow from a skiing holiday in the Alps be in school on Monday?
All of them.
Then I would suggest government are being negligent. I would bet they have not even considered the issue.
Government should address that very serious question immediately!
You may as well quarantine everyone returning from the UK with their 19 case – oh hang one, that would include a couple of MLAs, wouldnt it. Not a bad idea then.
never fear we have Hazard Management
And Dwayne.
Where is the LOL button when you need it!
Hazard management – why isn’t this virus listed under Public Health Threats???
The dump will have killed us all long before Covid-19 reaches our shores
Mismanaged as the dump is, following one of our “roadworthy” soot-spewing buses/truck with your windows down, is probably more immediately and personally cancerous than the dump. We need to get those off the road, stat. But who will do it?!?
only China? it should include more countries than that.
Yes, should include UK, then maybe we can keep Mac & Alden there indefinitely.
Either way, I assume Mac will be arrested and “quarantined” on arrival, public safety and all that….
Did you read the article?
There are two cases in Florida….yeah…lets see CIG restrict locals from traveling to and from Miami/Tampa ! lmbo!!
Our leadership suite struggles to do the right thing even when it’s staring them in the face. I hope, for all our sakes, the real leadership emergencies (ie anything requiring timely delivery of reason and logic), stay well away from here, until we have such functional capacity to deal. I wouldn’t trust these guys to water my plants.
Latin America???
Of course there’s no restrictions on the US! They should be the ones we focus on the most because they’re right in our backyard and anything that spreads there will surely make it’s way down here!
This the bullshit they be wasting their time on? Fix the damn dump, fire Mac, fix the effiing traffic. Do something!
Mainland China? This thing is all over the world already . Lock the door
So why not the US.
I feel safer on Japan than there.
Why Singapore when there’s been no deaths there & numbers are not increasing – unlike the USA…
83k cases worldwide divided by 7.3 billion world’s population equals 0.0011369863%
9% mortality equates to roughly 680mln dead in two years if we don’t get a handle on this. 20 labs are (best case) 1.5yrs from a rushed human-trialed vaccine, that if anything like this year’s flu vaccine, might only offer 45% inoculation success. Log into FB and imagine a world where every 9th friend you once had is dead. That’s why we should care. With daily reports that the horse has bolted the barn, it’s looking more and more likely that we are all heading towards a different world in a few months – a world where nobody is allowed to be sick or have the slightest seasonal pollen allergy.
pure internet nonsense on every level….
Here’s your “internet nonsense” on this season’s coin toss flu vaccine:
The A(H1N1)pdm09 vaccine component was updated from an A/Michigan/45/2015 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus to an A/Brisbane/02/2018 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus.
The A(H3N2) vaccine component was updated from an A/Singapore/INFIMH-16-0019/2016 A(H3N2)-like virus to an A/Kansas/14/2017 (H3N2)-like virus.
Both B/Victoria and B/Yamagata virus components from the 2018-2019 flu vaccine remain the same for the 2019-2020 flu vaccine.
“…specifically, the 2019/2020 flu vaccine has been 50% effective against influenza B/Victoria viruses and 37% effective against influenza A(H1N1)pdm09”
CDC Releases Interim Flu Vaccine Effectiveness Report
https://www.aafp.org/news/health-of-the-public/20200226interimfluve.html
9:43 Ah, the Facebook generation talking! My advice – don’t take news, legal advice or medical advice off FB because it’s unregulated BS.
Mortality is calculated as dead over recovered. You can’t discount that ratio by counting total active cases that haven’t resolved one way or just another yet. That’s the science fallacy of your news source, whatever that is.
That’s a very good point, and one that virtually every country doesn’t want to look at.
We will all know more in a month. I hope we’re still so confidant. Meanwhile, note that all the dust masks, N95s and N99s are getting snapped up. You know. Just in case. Buying it for a friend.
You didn’t do well at math did you….heck you didn’t bother pick up a history book either (1918 flu kills 50 million)…83K (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) and do that for 30 days straight…..you’l understand why this is bad and why people are in a panic. You think China said, hey were going to lock down a city for fun? you’re a fool…
11:56 China only did the lockdown when the Western media got hold of the story. Prior to that they’d tried to hush it up – rather like the Soviets did with Chernobyl. And you’re command of English needs a bit of work.
your
11:56 Just posted a comment criticising you command of English and as I clicked on ‘post’ spotted that auto correct had changed ‘your’ to ‘you’re’. Big oops there!
“you command of English” – another oops!