No sick patients waiting on COVID-19 tests
(CNS): Cayman has received a new batch of reagents, bringing local stocks of COVID-19 test kits to around 540, but this is not enough to increase the level of testing, according to local health officials. The question of how widespread the virus is in this community therefore remains unanswered, though at this stage there are no sick patients in the hospital with, or suspected of having, COVID-19. HSA CEO Lizette Yearwood said this was a good sign that the curfew has been working.
During Saturday’s press briefing Medical Officer of Health Dr Samuel Williams-Rodriguez said there were no new results to report, but a further 19 samples are currently being tested and those results should be available tomorrow. He also confirmed that no one in Cayman is currently in any hospital suffering from serious COVID-19 symptoms and awaiting a test result.
Most positive patients have recovered. Those with a travel history to a country with coronavirus cases who have mild symptoms and are awaiting tests or test results are in isolation at home or at government facilities.
Nevertheless, because we have no real way to measure the extent of asymptomatic carriers and where they are in the community, the government is keen to ensure that people understand that the risk is still very, very real. While the number of negative results remains high and there is no concrete evidence yet of community spread, Premier Alden McLaughlin said Saturday that we simply do not know how bad it could be.
Meanwhile, Health City Cayman Islands has now opened for limited emergency admissions after most of those who were tested for the coronavirus were negative. But alongside the Health Services Authority, it is preparing to test people, and has created an isolation wing to to be ready in the event that the government’s lockdown fails to contain the virus and the pandemic tales hold.
Together with the HSA facilities and the CTMH Doctors Hospital’s plans to test and also take patients, Cayman is well placed to cope with an outbreak, given the population size. However, preparing for the worst case scenario, where the virus begins rampant transmission, as it has in many European countries and the United States, Yearwood said the HSA was looking at potential buildings that could serve as a temporary hospital for the overflow if needed.
The premier warned that, while the government’s strategy of containment may be limiting whatever community spread we do have, the situation is “constantly evolving” and government must be ready to impose even more restrictive measures if necessary.
“We can’t be certain the virus is not here,” McLaughlin said, as he accepted that the current curfews and restrictive measures were impacting the economy. “But we can rebuild our economy,” he said, indicating that the potential loss of life could not be repaired. As far as he was aware, he said, Jesus was the only person who had ever “raised the dead”.
Once again the country’s leader repeated his plea for people in Cayman to act as if the virus is already among us and that anyone could be infected. Consequently, everyone should stay at home.
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Category: Health, Local News, Medical Health
Carnival presided over a dozen “death ships” worldwide, among them, this Holland America MS Zaandam now in the headlines, and the Costa Luminosa which delivered our first case/death before their cross-ocean death cruise. We need to keep all of Carnival’s irresponsible problems out of our waters, steaming at flank to Fort Lauderdale.
I pushed for a draconian initial quarantine of all returning persons and local residents. 14 days. Everything flipping closed. That would have assured that any new cases could be isolated, contacts traced and virus starved.
Except that those already infected local transmitters carry the virus unwittingly for weeks. Some never present with symptoms, but spread it nonetheless. 14 days is just a general consensus guideline for onset of symptoms, not the immune-response deadline. 14 days is nowhere near long enough to definitively choke active infections of the “first wave”. There are patients in China, from their first wave, still intubated from early February. Add to that, because our neighbours are deaf and dumb to medical reality, we will have to keep our guard up for months, to avoid a second wave of infections, which could spread just as quickly and deadly as those happening elsewhere. We are still in the very early days of this threat. This is going to hover over us for months, though we all wish that weren’t the case.
As far as all these people breaking the soft curfew are concerned don’t punish us all, including the innocent, by reintroducing the lockdown. Punish THEM as the law provides, $1,000 fines instead of warnings. This will cure the problem in no time.
this is all bull shit. i know of two people who have a cough and fever and not getting better but they wont test. they told them to keep on taking panadol and isolate for 14 days. how will we really know the full extent. as usual let the world think we dont have it. dont test no one will know
the government is lying. they told someone they have to be crtical before testing
But apparently if you call the hospital they will tell you to get someone to break curfew to collect you and take you to hospital. Just more dribble from another commenter on another story.
We have to take care of all the humans that were abandoned here by uncaring employers too busy wringIng every last ounce of labour out of them during the publicized evacuation window. They are here now. It’s not the general public’s cost to cover local employer exploitation and/or dereliction. Labour Law is still in effect. Bill these greedy employers.
Sod off, really? Most employers are bending over backwards to help there staff.
In response to calls for CIG to use public funds to shoulder cost to repatriate workers that were told to stay to be milked by local employers beyond the date of airport closure. Obviously doesn’t apply to those with a plan to help their staff here now.
My prediction is that we drop our guard too early.
Not much of a guard at all, having just returned from the supermarkets. Apart from a few customers wearing gloves, you’d think it was a social.
Holland America is today sending plagued Pacific cruise passengers aboard Zaandam and Rotterdam through the Panama Canal. The Panama Maritime Authority said the passengers aboard Rotterdam were “healthy”, but then, also didn’t offer to disembark them. Keep them well out of our waters, thank you very much.
How very humanitarian/Christian of you……
Many’s the (much revered, alledgedly) Cayman Seafarer who was taken in and treated for illnesss at the next available port, many thousand of miles from Cayman’s shores……as required by the laws of the sea and basic “Human Kind”.
Hypocrisy.
thats what got us into trouble. carnival said dont allow our people to disembark and we will pull our itinary. jamaica said up yours cayman said welcome to our island
Not really, we only had a few more ships in after the Carnival statement. But we needed to have some sort of policy. If our policy was fear, rather than science I see Carnivals position. Things were still very fluid then, and hind sight is, as they say 20/20.
We should shop using the alphabet and the first letter of your last name. Certain letters would be between certain times.
The alphabet and non-curfew hours, divided by 3, or 4 ought to be easy enough to flatten the crowding and get everyone in and out without touching. Sadly, that kind of pragmatism seems to elude our leadership. Let’s hope this management exercise doesn’t get more complicated.
Great idea.
Now that we have more test kits, PLEASE swiftly test “frontline/most-at-risk” staff in both the public and private sectors (including supermarket/pharmacy/liquor/gas station/etc).
Then, PLEASE swiftly arrange Cayman Airways repatriation flights (free) to neighbouring countries such as DR, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Honduras – if these countries are willing to accept their citizens.
In the end, these 2 measures will be worth it CIG.
We must try.
Thanks CIG, you are working for all of us!
6:13 please tell us what is going to happen after you repatriated all foreigners and the country is free from the virus?
A hint: you are not living on different planet where money and food grow on trees and robots replaced manual labor.
And where will the jobs come from buffoon. The sky? Until tourist and trade returns to a level it is best to send them home so they can labour on their own lands, grow crops and whatnot. Our own local displaced labour can work in our own domestic industry including a ramp up in domestic agriculture because once the ports shut like they did in China for two months I sure bet they wish hispanola or Jamaica or TNT will be the aim and our local smugglers will make big bucks carrying them home. Instead of ganja going in it will be people going out. That in itself is more dangerous to life than virus and starving to death
11:45am
my friend
you are far too sensible for the angry numbnut @ 9:37am
Like 7-Up: Never had it, Never will😰
Precisely!
Who are there people going to work for on “this planet” that we live on?
Don’t you get it?
There will be NO adequate tourism on this planet for some time to come.. repeat after me👍🏽
Please explain, how will repatriating citizens from these countries benefit the CIG in the fight against the virus? Also, the United States is the world leader with the virus, yet you made no mention of repatriating citizens from this country. The virus is in Cayman, how will repatriation help?
4:30am
1. Less people, less vectors
2. Less people, less policing
3. Less people that need financial support because their jobs are gone
4, less people, more test kits to test front line essential workers
5. Less people needing financial support, more $ to spend on fighting the virus for your citizens
6. Fill in the blanks———
7. Fill in the blanks ——-
And so on
Try to also appreciate that some of these persons just want to get back to their countries.
Don’t be selfish, give them the OPTION
What about John John? I realize that he is not the Minister of Education so it doesn’t matter that he calculates 540 test kits is sufficient to test 7 or 8 percent of the population, but has he jumped on the Trump Crazy Express by saying that he is talking with MRCU about them spraying for Covid-19?
He need to be tested for something
Brains
Need a laugh out loud button!!
He’s not the minister of anything other than outright stupidity. Just a puppet who got a portfolio so you know who could form a government. See Cayman, this is the joker you voted for BT East.
John John is an absolutely pathetic example of the quality of Caymanian politicians we have leading us in times of crisis. Wish he would just shut up, like Trump, and let the medical professionals make decisions and pronouncements. It must be so difficult for people like Doctor Anthony Fauci to have to deal with Trump and his ignorance, and Doctor Lee having to deal with John John.
“Most positive patients have recovered” How about actual numbers so we can have some context per population?
.”We can’t be certain the virus is not here”. This statement implies the virus is not here. Yet most positive patients have recovered. I understand there maybe asymptomatic carriers, and that this is truly the only unknown. Therefore, please speak precisely about the things actually known to reduce the stress levels of those who, for better or worse, believe it is the end of the world.
What does “no concrete evidence” mean?
Don’t be complacent Cayman. Louisiana is noe seeing a spike of positive patients from Mardi Gras on the 25th February. The last tourist to leave here, left only last Sunday, the students returned on the same date, and cruise ships have only been banned for a couple of weeks.
We have a long way to go before we can positively state we are clear, because contrary to govt advice, this virus can take more than two weeks to break out.
Average incubation time is 5 days. Longest is now advised to be 11 days. I personally think we should have had a total shut down starting last Sunday. With mandatory quarantine for all new arrivals. But the public were ill advised not to prepare with groceries and medications for such. So sad, we could have licked it for sure with no hosts to infect.
There are no new arrivals. Airports and port closed over a week ago…we should carry on like this until Monday next week, monitoring the local transmission cases…it must be higher than reported.
Well done Alden, Dr Lee.
Keep up the good works Mr. Premier and Dr. Lee.
Alden has only been lucky so far, and let’s hope that doesn’t run out. Dr. Lee is capable enough to be running the entire crisis response, and it’s sad that he can’t do that.
They have not done anything yet. Keeping people fed, safe, preventing domestic and child abuse, making sure all other emergency cases including medical attended timely and properly, being ready to isolate exposed medical staff, making sure enough full PPEs for medical/ emergency staff, making sure bio-waste is disposed properly etc.- THAT WOULD BE DOING!
of course well done. tests arr not being done on all sick people