Sick cruisers don’t have COVID-19, officials say
(CNS) UPDATED: After news from government Monday morning that a cruise ship had anchored in George Town to offload two critically ill patients with issues that appear unrelated to the COVID-19 outbreak, so they could be airlifted to the US, it has now said one of those patients has stayed in Cayman. The person who is seriously ill was not flown to Florida as planned but taken to Health City. In an already confusing chain of events, it appears that there were however two crew members on board the same vessel who may have been exposed to the novel coronavirus.
The crew members who are physically well but may have been exposed to Covid-19 have caused this ship to be ordered to return to Miami by the US Centers of Disease Control (CDC) and no other passengers were allowed to disembark here by the cruiseline.
The Caribbean Princess came to Grand Cayman this morning, 9 March, as it was due to call in any event. However, the ship needed to drop off two sick passengers believed to be suffering from unrelated illnesses who were scheduled to be taken to the airport for medical evacuation to Florida. But officials said the situation changed when it was clear one of them was in urgent need of critical medical attention.
“Since the individual’s condition was immediately life threatening, waiting for an air ambulance was not advised and the patient has been transferred to Health City Cayman Islands for emergency treatment under isolation,” officials said, Monday afternoon. “This passenger is suffering from a gastrointestinal haemorrhage or internal bleeding and severe hypotension – low blood pressure – but the person does not have any respiratory symptoms.
The other patient has been taken directly to Owen Roberts International Airport where they will be transferred to the US as originally planned.
Government officials here had said earlier on Monday that clinical samples would be sent with the patients and all appropriate measures were undertaken to ensure the safety of staff and the vehicles used. “Ambulance crews routinely manage patients who have infectious conditions and are aware of the required action,” health officials added.
Joseph Woods, the acting director of the Port Authority of the Cayman Islands, said that PACI, Customs and Border Control, the relevant health departments and the cruise lines were working in close collaboration during this outbreak to deal with issues as they happen.
“Today, a situation arose with one of the cruise ships scheduled to call on Grand Cayman,” he said. Woods explained that no one on board is known to be suffering from symptoms of COVID-19 but there are concerns that crew members may have been exposed to someone who has shown symptoms.
He said that “out of an abundance of caution and of their own volition” the cruise line decided to cancel the call at Grand Cayman. Woods said that this decision “speaks to the integrity of the cruise lines that call here and the respect and value they place on their relationship with the Cayman Islands”.
He added, “That close relationship and respect between us pays off in circumstances like this when they would rather cancel a call than take a chance and we really appreciate that. We all pledge to do our very best to keep the Cayman Islands free of the coronavirus, COVID-19.”
Health Minister Dwayne Seymour said that “for absolute clarity and in the interest of the public’s health and safety… no passengers are disembarking from the Caribbean Princess cruise ship into Grand Cayman today”.
For more information on COVID-19 and for guidance on how to best protect your household, visit the HSA website or contact the HSA’s toll free hotline at 1-800-534-8600.
Details of the steps that government is taking to combat the disease is available from here.
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Category: Business, Health, Medical Health, Tourism
Thank you Alden, Moses and Dwayne for putting wealth before health. Great job making it clear you dont give a s#!% about the people on this island. Fatalities will be your legacies now. Oh and thanks too for the now pre existing respiratory problems of ALL breathing in your toxic landfill smoke which makes us all more susceptible to this virus. Great job!!!!
Here’s you solution to about 5 problems: https://www.mlive.com/news/2020/03/traverse-city-pier-owner-says-no-to-great-lakes-cruise-ships.html
Judging by our wife beating government and entire landfill on fire, I would take what government officials say with a grain of salt.
Hey listen, these ppl are the new refugees. If you let them off they are not going to want to go back on… Nobody wants them not even their home ports. Ban them now! If corona comes here they won’t be coming so ban them before they ban us. And shut down the airport… Look at Italy do hundreds of ppl have to die so that u can react? I swear CIG policy is written in blood.
What’s the worst that could go wrong?
The Health Minister has me confused, if the two people taken off the ship were not passengers or crew what were they? – stowaways?.
I/3/2020 @3.44 pm.. f you learn to read the Health Minister will not be able to confuse you so much!
6.23am I read the Health Minister’s comments, they seem quite clear to me, please explain yourself.
Hmmmmm…this doesn’t quite add up. What’s more likely: that the cruise ship that has two suspected Covid-19 cases and has been ordered back to port ALSO has two people critically ill for unrelated reasons and has to make an emergency stop here…..or that the two Covid-19 cases were critically ill and needed an airlift back to the US and the CIG doesn’t want anyone to know they let them disembark here?
The first is far more likely
This all sounds like something brown and smelly that comes out of a bull’s rear end.
I hope it is not up to the cruise companies whether they decide to cancel calls if it warrants being called off. It should be up to the Cayman Islands government? Thanks for their ” integrity and respect” but we hope that our government will always remember theirs.
The CDC\l notice might have more to do with it than the kind forbearance of the cruise line. But agreed – why would the port authority allow them to disembark if they have 2 high risk crew members on board. US authorities didn’t allow its sister ship Regent Princess to dock because it had 2 crew member that had been on the Grand Princess until such time as they were tested negative – why would we be any different?
No passengers off…except for the two critically ill medvac victims couriering COVID-19 samples. Got it.