CIG goal is elimination of virus
(CNS): Following panic in the business community that the Cayman Islands’ economic shutdown will not be lifted for many months if government is waiting to eliminate COVID-19, Premier Alden McLaughlin said he is convinced that this could happen sooner than people think if they follow the rules. He said he believes that the actions taken at an early stage to restrict movement here has put the country ahead of the curve and bought us time to learn from other places.
With 54 positive cases of COVID-19 since the first one over one month ago, Cayman still has only one death, the unfortunate cruise passenger who was brought here after he had suffered a heart attack on the ship and was later found to have the virus.
This indicates that Cayman’s “aggressive approach” is working to curb the virus spread, the premier stated.
McLaughlin explained that the measures, based on the advice of health professionals here and in the UK, have achieved social distancing and that is critical in curtailing community spread. Cayman has around 64,000 people, he said, and it can attain the objective of elimination.
“It is absolutely achievable to eliminate the disease here. We have the capacity to test every single person that is here,” he said.
With the borders closed and the only people allowed in subjected to a full quarantine for 14 days or more and tested before release, he said it was possible to achieve a completely virus-free state in these islands. But he warned it required the collective determination to do so across the community.
He said the advice is that if we can get to a point of fourteen clear days without a positive test, Cayman could start to phase out the restrictions.
The premier accepted the hardship, the massive economic problems, the inconveniences that the curfews and significant restrictions are having. No one was immune, he said, noting the endless requests he gets for re-opening businesses and services so they could have their lives back.
He listed his own home repair problems that needed addressing, acknowledging that other people were facing far worse, but said we all had to “make do and live life at a lesser standard than we are used to”. He said letting technicians to your home was inviting in the virus.
“We just need to bear in mind what the goal is,” the premier said. “We are doing these things… because we want to get to the other side,” he said, explaining that was opening the economy back up.
The premier spoke about watching what was happening elsewhere around the world to get a better idea of how a phased re-opening could happen here.
“Because we have bought ourselves so much time, we are able to watch what is happening around the world and what works, what doesn’t work,” he said.
McLaughlin said he was concerned about the dangerous views in the United States about opening up some areas too soon and he was waiting to see how that transpires. But he said that Cayman could stand back and look at what every country has done. When it comes to opening up Cayman, he said it would be a phased approach based on the areas that are the least risky first, he added.
But the premier explained the initial aim was to begin aggressive testing, starting with front-line workers, isolating those who are positive and then more broadly into community testing. Then, if Cayman goes fourteen days without a positive test, the step by step lifting of restrictions could begin.
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Category: Business, Health, Medical Health
Great idea to reduce cases to zero. As a very vulnerable person I would like nothing more.
So let’s do what Hong Kong has done and lock down and hospitalize infected persons.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/09/homepage2/hong-kong-coronavirus-quarantine-diary-intl-hnk/index.html
What we do:
Ask infected people to stay home but don’t prevent them or their household going out. But at the same time we stop people driving in an enclosed car, close down the beaches and tell people to let their pools go green because who cares about millions of mosquitoes.
What Hong Kong does:
They put people in a government facility because you *might* have a *chance* of catching the virus. It seems like an overabundance of caution. But it’s a testament to how serious the Hong Kong government is about clamping down on cases imported from overseas, and pushing back on local complacency.
Anyone who tests positive gets hospitalized, even if they show no symptoms and aren’t a high-risk case — and they stay in hospital until they return two negative tests.
Quarantine measures go even further — now, anyone arriving in Hong Kong from abroad must self-isolate at their home or in a hotel for two weeks, monitored by a tracking bracelet.
LET’S GET SERIOUS AND DO THIS RIGHT!
The whole idea of social distancing is to spread out transmission, so as to not overwhelm our health facilities. Trying to eliminate the virus from our shores would take many years and is silly. Will you close us down again in a year or two when a couple of new cases pop up? Yes, we should continue to be vigilant, however we need more freedom to operate.
Nonsence – take a look at what the Faroe Islands have done – similar population – 8 weeks of social isolation, testing and contact tracing and the virus is essentially gone and they are about to allow local business to resume as normal
https://corona.fo/statistics?_l=en
Excellent job Premier !
Build our port!
There are 20 million people in New York. To date there are 11,000 deaths. That is less than 1%. .0055 to be exact. How from that do you get 1000 deaths projected for Cayman? Honesty would be nice here. If we had rage same percentage as NY it would be 33. History suggests it is more like 3. But destroy the country if you cannot admit that you might be wrong.
CNS: Fuzzy maths. You’re comparing apples and oranges. The premier was talking about worse case scenario if the virus is left to spread without mitigation. New York City has been on lockdown for a month plus all the mitigating measures we are now supposed to be using.
Yes, there were mitigating factors in NY. Were there none here? On what basis is the inflammatory number of 1000 derived? That is a bs number, intended to frighten uneducated masses.
CNS: Blimey. OK, let me try again. Projections vary depending on mitigation factors. Worst case scenario projections are what would happen if there were no mitigations efforts. According to this paper from the Imperial College London, the worst case scenario (i.e, no mitigation at all) for the US was 2.2 million deaths and for the UK was 510,000 deaths. According to Public Health England, the worst case scenario for the Cayman Islands was close to 1,000. This is what the premier revealed today. Obviously, with all the lockdown and social distancing and hygiene efforts here, we will be nowhere near this (and there is a very good chance that we will have no more deaths) UNLESS we reverse course, drop everything and let the virus take its course.
The first death in NYC was 14 March. On 20 March Governor Cuomo ordered a lockdown of non-essential businesses throughout the state but did not stop the subway and buses, which turned out to be a big mistake. So the city has seen horrendous rise in cases and in deaths because clearly there was early local transmission and they didn’t do all they could as early as they could. BUT they do have lockdown, hygiene, social distancing and masks. So the situation could have been much better and it could have been much worse.
To be honest, unless you specialise in modelling virus spread, comparing the two situations is fraught with fuzzy maths pitfalls.
The worst case scenarios were models that have been superseded by reality over the past month. There is no point in referring to hair-on-fire projections that do not apply to the current scenario, except to scare people into accepting the currently misguided lockup.
Sorry CNS. Am just really frustrated with the lame economic plan, or rather no economic plan from our well healed ministers. I feel that our lives do not matter. We as tourism workers feel that we are being locked down with the water rising. We will soon drown. Also do numbers are not good numbers.
*worst. Expected better.
0.055% to be exact. CNS, 1000 deaths in a population now of about 50,000 is 2%. There is no support or a 2% death rate anywhere.
When this is all over, Alden is going to shout, “Gooooooooooooooooooooooooal!”
4.13pm More like Ownnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn Goooooooooooooooooooooal.
Another 24 hours, still no plan.
Did you know that plan spelled backwards is nalp? Maybe you just need to spell some of what he’s saying backwards to divine his true plan. I, however, understood his plan very well by just listening.
We have the same plan as every developed country affected which is results will dictate when we can relax social distancing and shut down of no essential services. What part of this do you not comprehend? My guess is all of it🙄
Only one thing matters and that is the truth.
There are reasons why we find ourselves in this predicament and everyone has opinions.
I would rather eliminate lies.
If you don’t love our Honorable Premier by now there is no hope for you! This man has led our country to the peak of safety. Try to grow up and realize that a temporary sacrifice will, in the long run, provide you with a life.
Love him?
I believe it’s the kind of love like “I love ice cream” – not the kind of love Anthony Eden hates.
Si.
How blind are you?
We live in a “what’s in it for me right now” world where people are too self-interested in their own entertainment and money-making ability to appreciate the strong values-based leadership we have. Luckily, the Premier isn’t concerned with these selfish whiners. If I ever see him out and about when this is all over, I will thank him to his face. Until then – thank you Mr. Premier.
Don’t you unnastand!
What the world was able to do or not, we don’t care. They are going to -eliminate- this virus from the face of the earth.. I mean the face of Cayman, if it means killing every business, job, personal savings, force people to default on their home loans or insurance plans, or to just vaporize entire economy in the process. Only God can stop them.
they know what’s it like to have to sleep downstairs because they can’t get a repair man to fix the plumbing. so you got nuttin to complain about!
Sorry, downvoted you accidentally. Agree with you.
Sure its said in Good Faith but its a dream. Plain and simple, now who pays?
Yep!!! He’s punishing us and it shouldn’t be this way. We should be able to grab stuff for our homes to do repairs or clean pools! I mean, if we’re here we might as will be making the most of it. Alden is causing some serious health issues, not to mention mental health issues.
Why we can’t do an over the phone order and pick up at a scheduled time from al t, kirk home or the pool store?!
Police state soon come.