Single positive COVID-19 case raises hope

| 16/04/2020 | 82 Comments
Cayman News Service
CMO Dr John Lee at Thursday’s press briefing

(CNS): Just one result from a batch 54 samples tested over the last day for COVD-19 has returned positive and the individual was directly connected to an existing positive patient, Chief Medical Officer Dr John Lee said at Thursday’s press briefing. The news has given hope to government leaders that the containment strategy for the coronavirus is working. Dr Lee also revealed that continued tracing has led to the suspected community transmission numbers to drop to five or six.

While 61 people in Cayman have tested positive over the month since the first case, the only death remains ‘patient zero’, a cruise passenger who was admitted to Health City Cayman Islands after having two heart attacks on board ship.

Dr Lee confirmed that only four people who are positive are in hospital. The one patient currently on ventilator is doing much better today and the other three are all stable. There are 19 people with symptoms who are recovering at home in isolation and being supported by the HSA, while another 25 people are asymptomatic.

Seven people have now formally recovered, five others have clinically recovered and Dr Lee has said he expects the recovery numbers to increase over the next few days.

Dr Lee said he has created a graph to reflect the rate of positive tests over the last month, which he is trying to get people interested in. That will be provided to the public via GIS shortly.

The premier described the news that there was just one positive test as “very encouraging”. He said that with the extension of the hard and soft curfews today for another two weeks, combined with plans to ramp up testing, by the end of this next curfew period Cayman will be in a “very good place”. Government would have a better idea of the level of community transmission then and could begin to make decisions based on that information, he said.

The results show that the suppression efforts are working in restricting the transmission of COVID-19, which is further supported by the lack of sick patients queuing at the hospital, the premier said. He urged people to keep cooperating with what government was trying to do and be patient, and said he could offer real hope “of redemption” at the end of this exercise.

“There is increased reason for optimism,” he added.

See the press briefing on CIGTV below, set to start at Dr Lee’s prepared remarks:


Share your vote!


How do you feel after reading this?
  • Fascinated
  • Happy
  • Sad
  • Angry
  • Bored
  • Afraid
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Tags: , , ,

Category: Health, Medical Health

Comments (82)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. Anonymous says:

    Explain to me how we can meet our premier’s requirement of zero cases for 14 days when we keep allowing possibly infected persons to come on Island? He is giving us a moving goal post. Every two weeks, by design, we are reset to day one of 14. This is not fair.

    1
    1
  2. Anonymous says:

    We will all suffer under the REGIME we have now. The sole agenda is to save elderly Caymanians lives and destroying every young persons lives is acceptable.

    3
    3
  3. Anonymous says:

    I hate to bring this up again, but why does Jon Jon insist on taking a good 20 minutes of every Covid-19 press update talking about completely unrelated topics? It’s not just the bible passages, it’s the never-ending meaningless stories, and the trivia that drunk kindergartners have already heard. Can’t he just do another Zoom meeting for his congregation?

    14
    1
    • Anonymous says:

      He has to think of something to say as he is completely hopeless – remove from the press update, he is a waste of space

  4. Bertie : B says:

    Vaccine coming from harvard in four months , same scientists that came up with the vaccine for Ebola . God Willing .

    3
    1
  5. Anonymous says:

    Okay, since captain obvious is unable to get to this island due to all these quarantine rules. FACTS. So far, 2 dogs and a tiger have tested positive for the virus. Last week sweden who takes no precautions at all. Tested a random sample of people. 50% of the people had covid. 40% of those tested positive, did not know they had it. DID NOT KNOW THEY HAD IT.

    So…..I am speaking to captain obvious on the phone. And he is saying “perhaps no one is cluing in. But this virus cannot be quarantined away. EVERYONE is going to have to get it.” It’s no different than the flu or pneumonia. Can’t stop those. We can’t stop this. All we are doing to delaying the inevitable.

    so stop wearing the stupid masks, and washing your hands with that soap that has less than a shot of alcohol worth of disinfectant in the entire bottle. I feel like it’s like watching a clown show. Hey you with the mask, you know that the covid virus can infect you through your eyes. So, gonna wear masks, you need to wear goggles too!

    5
    23
    • Anonymous says:

      Dude, time to restock the booze, I see you’re running an empty. Masks protect others, but you’re to selfish to think about others from what I can tell.

      15
      1
    • Anonymous says:

      That’s a really stupid comment and not the correct way to think about this virus. Remember, there is no cure and not everything is known about this virus and how it can damage the human body without correct treatment. The idea is to not have it spread through the population quickly and buy time for the medical field to come up with treatments and for our front line workers to prepare for a potential increase of highly infectious patients when we eventually do reopen locally.

      We cannot just reopen and allow the population to be infected before we are ready for the consequenses of such action. The initial suppression phase is extremely important so our hospitals are not overrun with dying patients unable to be cured and who may infect our health workers. Be patient, we are way ahead of this virus here, and have far more hope of riding this out in relative comfort compared to most places in the world.

      12
      • Anonymous says:

        I guess you know then. Covid has 8 different strains that they know of so far. That researchers say the same way HIV avoids detection. Is how covid works. But hey….we already have cures for HIV, the Flu, the common cold AND pneumonia, RIGHT?

  6. Anonymous says:

    Are the 25,000 or so remaining covid test kits that are in the UK presently going to be offered to the UK government as well to purchase. This may be a nice gesture to a country that has many cases of coronavirus who help to look after us after severe hurricanes, supply police boats, grants for the environment, provide security when needed, public health advice etc etc.

    14
    3
    • Anonymous says:

      Good idea! That’s how we should be thinking as a Christian, values-based country. I understand the desire to help our Caribbean neighbours, especially fellow BOTs, but why would we help St. Lucia instead of the Mother Country, assuming the Mother Country needs/would want the test kits?

  7. Anonymous says:

    The mere fact that this new case is linked to a previous case as with the 4 of 6 new positives the previous day were able to be traced were probably avoidable if those to whom they were traced were isolated.

    The government is doing a good job except for not quarantining all positive cases. What is sense of testing people if you are going to send them back home to ‘isolate’? Even if the complete households are perfectly isolated (which is highly unlikely), it exposes the healthy members of those households to the virus. This is a public health crisis the government is required to ensure that persons who test positive have no way of being exposed to the rest of the society until they are well.

    The argument that people who have the virus will hide from being tested or go underground if they know they will be placed in quarantine – a government controlled facility which in Cayman will probably be a 3 star hotel is ludicrous. Or that persons who contract covid 19 will be stigmatized also makes no sense.
    this is not AIDS OR HIV, contracting covid19 would be more akin to getting cancer or even the regular flu. The reason some members of the public have been having an interest in knowing who has the virus is because of the government’s policy of sending those persons back into the communities notwithstanding to be in isolation within their households. This policy naturally create concerns for the average member of the public especially those who are asymptomatic… show no symptoms but can still spread this highly contagious disease. The sole reason persons have expressed interest in the identities of positive testees is simply to avoid them vs wishing to be nosey or to ridicule them. If the government policy was to quarantine in government controlled facilities persons who test positive they would be no public interest whatsoever in their identities.
    All the hard work by the government will not nearly achieve as much as it could by not temporarary removing those who test positive from the wider society for a couple of weeks until they test negative. This not only protects of the wider society but also members of the households from which the positive testees came.

    Wendy please put this question as today’s press conference please.
    to Mr.Seymour, the premier and Dr Lee – if they were to test positive today for covid19 would they prefer to go home and ‘isolate’ or go into a govt run facility until they kick the virus?

    Of course the average person who contracts the virus probably live in much more modest accommodation where it is alot more difficult to properly isolate. Places like Barbados, st Lucia etc have strict quarantine policies for persons who test positive and their statistics in relation to the virus reflect this. Eg. Rihanna’s father contracted the virus and it did not matter that he live in a large house alone… he was sent to a quarantine facility immediately on testing positive. Mr Premier and Me Seymour – you need to own this one, I suspect you are being guided by the views of the medical team but think this through very carefully.
    You can still retrieve the situation by retaining the status quo for the existing positives remaining in their households and seeing them and family back to full health. But you must change the policy as you start to begin the increased testing phase as you will not have the resources to police and service all the new households which will be isolated from the inevitable volume of new cases which you will begin seeing. If you dont like the word quarantine use govt isolation but this is a must. England and US have long a long painful road back because they did not quarantine. We are small and we can and must do it.

    15
    2
  8. Anonymous says:

    The “scary” C19 cases are those that are the community unknowns, of which there are perhaps 4 or 5 known without tracing so far, and those that carry and interact asymptomatically with the public. We don’t know who those people are, and it’s possible they may never present with symptoms to know themselves. This is why we are doing what we are doing and need to keep it up for next 14 days. It’s a good plan. I’d also be fine with the honor rule being adjusted to one designated member of household re-stocking once a week, which is basically what most of us are doing anyway.

  9. Anonymous says:

    Head of MRCU should be invited-in to dispel these community myths about mosquitos growing in the pH of only slightly off-balanced swimming pool water. We didn’t go through a hurricane, we’d missed about 2-3 weeks of light service at most. You can turn on your filter pump if you are really stressed about it, and fish out the leaves yourself with a skimmer. It’s not a big deal.

    16
    6
    • Anonymous says:

      But if the MRCU did that, the entitled whiners would have to find something else to whine about and it’s kind of funny to hear them continually whine about their poor swimming pools during a pandemic. And I’m loving winding them up by telling them to poor bleach in their swimming pools!

      7
      4
      • Anon says:

        10.17am to all you unentitled losers why do we need to have hundreds of stagnant pools which no-one can swim in. The point is there is no covid risk to continuing the pool maintenance as there is no contact with the homeowner.Tell me which other Caribbean islands have decreed that all their pools be closed ufn. Chlorine tablets which we can’t even buy are used not bleach . Every public pool I have ever been in uses chlorine, never bleach, maybe you don’t mind becoming a blond.

        7
        1
        • Pool-man says:

          What do you think bleach is if not chlorine?
          The reason for using tablets is to provide a slow injection of chlorine into the water continuously. An average domestic pool of, say, 5,000 imperial gallons would require just one fluid ounce of liquid chlorine per day to remain usable.

    • Anonymous says:

      Maybe a doctor or just anyone with an ounce of dignity could join and talk about the fact that:

      1: we are in a time when we should be keeping EVERYTHING clean

      2: we need swimming for physio/pregnancy/anxiety/exercise/etc

      3: keeping it clean in case any disaster happens so we have some clean water to use.

      4: added expense as to fix once pool after it’s been unattended too.

      5: just the fact that it’s really dumb to not allow us to get chemicals dropped off. Just as stupid as it is I can’t fix my leaky toilet.

      Get real

      1
      2
  10. Anonymous says:

    This is good news, but we must be careful about getting back to normal. Keep schools closed and those that are working from home to stay that way until everyone is tested.

    8
    4
  11. Anonymous says:

    Ok Government now put some emphasis on testing, testing, testing. Lets go.

    Plans should already be finalized on employers/employees testing and clear preventative measures for any shoppe/department/business that deals with the public.

    It sounds like we got the medicine to treat patients and only one person on ventilator (which is one too many I admit).

    Hundreds and thousands of places around the world can only hope/pray that their Covid-19 numbers were like our three islands – 0 in Little, 1 in Brac and under 100 in Grand – with the 1 death being an elderly sick cruise ship passenger.

    Going forward why don’t you look at what President Trump announced yesterday – very simple and clear guidelines, that are phased in – should not be hard in our islands’ nation of what 50,000 or 60,000 people.

    9
    1
  12. Anonymous says:

    About CAYMAN BRAC/LITTLE CAYMAN,

    Now I hope good common sense here will prevail. Both Cayman Brac/Little Cayman should not be treated like Grand Cayman when it comes to lifting of restrictions due to Covid-19. Now it is time for Government to put emphasis on testing and open more parts of the economy up

    Little Cayman has not had a reported case and it should not be hard there to maintain social distance and preventative measures.

    Cayman Brac had one case two weeks ago and all of the shoppes have implemented social distance and preventative measures. The airport is closed to visitors, so the only people who could possibly bring the virus over from Grand Cayman would be the two MLA’s, health staff or pilots. All of them could be easily screened/tested prior coming to Cayman Brac from Grand Cayman.

    Yesterday when I heard that all three islands would be treated as one – in respect to Covid-19 restrictions, it did make me wonder if those including the chief medical officer, the police commissioner, the Premier, the Governor and both of the MLA’s for the sister islands
    had given any due consideration that it is very possible to start a roll out of opening the economy by starting with Little Cayman and Cayman Brac.

    And yes, we understand the reasons why visitors have been restricted, and that is a policy that can stay in place. However not sure why people in Little Cayman cannot go back to work if there business is able to open back up. Same can be said about Cayman Brac.

    16
    1
    • Anonymous says:

      I agree that Little is the safest place, of the 3, as long as there is no inter-island travel.
      Brac though has 2 elected officials that are probably travelling back and forth.
      Wish I was on Little now!

      • Anonymous says:

        Agreed – but both elected officials should be tested each and every time they travel – no just going to airport at last minute and bypassing all screening measures like they have been allowed to do.

        Their position as MLAs should be no different than any other person – they can have it and pass it along.

        Matter of fact, except for true medical emergencies I don’t understand the need for anyone to be travelling over to Brac right now.

      • Anonymous says:

        As of this week, the local bank was still sending staff over to Little Cayman.

        Not sure why Little Cayman when it is completely shut down needs the bank each and every week.

        If I remember correctly Little Cayman has an ATM, they have internet connection that will allow you to do online banking and is anybody these days still writing cheques for employees to cash?

        So if Little Cayman gets a case, it seems to me that it would either come from the bank staff or pilots.

        • Anonymous says:

          They need to fill the ATM. It doesn’t have an endless supply of money and not everyone has online banking

    • Anonymous says:

      I find it hard to believe Cayman Brac has just one case. Where did that person get it from and how come even though there are other people in the household, they are negative? I have no problem with Cayman Brac reopening but not until everyone is tested.

      • Anonymous says:

        Hard to keep any sort of secret here on Brac. If there was more cases on Brac it would seem that either CNS, marl road, compass, times or some other news outlet would find out.
        Plenty of people believe that the KNOW who is the local case and have their own spin on the overall story.
        If Covid-19 statistics were made publicly available by age group, sex, nationality,and pre-exisiting conditions you would be basically “outing” the Brac case.
        Why don’t you have one of the news people ask the question about why/if other persons in household tested negative.

  13. Anonymous says:

    The problem I see here is that we are not doing widespread testing and until this is done, 1 out 50 means nothing. We have literally hundreds of front line people that need to be tested and we can only test a measly 54 in one day?? There is something wrong with this picture.

    I get it that there are limited technicians but one would think that by now that would have had at at least two shifts working on this.. If there is someone at Health City that can help, ask them and same goes for CTMH. The owners of these hospitals, I believe would be more than grateful to help..

    What is going to happen is that when they start testing the masses we are going to find much larger positive numbers which will extend our time in captivity into infinity..The other side of this is to lock us down for two weeks. I would much rather do that then every to weeks have the time extended and more privileges taken away because of idiots out there breaking the rules..

    16
    1
    • Anonymous says:

      Why don’t you either read all comments or research before commenting.

      Dr. Lee had said in regards to testing:

      *…. Wednesday that government is moving to bolster staffing so government can step up its testing efforts
      * We have been recruiting people able to do it at Health City, as well as having trained extra staff to be able to do that at the HSA, and there are also a couple of potential recruits to work on the molecular side of things, that’s the most technical aspect of the process.
      *… he is hoping Public Health might at least get one of the two technicians to assist with the expanded testing regiment.
      *… in explaining the situation with local lab technicians, said there are lots of different steps that need to be taken into account when conducting COVID-19 testing.
      *… there were nine core staff on island that have the particular special expertise to perform the testing.
      *… The people that can actually handle the PCR machine are, I would say, four. Three at the HSA and one at [CTMH] Doctors Hospital. Those are the staff that would be maintained over time,” he said.
      *…Extra expertise may be heading into Doctors Hospital, but he said the permanent complement there is one person.
      *… Then there are people who do laboratory-based work and the number currently at the Health Services Authority is three; Doctors Hospital, I think it’s the same one person … and the people able to do the laboratory work are two at Health City. So … you could say five and a half people to do the laboratory-based work
      *… I am not prepared to make the leap … to say that somebody can … provide results on the behalf of public health, because we need to be able to trust those results

      Hope you understand now why 500-600ppl a day not being tested.

  14. Anonymous says:

    Why are businesses that are deemed non-essential still expecting employees to come in on days according to their last name? Persons are going to the Condos especially on Westbay road.

    5
    7
    • Anonymous says:

      This should NOT be happening and needs to be reported to the police. Haven’t they listened to any of the press briefings since day one? For Christ sake!!!

      Name them.

  15. Anonymous says:

    Yet despite the very encouraging news, the Govt and CoP are increasing the restrictions instead of loosening them. What is the exit plan?! Open the damn beaches!

    12
    17
  16. Outraged says:

    How can the Premier sit there with a straight face when he has his, and his only, decision to close the beaches for another 2 weeks, communicated to the public through the Police Commissioner on the basis that the decision was made by the Commissioner in conjunction with the Governor. This is plain duplicity on his behalf and he should be ashamed of himself for trying to avoid the justified criticism he knows full well, will ensue, and letting innocent colleagues take the blame.

    14
    9
    • Anonymous says:

      You’ll be fine.

      4
      3
    • Anonymous says:

      Maybe that is because….. it was the Police Commissioner (not the Premier) who decided the beaches must be closed.
      Read between the lines… Alden didn’t agree with the Commissioner. That’s my take anyways.

      • Anon says:

        9.16am You are either extremely naive or a Caymanian. Did you not hear Alden frothing at the mouth at an earlier briefing about the Easter beachgoers, saying he was closing the beaches Easter Monday and hinting for longer.

        2
        1
    • Anonymous says:

      Why oh why do we have to have the same old whining about pools, exercise and beach closures. If the self isolation isn’t enough to send us all to the loony bin, seeing the same posts over and over about this is so old. I go on here to get a chuckle from the stupid comments, the poor grammar, the one in a blue moon thoughtful comment that makes me think and reconsider my own view on a topic.
      Please for the sake of my sanity…I BEG YOU;)

      10
      6
  17. Anonymous says:

    Wonder where dr lee is and all other health officials stand on the green pools breeding mosquitoes and god knows what now. Anyone going to ask that question to an actual qualified person?

    8
    14
    • Anon says:

      9.12pm That was a question I raised in an earlier comment, was reference made to the MRCU, the Dof E and the CMO, particularly bearing in mind social distancing does not come into pool maintenance.

  18. Anonymous says:

    Did anyone else see Robert F. Kennedy open that massive can of whoop ass on Fauci and Gates?
    A thing of beauty.

    2
    8
  19. Anonymous says:

    Don’t worry we will have another plane full of people coming 🙂

    6
    3
  20. Anonymous says:

    Keep going this way….Do NOT give in to the demands of the wealthy business people on this island.
    Keep it shut, but find a better way to help the people on the bottom.

    12
    17
    • Anonymous says:

      You might be surprised to understand that the people who want to go back to work are small and medium sized business owners and employees of those companies. Wealthy business owners and people are fine. They are wealthy. A month or three of no business doesnt mean much to them. Law and accounting firms are all doing fine as they can work from home (though its unfortunate that some greedy law firms in particular are using this as an excuse to cut support staff).

      The people who are getting hurt are people in regular businesses who have no income and are living paycheque to paycheque. Some of these businesses won’t survive and there will be many unemployed people which will provide a drag on the economy.

      Once the mania dies down in a month or two from this insanity we will be left to pick up the pieces where we left off. And it isn’t going to be pretty.

      13
      1
  21. Anonymous says:

    We have all been trying to make graphs out of the daily briefing information. I say trying, bc the numbers don’t always add up. I will be glad to see the official versions.

  22. Anonymous says:

    Meanwhile nobody asked about the upcoming meeting of the Legislative Assembly and who will be presiding!

    19
    2
    • Anonymous says:

      7:39pm

      Who really care at this point outside of you, McKeeva and a couple others vying for his position.

      4
      4
  23. Anonymous says:

    It is under control enough to allow swimming, there is not a good enough reason to keep the beaches and coastline closed to swimmers for another two weeks. It may be easier for government to police as it’s less to do but it is not easier on mental health of families and it’s unnecessary.

    17
    15
    • Anonymous says:

      The privilege and narcissism of some people are astounding.

      7
      5
      • Anonymous says:

        Actually, the privilege and narcissism of some people around here is entirely predictable because it’s been that way for a long time; this life-or-death situation is just bringing it to the fore. When this is over, I know that I for one will be reevaluating some of my friendships and acquaintances, and for that matter, some of my own actions/rituals. This period of being shut in has given me time to reflect on what is really important in my life – starting with my family – and how I’d like to live my remaining days. Too bad others are too busy whining about their loss of access to the beach, their precious swimming pools and not being able to drive to their preferred exercise spot to do the same.

        8
        3
        • Anonymous says:

          I’m definitely with you on this. Most importantly aside from family is to have a lovely, comfortable home without a need for all the “stuff”. Being as self-sufficient as possible and this includes having enough supplies to last thru a sudden emergency and that also includes Pool cleaning supplies;)

          5
          1
  24. Anonymous says:

    Meanwhile nobody has still provided a coherent reason while EcayTrade is essential? People still posting ads, people still traveling to buy the junk – for gods sake close it down. Not to mention risk of contamination of second hand goods…

    36
    51
    • Anonymous says:

      This is shocking. Please report to the police.

      3
      11
      • Anonymous says:

        The problem with telling the police is that the illegal but – travelling to buy the goods- is entirely speculation on their part If you want to report it to police suggest you pull together some evidence – date an ad was posted, followed by date same item was marked as sold – and tell the police that. You seem to have an obsession about it and no doubt have the freee time to do the research. Mind you whether the police have the time to deal with it when it will be virtually impossible to identify the buyer and the seller will just say they left it outside for pick up is another question.

    • Anonymous says:

      Wish you would close down.

      15
      1
    • Anonymous says:

      Don’t be so spiteful.

      7
      2
    • Anonymous says:

      Who cares anymore. We need essentials for our homes. So we will get them where we can. Even if it’s some dude selling two chlorine tablets for $50. Alden lost our confidence.

      6
      5
    • Sonia says:

      Shame ecaytrade don’t do the right thing and suspend their website during curfew.

      6
      8
    • Anonymous says:

      Usually I would 100% agree with you, its totally not essential and does encourage people from different households to meet and potentially pass on the virus. However with so many people without an income, in some cases it could provide a way for people to get some much needed money by selling things they don’t need in order to buy things they do need – food etc. Providing it is used sensibly and people maintain distancing it still could be done. Although as we have seen, there is a large number of people who are stupid or just don’t care. I just don’t know what we can do about them except continue to fine them for their poor choices.

      10
    • Anonymous says:

      Close the supermarket doors to the public.. Delivery only or food banks….

      Heck the hospital is closed for nearly everything…

      Everything move online

      2
      8
    • Anonymous says:

      Did EcayTrade wrong you in some way? Or you are suffering from Corona anxiety?

      Watch Matchstick man or K-pax movies.

      AUDIO: Fighting COVID-19 anxiety with Dr. Lockhart is another option https://www.caymancompass.com/2020/04/04/audio-fighting-covid-19-anxiety-with-dr-lockhart/

    • Anonymous says:

      6:13pm

      May be junk to you as a supplier of new, expensive and defective products.

      For some of us, this is the only way that we can own some things that we desperately need.

    • Anonymous says:

      When you close all private jobs and stores so the only people working or still getting paid are the Government sponsored Caymanians the next thing up is the black market.(e-cay). Who is selling?(people not working) who is buying? those still getting paid. Great way for Caymanians to get ahead of everyone else. Hope it doesn’t take too long for them to feel like they are far enough ahead. I might just run out of stuff.

      3
      2
    • Anonymous says:

      Ecaytrade is a website. The government has no basis to shut it down. Yes, people going out to pick up items are in breach of soft curfew.

      If you think fear of contamination of goods is something to be afraid of given the relative prevalence of this virus in Cayman then i fear you are going to be awfully scared in a couple weeks or a month when the curfew is lifted.

      This is the result of Alden’s focus on the “grim reaper report”. People think this is essentially Ebola rather than a super contagious flu. Which is essentially what it is. Every year hundreds of thousands of people, mostly elderly people die from the flu. Many people in many countries die from diseases that we are lucky to not have to deal with here.

      This has truly brought out the worst in people. Snitching on their neighbours for taking a walk or trying to buy something online. Policing our movements. Allowing people’s businesses to fail while allowing people freedom to get a starbucks latte or pizza or bottle of booze whenever they want (which is somehow an acceptable risk) but swimming alone in the sea is not, or buying an item from someone in a socially distant way is not?

      You dont realise it but your zeal to keep people “safe” doesn’t accomplish anything other than the bankruptcy of your fellow citizens.

      10
      1
      • Anonymous says:

        So what I’m hearing from your comment, is that your finances matters more than the lives of others and frankly your own. Good luck with that moving forward.

        • Anonymous says:

          No, that’s not what I’m saying at all. What I am saying is: Life has risk. It had risk in the form of flu and a thousand other sicknesses that you could contract before this new virus made its way to people. You could get flesh-eating bacteria from a random cut on a rock and lose your leg or die. That was true before and will still be true when coronavirus-mania is a distant memory.

          Every time you go out of your house you take a risk. Every activity you undertake has risk and you are consciously or subconsciously making a risk assessment in how you interact with the world.

          Here are some examples of thoughts you might have had: “Hmm, better not drink that milk, it smells spoiled.” “Hmm, that’s a steep drop off, better move back from that ledge.” “That guy just coughed. Hmm, maybe I should wash my hands after shaking his hand.”

          Pictures of people dying in hospitals scare most people, and we have seen a lot of that. I don’t for a second blame governments from trying to prevent hospitals from being overrun so that there are patients who don’t have access to treatment and consequently die.

          Not everyone takes the same approach to risk assessment as you.Rational people who have looked at statistics of the virus have decided that in fact it is a very small risk to their lives to resume their activities, go shopping and earn a living to feed their families.

          People who are misinformed or particularly risk averse can choose to stay home and avoid other people.

          I am not saying that people should be inconsiderate and not try to observe social distancing and do their best to avoid getting sick. That’s just smart. If you have the flu you should not be going to a nursing home. Is it smart for nursing homes to ban visitors during an outbreak like this which is apparently possible to transmit while asymptomatic? Of course.

          Are people generally stupid and will they fail to do behave properly? Yes again. Would it be better for some people to be denied the ability to drive cars because we know they are likely to drive recklessly, drink and drive and speed? Yes again. But we don’t ban people for driving for life because that’s not how our society is organised. Sometimes we make decisions in favour of individual liberties at the possible expense of the greater good.

          What I am saying is that crashing the economy, having people out of work and hungry on the street is not worth it given the current level of spread and the lethality of this virus. If it were deadly as you and many others think, then I would say that I think it is worth it.

          It’s easy to say “finance matters more than lives”. Of course lives matter more than anything else. But in this case I don’t think we have to choose one or the other.

          6
          1
        • Anonymous says:

          WRONG. The financial matters are being sacrifices for NO lives lost. How many people do you know in ICU, that have the virus, that have died with it but not from it???? 100% complete over reaction.

      • Anonymous says:

        Nailed it

Leave a Reply to Anon Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.