1,500 new COVID cases in Caribbean, zero in Cayman

| 20/05/2020 | 67 Comments
Cayman News Service
Flu Clinic at the George Town hospital

(CNS): As testing for COVID-19 in the Cayman Islands continues to reach the goal set by health authorities, another 494 tests results have come in over the last 24 hours and are all negative. Chief Medical Officer Dr John Lee stressed that there have been no new positive cases in the Cayman Islands that have required clinical management since 27 April. All the positive cases reported since then were found through the wider screening programme and none of them presented with any symptoms.

According to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), among member states there are now 1,964 confirmed cases, 86 deaths and 734 people have fully recovered.

In its latest situation report on 18 May, CARPHA said that in the three days since its previous report on 15 May, confirmed cases had risen by 1,498 (8%) to a total of 19,476 in 33 countries/territories within the Caribbean. There have been 770 deaths recorded in the Caribbean region as at 18 May.

Meanwhile, as scientists work to learn more about this completely new disease, a recent Harvard University study found that warmer and more humid conditions may slow the spread of COVID-19. However, the authors stress that weather alone is not enough to fully contain the transmission of the disease and people should continue with recommended measures, such as social distancing and hygiene.

“The best way to think about weather is as a secondary factor here,” Mohammad Jalali, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, told the Washington Post.

Scientists at Princeton University and the National Institutes of Health also looked at the effects of climate on the spread of this pandemic. But while they found that humidity may cause “modest changes to pandemic size and duration”, their study suggests that “in the absence of effective control measures… summer temperatures will not substantially limit pandemic growth”.


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Category: Health, Medical Health

Comments (67)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Please correct me if I’m wrong but I have not seen where ANYONE has been hospitalized with this!!!

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  2. Anonymous says:

    7:04pm – great response. All of it. However, I can’t imagine that person would take the time to read it, which is unfortunate… He/she may even learn something from it.

  3. Anonymous says:

    Hopefully Wendy is feeling better & will be at tomorrow’s press briefing. At the risk of her being called ‘brave or foolish’, or similar, perhaps she can ask our honourable premier, if our government will be following Bermuda’s lead & cutting their salaries by 15%?

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  4. Anonymous says:

    I was trying to find out how to ask a question for the briefing. I went on gov.ky but couldn’t located anything. My question is, “Given that we have had no symptomatic cases of the virus in Cayman for 4 weeks, has a sample of the virus been sent to any relevant authorities for genome testing”. DNA deletion may have occurred in the virus locally. This would be a huge win for Cayman.

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  5. Anonymous says:

    Canada, hailed for its health care system and governance, with a relatively tiny 37mln population, is on the cusp of overtaking China in total number of cases, and has ascended to the top 10 for deaths.

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    • Anonymous says:

      That’s if you believe China’s numbers of course.

      • Anonymous says:

        Regardless, China’s unthinkable 80,000 number was used as the international benchmark for health crisis maladministration just a month or two ago by every media outlet on the planet. Wear it proud Canada. Do we still think this is a flu?!?

        • Anonymous says:

          China’s response is still the gold standard for “maladministration”, failing to share information and locking down domestic travel but allowing international flights etc. It has all been well documented and if a questionable headline number is what you want to hang your hat on please go ahead.

          Canada like many other countries has a horrific problem with long-term care homes if you want to gloat about that then you may want to consider what personal issues lead you in that direction. However to the best of my knowledge the Canadian Government, unlike China’s has not done anything that actively contributed to thousands of deaths around the world.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Why have they not identified the nationalities of the 111 cases found here? No need to disclose that I guess.

    • Anon says:

      2.45pm I can surely guess your nationality. Can you let us know which other countries identify positive cases by nationality?

  7. Anonymous says:

    Tourist from where?

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  8. Anonymous says:

    So that’s the cruise ship market dead in the water because there’s no way we can import Covid-19 with passengers who have visited other islands.
    Sail on past and good riddance.

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    • Anonymous says:

      “Good riddance”? Why such prejudice and vitriol? Is it the thrill of anonymity, or do you truly hate cruise ship passengers? And if you do, why?

      This kind of knee-jerk hatred is on a par with racism. You hate someone for what they are and not who they are. It reflects more on you than on them.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Oh calm down.
        Having an opinion isn’t on a par with racism, it’s not offensive to say that cruise ships should keep away in order to defend the health of our population.

        Go back and read the piece again, it doesn’t identify cruise ship passengers, (regardless of nationality, race, religion or sexual orientation) for vitriol, unlike many on these islands who really do espouse such odious views under the guise of ‘freedom or speech’ or ‘cultural and religious heritage’.
        It tells the ships to sail on by and good riddance. It only identifies the obvious, that if those ships and their passengers visit other islands, (if this was even possible) they would not be welcomed here as the risk of importing the virus would be too great.
        Is that a knee jerk response, no, it’s common sense. Is it hatred or racism, absolutely not.

        And do I like cruise ships, their environmental impact, the invading hordes of passengers overwhelming our infrastructure and natural environment, no I do not. And it would appear from the huge response to the proposed dock project, neither do the majority of the population. Is it prejudice to make that observation and comment on it? Yes, it may well be if you take an opposing view.

        Hilariously you accuse me of finding a thrill in anonymity, and yet do the same whilst making ill informed and frankly, offensive observations not based on fact but a warped sense of self-obsessed outrage. We have enough professional offence takers in the world, we don’t need anymore thank you.

        And for the record, as humans we are naturally prejudiced, we have prejudicial thoughts and we make prejudicial decisions everyday. Every time you enter a store or a bank, someone has made an assessment of you based on your accent, dress, weight, tattoos, cleanliness, choice of fashion, hairstyle or lack thereof. Every time you pass someone in the street, both you and they have made a prejudicial judgement, sometimes good, sometimes not so. It’s what keeps us safe, it’s what we rely on to steer us through life, it’s what your boss used to decide whether you were the right person for the job.

        So it’s not prejudice you should worry about, it’s discrimination, because that is putting your personal judgements into negative action. That is hatred and that leads to racism.

        What I do hate are knee jerk haters who are ill-informed and hysterical, and who make judgements based on their own failings and mis-understandings, not on the facts.

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      • Anon says:

        2.33pm Maybe you forget how our corona virus started.

  9. Anonymous says:

    Open up cayman. Stop the nonsense.

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    • Cayman Mon says:

      Ya Mon. Time to open up all local. Outside, is a different story.

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    • Anonymous says:

      We rave about our essential workers, when in truth what those who are hunkering down are really saying “Better them than me” and “They better be at work to make my staying home a reality.” We call them essential workers, but in reality treat them as nonessential people.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Churchill’s and Home Gas would not be able to handle the bodies, and we don’t have the freezer trucks. Nonsense is your comment. Read the news man.

  10. Anonymous says:

    What a bad headline. CNS you are comparing a 3-day period in the rest of the Caribbean with a 24 hr period in Cayman.

    Apple meet orange. That makes little to no sense.

    The good news is we do not appear to have an active outbreak in Cayman. Medical facilities are not being used for Covid-19 so not only have we flattened our curve we have smashed it. Most likely the positive tests are dead virus that is not contagious as this can remain in some people for weeks and months. That is why the UK finally made Cayman release some of the quarantined people of one of the BA flights.

    S. Korea recently released a study showing that dead virus particles can remain which can cause some people who have recovered to show up as “re-infected” after the virus is no longer contagious or asymptomatic people to show as positive after they are no longer capable of passing on the disease.

    The good news here is that we are well on the way to recovery from the health threat of the disease. If only the same could be said about the economy.

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  11. Anonymous says:

    Where is the plan?

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  12. Say it like it is. says:

    What has saved our population is that our Covid has proved to be no worse than our flu.What the Premier has achieved is economic disaster for most except our MLA’s and civil servants, and the financial industry who earn their money.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Maybe that first sentence could have been qualified more clearly. Rather than “our Covid”, maybe “in Cayman,”. Because for many other populations it has been pretty awful and we shouldn’t forget that. Nobody, at the beginning of this, knew how it would pan out.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Asymptomatic is a big catchall continuum of assessments that can be anywhere from subclinical to presymptomatic and get a whole lot worse. We need to look around the world (esp. tropics) and realize we have just been lucky it hasn’t hit a pocket of unknowingly compromised. It ain’t over. Make good choices.

  13. Anonymous says:

    Cayman is so special. Thank God I was born here.

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  14. Anonymous says:

    and no economic stimulus plan
    and no strageic re-opening plan
    and no plan to -reopen borders unlike many other tourist destinations in the world.

    time for the governor to bring in top overseas economic advisors. do-nothing ppm will destroy caymans economy and peoples livelihoods forever

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    • Anonymous says:

      Yes Mr./Mrs./miss Doom and gloom. We will survive! Our God Is Great all the time. Even long before the so called economic boom we were a spec

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    • Anonymous says:

      No stimulus?!? >$15mln being handed out to small businesses, no Gov’t layoffs, $200mln in Pension asset withdrawals approved, and all public entities are fully staffed, including the airline. We have gone from “full suppression” level 5 down to “moderate suppression” level 3, in about a month, and it looks like level 2 is a possibility in 2 weeks. Nobody is traveling anywhere you bozo.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Our prayer group rebuke purveyor of doom and gloom. Even before the so called economic boom we were well protected by our Great God. He always hear our prayers and we will always be grateful for his mercy and grace. Cursing us and blaspheming our Great God only makes us more determine to mention his name and to pray and seek his face. Our prayers block out all the negative things being said about us and we will survive. We continually pray for all here on our Rock and and those afar off.

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  15. M McLaughlin says:

    I wonder if those tests r working properly? Maybe need to do some anonymous tests like the President of Tanzania did with goats & pawpaw samples at a UN approved lab!

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    • Anonymous says:

      I wonder if the strain that has reached Cayman – or are there many different ones- is a weak one, or if the population is particularly resilient to the world wide horrors.

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    • Anonymous says:

      The President of Tanzania is of the same caliber as Trump, I would take that with a pinch of salt

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      • M McLaughlin says:

        Well you should check the UN record over the years of lies and deception.

        I know nothing about the guy, but l’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for three reasons.

        1) He’s a Doctor of Chemistry, seems logical that he would test on objects that are supposed to test negative to confirm if test really works, remember all samples were submitted to the UN Lab as coming from human beings.

        2) The UN still hasn’t refuted his claims, so until they can produce something to the contrary I’ll continue to believe him.

        3) The inventor of the PCR test always maintained up until his death that the PCR test should NOT be used to diagnose infectious diseases, due to the high number of False positives and negatives during testing.

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  16. Anonymous says:

    Around the world, we can read the stats about the number of new active cases accelerating, and setting records daily. I am grateful that our CMO’s perseverance has created this “oasis“ from the unconstrained horror shows that are being invited elsewhere. Let’s not let him or ourselves down, having invested so much.

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    • Anonymous says:

      If the world tested no one, there would be fewer confirmed cases. Simple logic that has evaded the vast majority of people.

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      • Anonymous says:

        But there would still be cases. You sound just like the great orange one.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Sherlock. Obviously, there would still be cases, likely many millions. That is exactly why the more we test, the more positives. The opposite is also true. This has nothing to do with the great orange and everything to do with basic common sense. Stop the fear mongering.

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      • Anonymous says:

        So by your logic, and that of that imbecile of a president to our north, we shouldn’t test because it looks worse than it is.
        OMG, go look in the mirror and give yourself an almighty slap.
        Testing enables you to identify, isolate and trace, it’s a good thing, not an impedance to recovery. Without it, many more will get sick or die, bringing in extreme mitigation and economic catastrophe.

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        • Anonymous says:

          So true. And let’s not forget that diagnostic testing identifies those infected, but doesn’t tell us if those numbers are rising exponentially. In other words, is it a case of just identifying the infected, or is showing the numbers rising?
          We can’t say, because the statistics aren’t collated in a manner that breaks down the findings in a manner that defines either way. That’s what happens when the CDC is neutered by Trump and fails to give an indepth analysis based on science and not politics.

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    • Anonymous says:

      More people died from cancer yesterday in the USA than COVID-19.
      Did not read that in the news though.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Yea, and more died from road accidents. And your point is?
        You don’t catch cancer by breathing in someone else’s respiratory vapour, an illness 10 times more fatal than annual flu.
        People die tragically everyday, that’s an undeniable truth. But few die in 1st world countries from just interacting with their fellow human beings or a simple visit to granny.
        Look at the average annual deaths, they are significantly higher because of Covid-19 which is almost certainly under estimated due to the way in which deaths are recorded.
        Read more, talk less.

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        • Anonymous says:

          No, you cause cancer from just breathing in the toxic dump air in Cayman. Wake up.

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          • Anonymous says:

            And just like smoking, industrial exposure, inhalation of fumes, pesticides, flour, toe nail dust, cement, water or many other respitory irritants, some may get ill and some won’t. Breath in coronavirus and let’s see if you can avoid infection, illness or death, I doubt it.
            Go back to sleep.

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        • Anonymous says:

          You sure?

        • Anon says:

          12.46pm Have we had any deaths here from flu?, certainly no locals have died from Covid.

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        • M McLaughlin says:

          Where is your data that COVID-19 is 10x more lethal than flu? Stopping being d***head fear mongering a-hole.

          • Anonymous says:

            Try Columbia University’s epidemiologist who is claiming a 0.6% infection fatality rate as only 1 in12 infections in the US are documented in official accounts. Even at that rate, if half the US population was infected, 1 million could die, that’s a figure 20 times worse than a normal flu season.

            WHO are claiming that 3.4% of reported Covid-19 cases worldwide have died. By comparison, flu generally kills 0.1% of those infected. Do the math genius.

            And, Stanford University estimates that 1 in100 infected will die from Covid-19, in comparison to 1 in 1000 deaths from the flu. Err, that’s 10 times more lethal I believe.

      • Anonymous says:

        JUST IMAGINE: if NOBODY had told you about the coronavirus, would you have noticed any difference at all in this flu season???

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  17. Anonymous says:

    The Premier has saved Cayman. The true test will be when all other countries are open and we are an island alone.

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    • Anonymous says:

      The Premier isn’t exercising the Governors emergency powers, nor is he more than one fifth of the policy committee shaping the CoP’s Health Emergency curfew measures. All optics to the contrary.

    • Anonymous says:

      God has saved us through the Premier and all who are doing his great work. Let us continue to always do our part.

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    • Anonymous says:

      The old adage is still true “where there is life there is hope” dead people cannot revive the economy.

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