COVID tests surpass 10k with just 3 new positives

| 27/05/2020 | 53 Comments
Cayman News Service
CMO Dr John Lee at Wednesday’s press briefing

(CNS): There were just three new positive cases of COVID-19 Wednesday, as Chief Medical Officer Dr John Lee revealed that more than 10,000 people in the Cayman Islands have now been tested for the virus. Two of the latest positive results were samples from the front-line workers screening programme and the third was from a contact of another positive person. The positive samples came in a batch of 359, the rest of which were negative.

Cayman has now recorded 140 cases of the coronavirus. There are currently 72 active cases. One person is symptomatic but has not been admitted to hospital. There are 108 people in the government’s quarantine facilities and 242 people self-isolating under the supervision of public health.

Dr Lee said that 13% of construction workers have now been tested, and explained that the testing programme for these workers is not a clearance process but a sampling. Given public concerns that those in the sector were going back onto sites before their test results were in, Dr Lee said that the purpose of testing was to measure the prevalence of the virus among this group.

While those who are positive will be removed from sites and isolated as they are discovered, the testing is not a clearance programme, as the government does not have the capacity to test all of the 8,000 or more construction workers before it can reopen.

However, Dr Lee said that so far, of all of the groups that public health has tested those in construction have yielded the least positives.

Pleased with the relatively low numbers from the screening, Premier Alden McLaughlin said government will be lifting many more restrictions next week. He said Cabinet would meet on Thursday to discuss the shelter-in-place order review. If the trend continues, the balance of the construction sector will reopen Monday, along with the rest of retail businesses.

The premier also said that more social restrictions will be eased, which he said would be revealed on Friday after Cabinet has approved the new soft curfew rules. “Things are going well and the government’s plan about reopening the economy continues on track,” he said.

See the press briefing on CIGTV below:


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 (53)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. ?? says:

    Sorry but the title is very misleading. It should read: Testing surpasses 10,000 with only three NEW positives.

    CNS: You’re right. I have changed it.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Tourism is an issue… realsitically Caymanians don’t have the skills to do expat jobs so there will be alrge scale Caymanian unemployment for a year or so.

    • Anonymous says:

      Why is it taking over a week for results. It has been stated if tests aren’t done within a certain amount of time once taken there could be a problem

  3. Anonymous says:

    The hospital staff have been enjoying the same 3 month paid vacation that the rest of the public service have been taking.

    6
    5
    • Anonymous says:

      The article is excellent. Unfortunately, we are six weeks behind the knowledge curve and are slow learners.

      23
      4
    • Anon says:

      217 person sample size on a boat vs 10s of millions of tests worldwide…

      2
      5
      • Anonymous says:

        It’s not the sample size, it’s the percentage that were asymptomatic out of such a small sample that’s worrying. Maybe you just can’t understand that?

        6
        1
      • Anonymous says:

        10s of millions of tests mainly on sick people.

  4. Anonymous says:

    It’s starting to feel like the US here and it’s very saddening…so much hate and politics in every comment. For that alone, I would consider leaving, but not for any other reason.
    Yeah, yeah, I know, the next flight is…don’t wast your time with those comments, please come up with something new and interesting to keep me entertained.

    8
    8
    • Anonymous says:

      That’s because the two leaders have three things in common – oversized egos, zero knowledge of science and the inability to reason. Other than that, they are polar opposites. Some perspective, as bad as Trump is, do you think he would put our Minister of Health on a podium?

      25
      3
  5. Anonymous says:

    Does anybody who post frequently here cares about Cayman children? Does “Protect the mental health of children” letter moves you? I bet if it was posted here it would get a dozen comments.
    Still not a word, as rightfully pointed in the letter, from any leaders about CHILDREN. I recommend you all read that letter.

    I’ll re-post my comment here, some basic things about coronavirus vs. norovirus to show that we are inflicting PTSD, anxiety and germophobia in children that will haunt them for lifetime for no justifiable reasons.

    👑😀Coronavirus
    By their nature, individual coronaviruses are easily destroyed. Each virus particle consists of a small set of genes, enclosed by a sphere of fatty lipid molecules, and lipid shells are easily torn apart by soap. Lipid shells are also vulnerable to the elements. These viruses don’t endure in the world. They need bodies.

    Having said that, I do realize many people indeed die from C19, though it is still statistically insignificant number. Just like people die daily from other causes. For every 100mil. annual births, there’re 60mil deaths worldwide.

    But getting back to C19, not all reported C19 deaths are directly from C19. As you already know approx. 80% people who were put on ventilators had died and it was concluded later that putting all people on ventilators was a mistake.
    Many died from sedation, again it was concluded later that keeping people sedated for long periods was a mistake.
    There is also a theory (based on the actual study https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31607599/) that flu vaccination increases risk for coronavirus. All people in care homes receive flu vaccine annually. Sadly, many of them have died.
    It was only later discovered that C19 clogs alveoli in some people leading to strokes. Mortality rate among severe c19 patients decreased dramatically after this discovery.

    🤮😢Norovirus
    It gets in your food, in your laundry, it sticks to plates and it might even float into the air when you flush your toilet. It can last for weeks on a counter, on an elevator button or even on a doorknob.
    Norovirus is enclosed in a structure called a capsid (the protein coat or shell of a virus particle). The norovirus virion is composed of 90 dimers (a molecule or molecular complex consisting of two identical molecules linked together) of the major capsid protein VP1 and one or two copies of the minor structural protein VP2.
    It is impermeable to alcohol, so hand sanitizers cannot kill it.
    Simple cleaning alone doesn’t always kill it, and it takes just a few particles of virus to sicken a person. It is pretty difficult to get rid of,
    It is pretty stable. It lives quite some time on surfaces. It is hard to kill. And regular cleaner won’t get the virus off surfaces. CDC recommends using bleach, including chlorine bleach or hydrogen peroxide.

    P.S. I am not sure how Compass or any media could go without reader’s feedback. Zero published comments speaks volumes. Are they controlled by Gestapo or Mafia?

    19
    5
    • Vampire virus says:

      This is a vampire virus. It only comes out after 8pm and goes back in at 5am, you can catch it in the day , or at least that’s what the monster of health and this government thinks. This curfew make no sense. How does it help fight the virus Mr. Premier?

      23
      3
      • Anonymous says:

        He heard it from someone else. Cayman is yet to have an original thought on Covid. Oh, I lie, government is not reducing salaries.

        26
        5
        • Anonymous says:

          I had an original thought about Covid-19, but it’s kinds of nasty, so I’m keeping it to myself.

    • Anonymous says:

      Dear drunk at 7:07am…you’re all over the place, man. Pull over. Stop.

  6. Anonymous says:

    By far the worst hit places are old age homes. It’s not unheard of for 70 persons to die in one facility. One building, not properly cleaned and maintained is the most dangerous environment to put people in. Somehow, our government thinks it is intelligent to put all returning Caymanians, of all ages and levels of fitness, into one facility. And to compound to that genius move, let everyone think those people are infected and are going to kill us all. Of course, we are now coming up with the asinine theory that we have a different strain of the virus, but those people coming in have the deadly strain. Is it beyond comprehension that Cayman has done so well because of our relatively young and healthy population (due to the number of expats) combined with our SUN?

    18
    7
    • Anonymous says:

      HA ha, you actually think our population is healthy? Maybe 20%. If you’re referring only to expats of a lighter complexion, than maybe, but hardly the Caymanian, Jamaican, Hispanic population. Even many of the Filipinos here look overweight, when they typically have small frames. I know this is a generalization, but all you need is to look around, especially whilst in the grocery stores.

      13
      6
      • Anonymous says:

        What an eloquent post. With so many unhealthy persons why are our hospital beds empty?

        13
        3
        • Anonymous says:

          Hospitals save lives, not helping chronically ill, who for the most part, on their own, as doctors don’t really know what to do with them.
          So if someone’s life is in immediate danger, hospital would admit him, otherwise they would run $20k worth tests and send you to your doctor who in turn would have no idea what to do with you having exhausted all pills that were given to him by big Pharma.

          4
          1
        • Anonymous says:

          We’ve been inexplicably lucky in Cayman. Not so for many other tropical locales like Brazil. Be thankful for that. If we pickup the wrong planeload, our 30-odd ICU beds are snapped up and then the gurneys start lining up in the hall and the freezer trucks get filled. You’ll find nobody is jesting in the many ICUs where that’s already happened. This ain’t a movie.

          8
          3
  7. Anonymous says:

    Over 10,000 tested, 140 positive – what is that like 1.4 people out of 100?
    How does that rate in comparison to the rest of the out world?

    4
    3
  8. Anonymous says:

    So many people visiting others in their house that don’t live there, helpers working during day that don’t live there… Give an inch and take a mile

    8
    15
  9. Anonymous says:

    So Mr Premier – we are at 10,000 without any significant cases. What is the plan for helpers now?

    16
    2
  10. Anonymous says:

    So we do not have anything close to a pandemic in the Cayman Islands. In fact we have nothing. Can we now move on?

    36
    8
    • Anonymous says:

      If we move on normally, like this isn’t happening, we will get those ICU beds and morgue freezers filled.

      6
      4
  11. Anonymous says:

    These levels of suppression are meaningless, undefined, and insulting to all of us.

    The curfew restrictions, beach, sea, and boating rules have no direct link to the suppression of this virus. The only purpose is to make the jobs of an incompetent and ineffective police force easier. To date, no evidence has been presented that the restrictions under section 49 of The Police Law are properly authorized.

    I don’t want to hear any more from the Governor about our per capita testing rank! I have no doubt he wants to keep us in hell until we are number 1, for the sole purpose of padding his resume for his next posting… which can’t come soon enough! Put down the steel drums and pick up a soup ladle to serve those who’s lives you are destroying!

    38
    20
  12. Anonymous says:

    Because we need an enemy to blame. Those coming home are the easiest targets. The obvious solution is Caymanians coming home, who love their country, should be allowed to stay in their houses, not only with huge fines for breaking isolation but with the knowledge that police can check on them 24/7.

    25
    8
    • Anonymous says:

      Exactly. We put healthy returning Caymanians in mandatory quarantine “just in case” but send those who actually do test positive in the random testing back to their homes. How does this make sense?

      31
      4
      • Anonymous says:

        This was most surely the biggest blunder they made from the very start.

        13
        2
        • Anonymous says:

          I’m a Caymanian currently living overseas. I’d love nothing more than to come home for a few weeks with my family – and would self-quarantine at home if required by the rules – but the prospect of being stuck in a hotel room for at least 2 weeks with only 20 minutes supervised fresh air per day (and – I am told – poor internet speed because of everyone stuck there with nothing else to do either!) is not appealing.

          13
          • Anonymous says:

            Read a book

            • Anonymous says:

              I’d like to think I could manage more than one book in two weeks, but the fact remains the hotel quarantine is not a particularly balanced or reasonable proposition for those returning with children.

    • Anonymous says:

      Government trusted those returning in March to stay in their homes. Not sure what caused the change, other than those returning now are on specially arranged flights, rather than commercial ones.

      5
      4
      • Anonymous says:

        People in March didn’t take the virus as seriously as they do now. Has the world’s mindset not changed? We now wear masks. We social distance. There is fare more awareness in May than there was in March.

        19
        1
      • Anonymous says:

        Perhaps it is because so many of the ensuing positives were contacts of someone who had travelled.

        9
        2
        • Anonymous says:

          So many? Yes, the numbers have been overwhelming! How are we going to cope with this disease ravishing our islands?

          11
          5
          • Anonymous says:

            Do try and read – its so many of the ones that tested positive, not so many positives altogether i.e the majority source of new cases were attributable to people returning that is the posters point, not that there was a huge surge in cases.

            2
            2
  13. Just me. says:

    Just wondering. With so many of the positive results coming from persons who have had contact with previously infected persons are they not doing the social distancing thing and if they are why is it not working? You can be arrested for being at the beach not on your day because you maybe might get infected but not arrested if you get in contact with a known infected person and actually catch it? So my question is: if you catch it from a known infected person, test positive, take a few weeks off at home(not in a self paid government facility), then test negative can you go to the beach on any day after that if you are an expat? I am being a little sarcastic but still. My point is if you return to Cayman you must be in a government run facility for two weeks because you might have it and infect someone else but if you have it you can stay home and infect anyone who comes by and they do. It just seems like CIG just wants to punish people who want to come back to Cayman and make them pay for it if your an expat but if you already have it and are on Cayman just say you will stay home. How about thinking it would be OK to return to Cayman and just stay home and self Quarantine? Might help get the economy back sooner.

    22
    29
    • Anonymous says:

      Keep the focus on those “deadly” people retuning to their homes so we don’t notice the how inept this government has been.

      13
      8
    • Anonymous says:

      Surely they know exactly how many persons have been found positive on each flight into the island. Maybe if government was more honest and transparent we could understand some of their policies.

      14
      5
      • Anonymous says:

        They don’t want to publish that information. That wouldn’t help their draconian policies. The last time Caymanians had this little freedom to move about was slavery.

        16
        5
    • Anonymous says:

      Unfortunately if they required everyone that tested positive to stay in a government run isolation facility, many people would be reluctant to get tested even if they had symptoms. It would make it even more difficult to determine how much covid had spread. Obviously there were people required to isolate with their whole household (either because someone was positive or they were a returning traveller) that did not. That is definitely a problem but we don’t need the introduction of even more cases from travellers. The people returning know what they are getting into and have to make the decision for themselves.

      5
      6

Leave a Reply to Anonymous 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.