Two cops test positive for COVID-19
(CNS): Two Royal Cayman Island Police Service (RCIPS) officers have tested positive for the coronavirus. These two officers are not the officers depicted in the photo published by CNS earlier (see note at the end of the article). Both officers who tested positive are asymptomatic and are in isolation, the RCIPS revealed Friday evening, 22 May. The police said that the testing of these officers was part of the government’s screening programme for front-line workers across the public and private sectors, which included uniformed and civilian RCIPS personnel.
“Following news of the positive results we have worked closely with the Public Health Department to facilitate their usual investigations including risk assessment and contact tracing,” said Police Commissioner Derek Byrne. “Our ultimate goal is to ensure that we remain ready to serve and protect the people of the Cayman Islands.”
CoP Byrne said that since the beginning of the pandemic all uniformed police officers had been required to wear and use personal protective equipment (PPE).
“This is something that we are reinforcing as this situation develops,” he said. “In addition we have implemented daily sanitisation protocols through our building janitorial functions and fleet management services. The health and well-being of our personnel remain of utmost importance and we thank Public Health for their work and guidance in assisting us.”
The Commissioner added that all spaces have been robustly sanitised in the department where the officers who received the positive results are employed.
He said that social distancing protocols are also being strictly enforced across the RCIPS to reduce the chance for the viral infection to spread. In addition, staff who worked closely with the COVID-positive officers in the last three days have been recommended for testing.
CNS note: The photo initially posted with this article was for illustration purposes only. The officers in the photo are not the two officers who tested positive, whose identity has not been revealed. We apologise to the officers in the picture for any misunderstanding this may have caused.
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Category: Health, Medical Health, Police
Has RCIPS reported any contact-tracing being done to determine how these officers were exposed? For example, did they interact with over-night canoe crews from Jamaica or Honduras?
That possibility is the one source of community spread we need to be continually aware and cautious of.
CNS: The date of this story is May 2020.
Did the officers test positive for the coronavirus, or for the disease caused by the virus, aka Covid-19? I am unsure that we have the same variety of virus circulating locally to classify it as Covid-19, or SARS-CoV-2.
This is a stupid question. Like seriously how dumb are you?
The Commissioner and Governor, since day one, have failed to gazette the orders under Section 49 of The Police Law, or provide written authorizations and justifications for restricting our rights far in excess of what is permissible under this section. This is not how a free society should operate. We deserve to have certainty as to the laws and regulations we are subject to, especially when the consequences include large fines and imprisonment.
Since when did a government Facebook post, tweet, Instagram post, infographic, text message, or press release carry the force of law? There is an incredible amount of misinformation on the governments coronavirus webpage relating to various expired regulations and restrictions which have no corresponding legal citation.
If we make it so easy for the Premier, Commissioner and Governor to trample on our rights while failing their legal responsibilities…we can look forward to being put on national house arrest whenever there is a stray dog, bad weather, or even if the police force simply wants a day off (which is the justification provided for some of the more ridiculous restrictions- Sunday hard curfew comes to mind)
Think about the world you want to live in on the other side of this pandemic… will you push back against violations of your rights or will you bend the knee and endure police state as long as it’s convenient for those in power?
Below is a link to the Cayman HRC complaint form. This organization’s silence since March illustrates where their priorities lie… but I can’t think of any peaceful ways to raise these issues and keep them in the forefront of public discourse…
http://www.humanrightscommission.ky/upimages/commonfiles/1536861072HRCComplaintFormSept2018_1536861072.pdf
I grew up in a time and place where we were subject to rules and restrictions from real, and subsequently, manufactured, crisis. It started reasonably enough – we all went along for the good of the collective, but soon the laws became too restrictive to those in power, and it became more expedient to ignore them, and we were left living in fear of what unwritten law we may have violated. To speak up would put your life and your family’s at risk.
How hard is it to just publish these to shut everyone up?
Can the commissioner let us know when the investigation in to what appears to be an illegal gathering at a birthday party in West Bay will be taking place. The images are there for all to see.
Taking a leaf out of the UK’s book (Cummings) one rule for you and one rule for us.
OMG. Did I just get a text message from the RCIPS “ RCIPS wishes to encourage the public to follow the speed limits of the Cayman Islands. Speeding endangers lives. Drive safely Cayman.”
How about they just enforce the speed limit?
I’m reporting them for a violation of data privacy. I did not give them permission to spam me.
The lack of enforcement exacerbated the problem, and with this text message the police have planted the seed for the solution…. more curfews, restrictions, and unwritten regulations!
I bet we will hear this next week from the Commissioner:
“Yesterday, the 1st of June 2020, as required under the provisions of S. 49(1) Police Law (2017 Revision), I consulted with H.E. the Governor of the Cayman Islands and advised him of the necessity to impose a new curfew order effective 5am this morning 2nd of June 2020 – (my advice was predicated on the basis – that it appears to me that having regard to the immediate threat of a serious hazard on Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands associated with speeding, that there are reasonable grounds to believe that in the interest of public safety it is necessary to impose a new curfew order). This morning following a meeting of the National Hazard Management Executive followed by a meeting of Cabinet I have now received permission from H.E. the Governor to impose a new curfew order effective this morning 2nd of June 2020 commencing at 5am running through until 5am on Tuesday morning 16th June 2020. Subject to the following conditions:
The Governor also agrees (as he has without exception) that we may disregard paragraphs 5 and 6 of section 49 of The Police Law (2017 Revision) which clearly prohibit what I have just announced.
Also, since your civil rights don’t matter, and we don’t have the resources to do our job properly, the Governor has agreed (as he always does) that the police may summarily execute anyone pulled over for speeding, rather than issue a citation or a warning for intended prosecution.
Finally, we’re putting none of this in writing because we don’t want to be held accountable!”
I hope the absurdity of the above fiction will drive more to action
I respect that these two infections have been disclosed. I am happily surprised. I hope everyone recovers well without lasting effect. God bless and keep safe everybody!
Don’t you think if there was a god to bless us that he would of stopped the virus already? Or maybe you think gods blessings include people dying and getting sick from this virus? I don’t get people thanking a god for his blessings when what has he actually blessed you with? Obviously he didn’t bless you with common sense.
Everything you say is consistent. The fact that you do not get it is in alignment with your not believing in a God. And if you do not believe in God, then you would actually think that He is to be blamed for either causing the problem or failing to act. Ignorance is proof of idiocy and vice versa. “The fool say in his heart that there is no God.”
May you be blessed with the holy spirit and be thankful for all the good things life has brought you, because if you really think hard about it there are many. It is so easy to blame God when things go wrong and we easily forget the good. Our lives were never promised to be perfect, we can expect terrible things to happen, but if you believe, you will know that a place of no suffering is being prepared for you. Life on earth is only temporary.
I look within, not to a fake idol. Me myself and I.
CNS, I am loving the new level of transparency which seems to have started when Kirks announced their cases. We’ve gone from Dr. Lee not being willing to say whether the cases we either in the east, west, north or south, to now saying specific numbers at specific businesses. I for one feel better knowing the true position about where the virus has been identified and the measures being taken to manage it in each circumstance.
1.04pm But the clusters will forever be shrouded in mystery. If there was any spread from this source we will never know.
This whole thing has been one giant cluster from day one.
1:04 exactly! I would prefer to know where they are! It makes me more aware and encourages me to be more cautious. I will not stop going to places like kirks or Ala Kebab but it is still good to be aware of where the virus has hit.
How exactly will it help you out knowing where they are? If you are not socializing with members that are not in your household and you clearly stated that you will not stop going to kirks then what is your issue? The virus is not hanging around the outside air where the people are living. So how exactly is knowing where the clusters are going to save you at all? You just want to know who has it because you are too damn nosy. That’s all.
How does knowing how many people are infected, and how many have died, and the social protocols now required help us by your logic? Let’s just shut down the news media, briefings, and other forms of communication to inform the public and stumble around in the dark then.
An informed populace is an armed populace, we take risks every time we leave our house ( and all of us have to at some point), but with information, we can take calculated risks.
If you don’t want the information you have a choice, don’t read or listen, but you have no right to suggest that those of us who want to be informed of what is going on in our community are just nosy.
“China Virus” is a Trumpism: stop it.
I like “kung flu” better
Let’s sing: Everybody was Kung Flu fighting…”
Who cares!! I hate trump BUT IT CAME FROM CHINA! They have these things called wet markets. They must be banned.
They torture and eat dogs for a fun festival. Some of them are vile people. Like all walks of life.
China virus isn’t racists. It’s racists because trump, who is a racists, said it.
Maybe we should call it the Wuhan virus like the Chinese did until it became a pandemic.
Speed trap every day in front of lakeside around noon, stop blocking the entrance into lakeside, have cars pull away into the dirt? Nope that’s were they like to park and hide.
Other day was 4 cop cars and two news crews, 30 mins later their all gone.
Yes lets stop speeding, but to keep catching people in that same speed trap down that road is a little much.
lets call it the million dollar road with all the tickets they get.
The Police keep putting speed checks in the same place by Lakeside all the time for a reason —- It’s a hot spot for speeders and they keep catching them there!
If people learned not to haul butt down that stretch of road so much, maybe the Police wouldn’t set up shop so often!?
Perhaps you got caught there and are a tad bitter about the fine? Just a hunch.
Police are more interested in making profits then patrolling residential and school zones.
If people learned?
If people learned the police are not out to serve the community but to protect there investments.
Just a hunch.. Hows the reduction of speed working out for the island? 2019-2020 lowest accident and traffic violations in KY history right?
And imagine how bad it would be WITHOUT the speed traps and traffic enforcement?
I’d rather the cops be stopping reckless and dangerous drivers than patrol your random neighborhood because you feel safer when you see the blue lights go by.
That’s actuay an ideal place to catch speeders unlike elsewhere on the ETH where there is no shoulder or it’s narrow and less safe for the police to pull people over.
Instead of complaining, be glad you know it’s there and make sure to watch your speed so you don’t get a ticket. Personally, I would rather they set up traps where the limits are 40 or 50, instead of in places where the limit is illogically low, like on west bay road. 25mph is practically crawling and I would be less annoyed about getting a ticket for going 50 in a 40 than 35 in a 25.
KING CANUTE
A POEM BY PAUL PERRO
There once was an old king called King Canute,
And he was a very bossy old brute.
“Bring me my crown, and hurry!” he would say,
He told everyone what to do all day.
He said to the queen “I like being the king
And being in charge of everything.”
The queen looked at King Canute, and she laughed.
She said “Not everything, don’t be daft.
You couldn’t command the wind not to blow,
You couldn’t command a tree not to grow.
You’re not in charge of the birds or the bees,
The sun or the moon, the skies or the seas.
“Oh yes I am” said the King, getting cross
“I am, I’ll prove it; I’ll show you who’s boss!”
He called the servants together and then
He bellowed out an order to his men:
“Pick up my throne and take it to the beach,
There is a lesson that I want to teach.”
So they carried his throne down to the ocean
Followed by crowds, there was quite a commotion.
Canute sat on the throne facing the sea
And spoke to it with great authority.
“I am your king and I give this command –
Stay where you are, do not come on this sand”
But the sea didn’t listen to the king.
No-one can stop the tide from coming in.
As the waves kept advancing up the shore
The red-faced king tried to halt them once more.
“I am the King, you must do as I say,
I command you to go back, right away.”
But the waves still came, right up to his feet.
Canute sighed sadly, admitting defeat.
He faced the queen and said “You won the bet
And I have got my royal slippers wet.
I did my best, but no, I came up short.
I guess I’m not as powerful as I thought.”
To all Frontline workers, including the Police, the Cayman Mon and the Nation are indeed grateful and thankful for your services and sacrifices. May God bless and protect you all.
Now as for that King Canute, he was a tyrant during the day but he was like a Lamb at night because the Queen was the boss😂😁.
All these front line workers deserve substantial accolades from the public similar to what they receive in the U.S. and the U.K. Their work involves each of them in most cases, with contact with hundreds of members of the public each day and is therefore high risk. We are fortunate that most of these positive cases have so far proved asymptomatic.
When you sign up for a job like this you know the risks and it is often a chosen career. The ones who deserve accolades are people like the supermarket workers who often take these jobs simply because it is work. They show up even in a pandemic, meeting far more people than cops do.
9.40am You are missing the point “frontline” involves meeting the public whatever the job, you don’t mention hospitals where the risk can be higher (Health City). The police stop and question over a thousand people a day during curfew time, not mention their regular duties such as issuing parking and speeding tickets and dealing with drunk drivers.
More like you are missing the point ‘chosen career’ vs ‘people who have less choice’.
That term “asymptomatic” seems to keep popping up. All this testing is not going to stop the spread of this China virus, but it certainly is showing how futile it is to try and stop its inexorable spread through the population with useless, extreme, lockdowns of healthy people. The virus is in Cayman and it will stay in Cayman until it has infected a critical mass of people. Then it will subside. One hopes that it does not mutate and reinfect as the flu does. I predict that eventually, even the worthies who have inflicted these useless lockdowns on Cayman will stop their King Canute imitation and realize that they cannot sweep back a rising tide.
You would have a bit more credibility if you would stop with the China virus. Because we know you take that term from Trump.
Who cares
So they shouldn’t lock down the healthy people they should only lock down the sick? Testing shows that the so called healthy people that are locked down can have the virus and they show no symptoms. Hence the term asymptomatic. So what do you propose exactly? Lock down the sick and make the healthy people go out. When you don’t know who is sick from who is not sick then your complaint makes no sense. If people would just follow the guidelines of the shelter in place and stop going and hanging out with different people not in your household then we as an island might have a chance. Apparently staying home is the hardest thing for people to do.
You must not have children.
All those IDs and papers they insisted on holding.
Police can’t force someone to hold up their expired insurance and out of date driver’s license up so the officer can read it, so sometimes the cop needs to use his or her hands and do it. So what?
Would you rather a bunch of people breaking the law get away with things because the police can’t ID them?
Maybe if they practiced social distancing and wore their masks this wouldn’t have happened. Some people really think their job or social status makes them immune to the virus.
How did that tracing go=closing the police station down? Bracka
Hope they will be ok. But when you have such a high number of police officers per head then its only a matter of time that a few test positive. Guarding all those shopping trolleys.
Regardless what you think of Byrne his only approach is to fine the living daylights out of the working class ( mainly road traffic fines) so he can show a positive balance. Loads of new toys along with fixed patrols, stationary patrols, armed patrols and rapid response patrols. And now Cayman is getting a military unit that has been developed with more importance than the economic plan. One of the few countries in the world that had to have head of police as a vocal point at every press conference. But no real crime gets solved. Exactly the same as his home country. God save the traffic control unit. For his general success without it would be limited.
So many exaggerations
Thank you so much for been out there in the front lines only trying to keep us safe and look what happens
My prayers will go out for you tonight
I wish you a speedy recovery
God bless
Hope they will be ok too.