Airport worker positive for coronavirus

(CNS): One staff member of the Cayman Islands Airports Authority working at Owen Roberts International has tested positive for COVID-19, officials said Thursday. Some 300 people at the airport, including support services and those working on the airfield expansion, have been tested as part of the coronavirus screening programme and all the rest were negative.

The one positive patient, who is asymptomatic, is now in isolation and contact tracing is being carried out, the CIAA said. Staff who have worked closely with the this person over the last week have been guided according to government’s contact tracing guidelines, officials added.

“The health and safety of our passengers, colleagues and partners are of utmost priority for us,” CIAA management said in a release. “Upon receiving confirmation of the one positive case, our teams immediately carried out additional safety measures throughout the terminal. We employed a professional cleaning service to conduct deep cleaning of the areas where the positive team member may have travelled or made any type of contact and intensified our normal airport cleaning regime for all areas.”

The airport has added new procedures and safety measures, such as social distancing, 6-foot distance markers placed on the floors where passengers queue, distanced seating in the departure lounge and only passengers are allowed to enter the terminal – family and friends must say goodbye outside.

Disinfectant is provided for passengers to disinfect their hands and luggage upon entering the terminal, and portable hand sanitizer dispensers have been installed throughout terminal building. Wearing masks is mandatory for anyone inside the terminals.

The airport has also increased the cleaning and sanitization schedules throughout the terminal, with advanced cleaning after each repatriation flight. Although the spread in Cayman is being driven by asymptomatic carriers, the airport is still doing temperature checks on all passengers arriving on repatriation flights, who are in any event headed for quarantine.

Owen Roberts International Airport and Charles Kirkconnell International Airport remain closed for international passenger flights until 31 August. However, domestic, cargo, courier and emergency medical flights continue to operate, in addition to the air bridges and repatriation flights approved by government.