Negative COVID-19 test results welcomed

| 23/06/2020 | 18 Comments

(CNS): For the second day running, Chief Medical Officer Dr John Lee reported on Tuesday that there were no positive test results for COVID-19 from a batch of 451 samples. Cayman now has just 40 active cases of the disease and none of those individuals have any symptoms. The ongoing trend of negative results from the screening programme was welcomed by the premier and the governor, who said it demonstrated government’s strategy was working but urged people to remain vigilant.

Premier Alden McLaughlin said the trend in the test results was very encouraging. “There is a great feeling all around of optimism,” he said.

He added that with the move to Suppression Level 2, many more people had returned to work this week, but it appeared to be going well, with people taking the social distancing and other protocols to prevent the spread of the virus seriously. However, he warned that the “virus is still among us”, as he pointed to the need to continue the well documented protective protocols.

McLaughlin said the message had changed from “stay home Cayman” to “stay safe Cayman”, as people took more and more personal responsibility to keep themselves and others safe.

Governor Martyn Roper said he was also encouraged by the test results and two days of no positive tests. But he reminded people that around the world things were not going so well; the World Health Organization (WHO) had said that on Sunday there was the largest number of new cases reported in one day since the outbreak began. The number of confirmed virus cases is still growing rapidly in the US, Brazil, South Africa and across Latin America.

Cayman has now conducted 21,282 tests with 195 confirmed positive cases. While 40 cases remain active, all of those individuals, who are in quarantine or isolating at home, are asymptomatic. Over the last week, from around 3,000 tested samples just two positive cases have emerged, fuelling hope that the virus has burned itself out.

The HSA has also now started the IgG antibody testing. Dr Lee said that these test results will be reported in weekly blocks but they are already showing that people who have tested positive for COVID-19 here are not showing high levels of antibodies. However, he said the numbers were far too small yet to draw any conclusions about what that meant in terms of the impact of the virus on this community.


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Category: Health, Medical Health

Comments (18)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Decisions based on no research. Cayman doesn’t want flights from the U.S. but accepts them from England. The US accepts flights from Cayman, but not England.

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  2. Anonymous says:

    Straight up lied to “his people” about the international mail.

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  3. Anonymous says:

    Get the damn borders open! Scared of the day they’ll never see!

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    • Anonymous says:

      We aren’t going to open the borders just so you can go on holiday and drink Pimms in the garden, mate. Just take a staycation and chill.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Seriously! How the U.S. has tackled the epidemic and where vast sections of the community appear to be completely oblivious to social distancing, and that new cases are still running at 20,000+ per day, why would Cayman risk all its hard work to permit visitors.

      Europe should ‘ban’ U.S. visitors until its President shows some leadership and gets proper control of the virus – he is a disgrace!

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      • Anonymous says:

        The US President won’t show anything but a desire to be reelected until next January, when a new President takes over. I actually enjoy being able to shop, meet friends, dine out, etc. here in Cayman without fear that the virus is running rampant here. If we let in Trumphole Americans, that all goes away.

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        • Anonymous says:

          seeing the speck in your neighbor’s eye?

          just leave them alone and focus on dysfunctional territory called The Cayman islands.

  4. Anonymous says:

    The Premier seems determined to hold on to HMP Holiday Inn and today we found out why he can say he employed a few Caymanians.
    What is his problem with this quarantine issue just self isolate at home make random spot checks, email,sign ins to check IP address or land line phone calls not rocket science or does he not trust his people and make it a minimum $2,000 fine.

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  5. Anonymous says:

    👏👆🏾

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    • Anonymous says:

      It’s called COMADNESS-20. It’s contagious if you read too many of these whining posts on this site. Wear a mask over your eyes when reading them.

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  6. Annoyed says:

    Any word on when Caymanians and residents can expect to see a flight schedule they can plan their life around?? Why all the top secret on flights and having to put your name on a list with no calm backs. Put a few flights in with KX so Caymanians/residents can get in and out without all this red tape. Put the requirements in place for only those people are permitted in and let people be able to book their own trip. The government is setting ridiculous fares because they are controlling the flight and making up the fares?? Come on now this is madness Alden and Roper and Co 😡

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  7. Anonymous says:

    I’m sure they can find a tennis player or a movie star to strategically test positive.

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  8. Anonymous says:

    Terrible news for the oppression measures.

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