No positive COVID results for second day

| 18/06/2020 | 27 Comments
Drive-thru testing at the GT hospital

(CNS): Over the last two days public health officials have processed over 1,100 samples taken as part of the COVID-19 screen testing programme and all have been negative, indicating that Grand Cayman could be edging towards the goal of eliminating this coronavirus. In a short release today, Chief Medical Officer Dr John Lee reported that 731 COVID-19 tests processed since Wednesday’s press conference were all negative.

The positive tally in Cayman remains at 193 cases, with 141 people having recovered. There are now just 51 active cases. One patient is in hospital in a stable condition and a second person is enduring symptoms at home but the remaining 49 are still asymptomatic.

Overall 19,336 people have now been tested on all three islands, which accounts for close to half of Cayman’s workforce. Most people who have been tested were been part of the mass screening project, which focuses on health and other emergency service personnel, front-line and essential employees, construction workers and, more recently, caregivers and domestic staff.

Other groups have included people who have returned to Cayman from overseas after their 14 days stay in government quarantine, the contacts of those known to be positive, half the population of Cayman Brac, all the residents on Little Cayman and those people who have presented to doctors or the hospital with COVID-like symptoms.

This means that Cayman has tested a large cross-section of the community and had seen a trend of three to four positive cases per day from this random testing programme.

But the number of positives began falling last week and now, in two days and after 1,116 test results, no one has been found to have the disease. Since last Friday there have been just six positive results out of more than 2,100 test samples.

Government will be hosting a press briefing Friday, when the latest set of regulations are also expected to be released detailing the changes to the current curfews, which will begin on Sunday 21 June.

Yesterday the premier announced the end of the nighttime curfew at 4:30am Sunday and the easing of many more resurrections that had been imposed on the community to control the spread of the virus. This will take Cayman to Suppression Level Two.

The shopping day restrictions based on names comes to an end Saturday. In addition, people can visit other people’s homes from Sunday onwards and up to 25 can gather at one time.

Domestic helpers and caregivers can return to work, while churches, cinemas, beauty salons, spas, medical and dental offices can all reopen, subject to social distancing, mask wearing and other protocols.


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 (27)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. my cousin vinnie says:

    The coronavirus pandemic is “accelerating” after a record number of infections were recorded in just one day, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.

    The global health body said more than 150,000 cases of COVID-19 were reported on Thursday – the highest since the pandemic began.

    WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual press briefing: “The pandemic is accelerating.

    “More than 150K new cases of #COVID19 were reported to WHO yesterday – the most in a single day so far.

    4
    3
  2. Anonymous says:

    Not every week, every day.

    1
    1
  3. ELVIS says:

    Respect the virus you clown. Don’t make it unleash its power. Respect it and distance, stay home, stay safe cayman, this thing will kill you and your family. Be grateful don’t taunt it

    18
    15
  4. Anonymous says:

    How does one ease resurrections?

  5. Antibody testing needed says:

    When will antibody testing begin?? Would like to know how many may have been exposed without symptoms. That’s a much better indication of whether we can safely open our borders.

    14
    3
    • Anonymous says:

      Why is it a better indication of whether we can safely open our borders? Nobody knows yet if antibodies will prevent a subsequent infection. And… sickened people in China are having relapses months later.

      17
      7
    • Anonymous says:

      Q. When will antibody testing begin??

      There are four types of antibodies that each have different functions: IgM, IgG, IgA, and IgE. Generally IgE are responsible for classical allergy symptoms, while IgA are particularly important for protecting the mucous membranes of the eyes, nose, mouth, and gastrointestinal tract. In the immune response to an infectious disease, IgM usually appear first, followed by IgG and IgA, with occasional contributions from IgE.

      Current antibody tests for COVID-19 test only IgM and IgG, and assume that IgM represents a recent infection, while IgG will represent a recent or distant infection.

      French researchers found things work 🟢completely🟢 differently in COVID-19:

      Contrary to all expectation, IgM is weak at all time points and IgA dominates the first two weeks of COVID-19 infection. IgA continues to be most prevalent in the second week, and it is almost as prevalent as IgG in the third and fourth weeks. IgM is never the most prevalent, and it drops off in the fifth week just like IgA. Only IgG remains prevalent in the fifth week. IgA antibodies were five times more effective than IgG antibodies at neutralizing SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

      The patients whose IgA had the greatest ability to neutralize the virus were the ones who had the highest levels of IgA against the spike protein.

      That suggests that during the major period when the virus is being fought off, it is IgA antibodies against the spike protein that offer the most important defense in people who produce them effectively.

      This also suggests that the existing antibody tests are 🟣based on false assumptions🟣. IgA, rather than IgM, should be used to indicate a recent infection.

      MORE QUESTIONS.
      If anti-phospholipid IgG is a major driver of clotting, what is its prevalence in asymptomatic cases? Does someone who gets exposed and develops antibodies but never gets sick according to conventional criteria have a risk of developing these antibodies and developing a dangerous blood clot?
      If half of hospitalized cases develop anti-phospholipid antibodies, will some of those exposed to a vaccine develop them? 🔴Could a vaccine prevent someone from getting sick by conventional criteria but increase the risk of blood clots?🔴
      It seems this should be monitored very carefully in the safety trials.

      • Eye-roll says:

        There must be some way that you can summarize all of this into a succinct amount of information—no one wants to read all of this excessive verbiage from a boring scientific article.

        Say what you are trying to point out and be done with it—this isn’t a medical convention. We are not impressed by your big .50 cent words.

        4
        3
        • Anonymous says:

          👩‍⚕️
          It is A SUMMARY, condensed and simplified for a lay person to understand.

          For those who are only able to comprehend two sentences:

          #1 … the existing antibody tests are based on false assumptions because things work completely differently in COVID-19: IgA, rather than IgM, should be used to indicate a recent infection….

          #2 Could a vaccine prevent someone from getting sick by conventional criteria, but increase the risk of blood clots?

          5
          2
          • Patient advocate says:

            So do tell, are you an epidemiologist? A virologist? Are you a doctor?? With all of your important “facts”, why remain anonymous? Come now—we need to know who you are so we can come to your office for treatment, as you seem to be the most knowledgeable physician on the island!

            1
            3
            • Anonymous says:

              I am not a medical doctor and this is not medical advice. My expertise is in conducting and interpreting research related to my field. Please consult your physician before doing anything for prevention or treatment of COVID-19.

              *Footnotes

              * The term “preprint” is often used in these updates. Preprints are studies destined for peer-reviewed journals that have yet to be peer-reviewed. Because COVID-19 is such a rapidly evolving disease and peer-review takes so long, most of the information circulating about the disease comes from preprints.

              1
              1
  6. Anonymous says:

    Can anyone identify they critical distinction between the two statements? One is from the government covid website. By changing the tense of a single word, the sentence changes from a meaningless statement, to confirming people are doing their jobs properly:

    “All positive and inconclusive results will be sent for cross-checking to our reference laboratory, CARPHA, along with 10% of negative cases.”

    “All positive and inconclusive results have been sent for cross-checking to our reference laboratory, CARPHA, along with 10% of negative cases.”

    Guess which statement appears on the government COVID-19 webpage?

    It makes you wonder if people are doing their jobs, or if they mean to at some point while people are still out of work and hungry due to a lockdown which could have ended months ago

    Would love to hear from CARPHA on their confirmation of all these results…

    11
    3
    • Anonymous says:

      Guess which statement appears on the government COVID-19 webpage?
      #️⃣1️⃣

    • Anonymous says:

      Well the info graphics list these as “confirmed cases” rather than “positive test results” so I’m sure despite the airport closure and continued shutdown of international mail, they’re still able to send all 193 samples and 1,934 negative results to Trinidad for testing, and get confirmation back same day. Exceptional example of government efficiency!

  7. Anonymous says:

    Why the post office is already open but we didnt heard that they do there covid test?

    1
    9
    • Anonymous says:

      Try writing that again…
      Not everyone is being tested before returning to work. Your nanny, nail technician and teachers are not being tested. Even if they were, it’s meaningless unless they continue to be tested every week.

      13
  8. Anonymous says:

    Thought we were going to have a thousand people testing positive?

    13
    24

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.