Cayman still COVID-free as virus rages around world

| 07/09/2020 | 86 Comments
Cayman News Service
HSA COVID-19 Testing Clinic

(CNS): The Cayman Islands started the week retaining its COVID-free status, when Chief Medical Officer Dr John Lee reported Monday afternoon that all 79 COVID-19 tests carried out since Friday were negative. But while Cayman has not seen a case of community transmission since 11 July, there are spikes around the world, including Jamaica, which now has more than 3,000 cases, and the UK, which saw almost 3,000 new cases on Sunday alone.

The total number of cases in the United States is nearing 6.5 million with surges in spread from Missouri to Virginia. But the situation in Florida remains particularly difficult for Cayman’s plans to reopen the borders as it remains the state with the highest number of current infections, with 531,275 active cases from its tally of more than 648,000.

The Cayman government has still not set a date for its next COVID-19 briefing to inform the public of the details of the planned proposed border reopening and a supposed rehearsal of protocols on the first of a new fortnightly service by British Airways from London to Grand Cayman next week.

Meanwhile, government continues to require arriving passengers to Cayman on inbound expatriation flights to quarantine for 14 days and to have a negative test before being released. The total number of people in quarantine on Monday, either at a government facility or in their homes as required by the medical officer of health, was 393. 

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Very tricky to quarantine at-home. Must have severe medical issue. Too hard to trust and track.

    The last 30 days has offered peace of mind and safety, thank you Dr. Lee!!!

    I would rather be a Covid-free conservative country that attracts long-term residents than fall for fast greed of fleeting and infected tourists.

    Stay strong Cayman. We survived ’32, we rebuilt after Ivan, we CAN re-invent ourselves to live within our borders….

    Oh yes, and the traffic is indeed back?

  2. Anonymous says:

    Time for a plan to open up without a vaccine!
    Oxford one now on hold……was that not the one leading the way?

    Pre test and test after arriving is needed or we will be closed for years to come!

    • Anonymous says:

      So you know that developing a new vaccine or medicine is like playing Russian Roulette.

      “I thought I was doing something good for science.”

      On Monday 13 March 2006, eight healthy young men took part in a clinical trial of an experimental drug known as TGN1412. The drug was intended to treat leukaemia and had already been successfully tested on monkeys but never on humans.
      It should have been a routine clinical trial but it soon spiralled into one of the most infamous medical emergencies in recent British history.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9_sX93RHOk

      Also available on Netflix.

  3. Anonymous says:

    Let us have a CV/Covid parade.

    Attire – chicken suits with wings. Any group that can have their chickens run in a circle with wings flapping….and…..not have anyone fall over with an actual injury…..gets a coupon to…..Chicken Chicken. If they are still open. LOL

  4. Casedemic is not pandemic says:

    In case you missed it
    “The main test used to diagnose coronavirus is so sensitive it could be picking up fragments of dead virus from old infections, scientists say.”
    https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/health-54000629

    • Autonomous says:

      Your excerpt is misleading. The article suggests that tests may be picking up remnants in a specimen from a recently sick patient who had passed the point of being infectious ( about a week). It is not detecting remnants from a virus that a patient passed years, months, or even more than a week ago.
      You can disagree with the government’s approach to lockdown, but misrepresenting the substance of a news article is a lazy and ineffective way to go about forwarding your argument.

  5. Anonymous says:

    I would like to give you 100 thumbs up on the 17,000 automobile deaths story. Two weeks ago I was in a car accident but didn’t tell anyone in my family. Since that time, only two of my family and friends have been in car accidents. You sure do make sensible arguments.

  6. Bob says:

    Its a cold with side effects that attack poor health issues. No one gets pneumonia and dies in GC? You can not control that either. Yes that spreads. Yes shocking there is a vaccine that works less than 50% of the time. Guess what, learn to live with it. The island will be completely bankrupted if this continues. As opposed to 33% now. But that’s what they want so Dart and the others continue to buy up the island on the cheap

    • Anonymous says:

      More persons have in fact died from pneumonia in Cayman this year than have from Covid.

    • Anonymous says:

      Learn to live with it when your father or mother, sister or brother dies from COVID. Or even worse, your young son or daughter.

      Bob get a heart and your hands off your pocketbook.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Raging CNS…..really?
    Sitting here in Florida I can tell you it is not raging.

    • Miami Dave says:

      Yes, you idiot in Florida. 12,000 deaths and 650,000 cases in Florida. Guess Trump has your vote as you are as delusional as him.

      Wear a FRIGGIN mask bozo.

      • Anonymous says:

        2019 17,000 deaths from automobile accidents. Where were you then? What has that go to do with trump? Funny how the left can insult without thought or recourse.

        • Anonymous says:

          I think here on CNS one very angry individual calls everyone an idiot. He has severe case of covidphobia. He needs mental help ASAP before he starts attacking real people. I am serious.

          • Orlando Bob says:

            You got it 11:23. I am a very angry individual at how Donald Trump is destroying my country and the values it once stood for. I have never been so mad politically in my long life, as every day makes me angry as America continues it’s decline in the world under Trump. My country has totally lost its way. The world is laughing at us.

            But unlike Trump, I can control my anger and don’t seek to destroy and belittle people who disagree with me. However, I know an idiot when I hear one and call them out when they are so outrageous on COVID matters and don’t accept basic scientific facts and data on COVID. Sadly, you my friend, fall into that category.

        • Anonymous says:

          It has everything to do with Trump. We are nowhere out of the woods with the coronavirus. Universities are shutting down all over America as cases are out of control in so many states and school children and parents are scared to send their kids to school.

          Trump’s ridiculing of people who wear masks is beyond belief. The man is a mental midget incapable of understanding basic science.

          • Anonymous says:

            I got two kids in a University – they ain’t shutting down. The only ones are the those that urinate themselves every time someone sneezes.
            Get a grip.

            • Anonymous says:

              I have 3 kids in 3 different universities in the Northeast U.S. All 3 are now shut down and now studying virtually. 😢

              Get real. Things will get worse when the flu season hits.

              • Autonomous says:

                What’s it been, a week? Two? I hope you had your fingers crossed and knocked on wood while you typed this.

              • Anonymous says:

                I have four kids in different US universities. They are all getting in with life and studies just fine.

                • Anonymous says:

                  You may think they are getting on with life and studies just fine, but in reality, they aren’t or they are not aware enough of the problems that surround them.

                  In fact, I think you are a liar. Name the 4 universities.

            • Anon says:

              You are a worthless person. The universities that are, are clearly doing what they feel is right to protect the student population.

              Wouldn’t want to meet your kids if this is the kind of word vomit you spew

              • Anonymous says:

                You need the heavy hand of government to tell you what to do. We don’t. Go hid under your bed and listen for you next instructions from your officials.

                • Anonymous says:

                  Will happily listen to our Government who have gotten us to the point of being Covid free. It is clear who’s government is superior in this instance. Good luck to you and your spawn who clearly don’t care. For your sake, hope you don’t get Covid. Or do…who care about you.

                • Poor Salty Sally says:

                  Ohhh7:38 because you all are doing sooooo well right? Your lack of Government is why the US is the laughing stock of the world and why your cases are not declining. I would prefer our “heavy handed” Government who have intelligence and have gotten us to the point where we can live normally within our borders. You won’t be in this position for a long time yet. So truly, who is winning? Cayman!

            • Autonomous says:

              This has it all: The COVID hoax plus the subtle suggestion of a local conspiracy by which Dart, the Boogeyman, is manipulating the circumstances for his selfish gain. This trumps Trump!

        • Orlando Bob says:

          Has absolutely nothing to do with left or right. We are talking about basic common sense and basic science. Regrettably, Trump has turned the issue of wearing a mask and social distancing into a political issue.

        • Anonymous says:

          10:26, In March the “stable genius” was comparing the number of coronavirus case deaths to automobile accident deaths. Your boy said it, not someone from the so called left. So that’s what it has to do with Trump.

      • FACTS says:

        The situation in Florida, is getting under control and the numbers are really decreasing. Therefore, it is not “Raging”, things are on a downturn, just look at the current stats…

        • Anonymous says:

          I’m in Florida too. Life goes on, with masks and social distancing. Compliance with both is very high in our county, and the case numbers have drastically declined. I don’t believe the media is making things up in terms of the data, but day to day things don’t feel as dramatic as shown on TV. Given Cayman’s current position I can understand the level of nervousness, but the situation is fluid and at some point I believe there does need to be an acceptance of a degree of risk.

          • Anonymous says:

            You’re correct. Just one detail. Compliance means “the action of complying with a command”. Only few FL counties (if any) have issued mandatory face masks and social distancing orders. Nevertheless, many people do wear masks.

        • Anonymous says:

          Sitting here at the University of Miami we have had 200 new coronavirus cases in the past 2 weeks. I am concerned as are all my friends on campus.

          Wish people would stop lying about the situation which is so serious here.

          • Anonymous says:

            Go Canes!

          • Anonymous says:

            I am sure it is worrying to be at university in the States just now – all you can do is control your own behaviour and do what you can to minimise your own risk.

            College campuses are most definitely a problem, but two things can be true at once: there can be a problem on college campuses (or perhaps more with students’ behaviour off-campus?) and the virus can be declining overall. For those of us outside the latest “problem” demographic in FL, it honestly feels like things are improving from how they were earlier in the summer.

            • Autonomous says:

              So The U has 200 cases. That’s University of Miami. In Miami. A big city where people interact and come and go and interact with others when they get there. So “the demographic” has nothing to do with it. It’s a hotspot that could cause another surge.

          • Anonymous says:

            How many out of 200 are actually sick, hospitalized and how many asymptotic? I didn’t find the numbers in uni site
            https://coronavirus.miami.edu/

            Today’s data for the entire Florida: 1823 positive tests.

          • Anonymous says:

            Re: university of Miami
            200 cases since when?

      • Anonymous says:

        Where did the poster say he wasn’t wearing a mask?

        • Anonymous says:

          Trump men don’t wear masks. Where you been the last 4 months?

          • Anonymous says:

            I don’t think you can extrapolate that someone is a Trump supporter or anti-mask from the simple fact they take issue with the description of the virus as “raging” throughout Florida.

            Obviously I agree Trump folks tend not to wear masks. They would be selfish idiots, and some of the rhetoric spouted by Trump and his administration is despicable. Unfortunately there are a lot of his supporters around, but a lot fewer mask refuseniks in counties which have mandated mask wearing. Typically they are controlled by Democrats. It shouldn’t be political, but it is.

            • Anonymous says:

              It should be political but yet you point your finger at Democrats. The irony.

            • Hubert says:

              8:57, I saw with my own eyes on TV the Trump rally in Florida yesterday. Thousands of people not wearing a mask or social distancing. Saw only 3 people in crowd with a mask.

              Raging is a relative term but in America by the end of December it is estimated today we will have in America 300,000 deaths. In Florida that number will go from 12,000 deaths today to between 15,000 and 16,000 coronavirus deaths by the end of the year.

              To me that is raging but to you it probably means nothing.

      • Anonymous says:

        Well as a Caymanian I can’t vote here but still keep your BS going.

        Went out today and nearly everyone is wearing mask so stop the crap as well!

    • Anonymous says:

      The only raging in FL were few people who assumed that since they were wearing masks, everyone should. They learned to MYOB fast.

      Despite reported 10k daily positives a month ago, nothing really indicated that in real life. No lockdowns or mandatory face masks orders…

      MondayFL updates: 1,838 positive and 22 deaths. Keep in mind it takes 10-7 days to get test results. Positives don’t mean symptomatic, actively sick or hospitalized.

      150,000 die each day worldwide from all causes.

    • Anonymous says:

      8:30, You must be working for Trump with your view it is not raging. Stop watching FOX in Florida. Messing with your head.

      • Anonymous says:

        How did you manage to like your own comment 3 times? iPhone, iPad and laptop? Please see mental health professional as soon as possible. Do they have anger management programs in Cayman?

        • Anonymous says:

          The fact that you don’t know the answer to your question clearly indicates that you are not from here. Get off our news site and crawl up Trumps ass, believing his s**t that coronavirus isn’t serious. Ridiculous

  8. Anonymous says:

    I think Cayman’s natural isolation is a double-edged sword. On one hand it allows for a population control like no other – with expected results. Keep people away and apart from one another and no one contracts anything – not even a sense of humor. The flip side is that your neighbor to the north “where the virus is RAGING like a wild fire” has basically had us tune out the news narrative. Everyone that is sick, or has recovered is telling us a much different story of the illness.
    The focus on the deaths and hospitalizations should be the point of research. Regrettably, that is not the case. People who have compromised immune systems die from all kinds of illnesses. Now there is just one more disease to that list. Approximately half of the deaths in the USA are from elderly in assisted living centers. Bad yes, but how many would have died in the next 24 months – Corona or otherwise? I don’t know but I would not expect the answer to justify the current response.

    We have an issue here where people are going to get tested, and then leaving because the line is too long. Intending on coming back later or the next day – they get a positive result. This is driving a huge amount of distrust here as to what is going on – money for the tests, money for the “positive result”, and money for the death listed as corona. See that the CDC revised that actual CV deaths were a fraction of the reported numbers.

    People are being tested (USA) when being extremely ill – getting a negative test result. Days later an anti-body test show a positive. The majority of my family are medical doctors and they all admit it is a real head-scratcher.

    Queue the Thumbs Down……NOW!

  9. Anonymous says:

    Hi @8:36 am – the two travelers who tested positive recently if you recall, were picked up after being in quarantine for 14 (they were asymptotic). Because they were positive albeit not showing symptoms, they had to stay in quarantine a further 14 days at which time, they were tested again and the results were negative. They were released over going at least 2 weeks now.
    I think it’s great news these people didn’t become ill (show visible symptoms and required ventilation). It’s good to know whatever mild case they had, they recovered.

    CNS I saw reported from day 1, when they were picked up in standard screening to when the we went back being covid free.

    • Anonymous says:

      If only tested on days 14 and 28 as you say, how does one know the tests were accurate? Should there not be a second type of test? Should they not be tested on days 14 and 17? I’m personally aware of persons testing positive only to test negative when they go to a second lab. And by the way, no one gets tested on day 14. Cayman doesn’t count the day one arrives to the island so the rule is test on day 15 and wait 24 to 72 hours for the results.

  10. Say it like it is says:

    More deliberately obfuscating information. If all inbound passengers require 14 day quarantine, apparently 393 at present, how many of those are being allowed to quarantine at home, and why?.

  11. Anonymous says:

    Will be booking my holiday plans soon. Looking for a place without quarantine. Don’t think I will be traveling to Cayman anytime soon. Btw- Covid is not raging in my hometown.

    • Kerry Wilson says:

      Covid is not decimating the world as click bait fear mongering headlines would suggest.

      There are many tourist destinations that are already completely open and life is as normal.

      Cayman is a bubble, that is inflicting total economic destruction upon itself due to its own government not being able to realize that CNN and BBC are in the business of making things seem worse than they are.

      Has everyone forgotten that the death rate of covid 19 is far below 0.2% and for certain age groups basically 0? And have people also forgotten that no one died in cayman (cruise ship passenger died of a heart attack not covid)? And that there were probably over a 1000 people in cayman who had covid and the hospital was literally empty?

      Please, can someone actually refute what Im saying instead of just thumbs downing my comment because it is not the narrative that you have been believing feom the start?

      • Anonymous says:

        And what would the death rate be in an older population. Cayman Brac for example?

        You don’t get to gamble with the lives of my parents.

        • Anonymous says:

          They won’t get sick. Their vitamin D levels are probably very high, unless they spend all their time indoor.

        • Anonymous says:

          If they catch covid and are over 90 they have a 34.1% chance of dying. If between 80 and 90 they have a 34.8% chance of dying. If between 70 and 79 a 26.6% chance of dying. Another way to look this is someone over 90 has at 63% of living through coronavirus but a 100% chance of dying.

        • Medical student says:

          If older Brac population is stuck indoors their vitamin D level could be depleted. Check on that. The very latest peer reviewed study confirmed the importance of vitaminD levels.

          While doing that check PTH and calcium because these 3 go together and only together can tell a doctor the whole picture.

          Supplementing with vitamin D in Cayman seems not necessary for there’s plenty of sunshine. But sometime, especially in advanced age, other health issues come into play that lower D levels. Adding D supplement when a body intentionally lowers its levels would only cause harm. That is why calcium and PTH are important.

          Key points your doctor should know.
          – There are Two different Calcium Levels in Your Blood. When you get your calcium level checked, they check “Serum Calcium”. Serum is the yellow liquid part of blood–that part without the red and white blood cells. Serum Calcium is the standard calcium that is most easily measured. Most of the Serum Calcium floats around in the blood attached to random proteins. The other type of calcium in our blood is called “Ionized Calcium”. Ionized calcium is the calcium in your blood that is floating free of proteins, and thus very available to be absorbed into nerve, muscle, and other cells that required calcium to perform their duties. Ionized calcium is not checked routinely. It is more expensive to check, will vary with the pH of your blood, and it almost never requires checking in ‘normal’ people, unless they have a problem with their Serum Calcium.
          – Low Vitamin D Levels. 96% of patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (a parathyroid tumor) have low vitamin D. This is the body protecting itself, but is commonly misunderstood by endocrinologists.
          – If the blood calcium level is too HIGH, it should be associated with a LOW parathyroid hormone level–if the parathyroids are normal… (a normal parathyroid will shut down and go to sleep if the calcium level is high).
          – A blood calcium level that is too HIGH, and is associated with a HIGH parathyroid hormone level then one or more parathyroid gland tumors are almost surely present. That is, the high blood calcium is a result of the excess parathyroid hormone (PTH). It is a parathyroid gland tumor that is the problem.
          – It is extremely rare for people to have high calcium levels in their blood… and not have a parathyroid tumor. If you have high calcium in your blood, chances are extremely high you have hyperparathyroidism, unless your PTH is VERY low.

          So start with checking Ca, PTH and D3 and if all is normal, your elderly patients, relatives and friends would be fine even if they socialize a lot with other people including visitors.

          That is the starting point of course. So the sky is not falling on them as it seems.
          By the way parathyroid tumor is almost always benign and the best clinic in the world specializing in it is located in Tampa

        • Anonymous says:

          It’s fair to assume you don’t have children who need proper schooling to just get by in life. Or should we just write the children off?

      • Anonymous says:

        It certainly is decimating the USA. Universities are shutting down every day and many schools both public and private are not opening.

        • Anonymous says:

          Blue States only, Red States are 50/50 or fully open. This whole scam is a democrat scheme to get the Dementia guy elected.

          CNS: So your theory is that the UK, China, Russia, India, the whole of Europe, Canada, Brazil Mexico and every other country in the world took a quick break from trying to achieve world peace and all got together and concocted this scam to get Joe Biden elected. Is that right? Person, woman, man, camera, TV (by the one who actually took the dementia test).

      • Anonymous says:

        You are so correct. The number of cases are dropping daily – now, with more and more “sick” and the opening of businesses and beaches (crowds gathering places) – it should be the OPPOSITE. It is not.

        Everyone should be using some rational thinking instead of acting like a bunch of lemmings. Again, Newton’s Law of Inertia is proving applicable to more than just physical items.

      • Anonymous says:

        My cousin just returned home after spending 2 wonderful weeks with his family in Side, a lovely resort town on Turkey’s southern Mediterranean coast. They did wore masks while on a plane.

    • Anonymous says:

      It might be raging if you bring it back. Please try not to harm your neighbours by being irresponsible.

    • Keep on going says:

      Excellent, we don’t want you so please look elsewhere 👍🏼

  12. Anonymous says:

    What happened to the two travelers who tested positive recently? Did they go to hospital or was their second test negative? How come our travelers don’t seem to feel ill and ask to go to hospital? Surely given the fear of death we have, some one must be ill? Anyone? Or does every traveler miraculously defeat Covid in a hotel room? If so, perhaps we should be selling quarantine as a tourist attraction! I invite anyone who thumbs down or disagrees to actually provide some numbers, statistics and facts. I appreciate it’s a huge challenge but I promise if the numbers justify our actions, I will concede.

    • Anonymous says:

      Yes, the great majority of persons with Covid will defeat it in their hotel room. A few percent will require medical treatment, an even smaller number hospitalization, and an even lower number will die.

      Hospital is the last place persons with mild symptoms should be, in particular given the risk of infection of healthcare workers who could then spread it to the most vulnerable.

      What we are doing and the way we are approaching it is exactly right.

      • Anonymous says:

        There’s a stat for you – the great majority will defeat Covid in a hotel room. Cayman must be on the forefront of medical technology. A few percent? What percent? Doesn’t Cayman know exactly from where the travelers come, how many hospitalized, etc? Actually hospitals are not the worst place, old age homes are. So essentially you’ve responded with no facts, no numbers and a conclusion of exactly right.

      • Anonymous says:

        Guess 200,000 people didn’t defeat COVID in the hotel room in America the past 6 months. 💀 💀 💀

    • Anonymous says:

      The current thinking is that the tests are too sensitive, generally. They pick up people with very low exposures to the disease that wouldn’t have enough of the virus to develop into anything that the body wouldn’t cope with naturally, or be able to pass it on. The real question is what are you testing for? Do you want to pick up only the people who will get sick and infect others, or do you want to pick up everyone even if they won’t get sick, or pass it on, and can you actually differentiate between them?

    • Anonymous says:

      I had it and like most did not go to hospital and defected it at home not feeling sick at all…..so no doubt they could get better in a hotel.

      • Anonymous says:

        Thank you for showing us that people can be trusted to isolate at home. The fact that Cayman is Covid free proves people like you take this matter seriously. Pity persons in the quarantine “prisons” don’t get the same treatment.

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