Hospitalised woman succumbs to COVID-19

| 16/11/2020 | 59 Comments
Cayman News Service

(CNS): A patient who has been on a ventilator at the George Town hospital for over six weeks as a result of COVID-19 complications has died. The woman was suffering from a pre-existing, serious health condition when she returned to the Cayman Islands from Jamaica for treatment and tested positive for the virus while in quarantine. Meanwhile, another three travellers tested positive for the virus on Monday, one of whom was symptomatic. Officials confirmed that the deceased patient, who is now only the second person in the Cayman Islands to succumb to the virus, died Sunday.

The woman, who is understood to be a resident and retired public servant, was first admitted to the hospital when her COVID-19 symptoms worsened on 4 October. Although her pre-existing condition was not formally outlined by the health ministry when her death was confrimed Monday, officials said she had fallen into the category of those considered to be at high risk of complications from the COVID-19 virus.

The woman is the second person to die because of the coronavirus here and the first resident to do so.

The first person to die was also Cayman’s first confirmed case of the virus. He was an Italian cruise ship passenger who was taken off Carnival’s Costa Luminosa in March and rushed to the Health City hospital here after suffering a cardiac arrest and died a few days later. It was later revealed that the ship had a serious outbreak of the virus and became the subject of a recent 60 Minutes feature as a result of the passengers’ ordeal that followed.

Cayman at present remains free of the coronavirus in the community, but there is an increasing risk of the virus returning, given the growing number of people now coming into the islands.

On Monday three more people in isolation tested positive for COVID-19 from a batch of 590 tests carried out since Friday. One of the three, who was suffering from mild symptoms, received the positive test at the end of their 14-day isolation period but will remain in isolation until they are recovered, officials said.

At the weekend there were over 1,000 people in isolation but the number had fallen to 800 on Monday after more than 200 of them were given the all clear.

Urging members of the public to continue to practice COVID-19 preventive measures, such as frequent hand-washing and social distancing, Health Minister Dwayne Seymour said the Cayman Islands remained fortunate to have had no recent reported cases of community transmission. He added that this lack of transmission over the last few months was due to the compliance with the isolation and other precautionary requirements implemented by government.


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Category: Health, Medical Health

Comments (59)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Another reason not to travel to Jam Rock.

  2. Cayman News says:

    To clarify some of my decisions regarding the moderation of comments on this article: We have included information that is available to us and we would be rightly criticised if we did not publish this factual article. We’re not going to ignore this very sad death or make suppositions. We go with what we have and will add information if and when it becomes available. What I am not allowing are armchair “doctors” second guessing the actual doctors who treated her. General comments about treatment can be made on other articles.

    CNS Editor

  3. Anonymous says:

    regarding the new positives….i will keep asking:
    are they in home or facility quarantine?
    how do you stop people visiting home quarantine people?
    why are travellers not tested before they fly?

    • Anonymous says:

      Testing has to be done in a fairly narrow window of infection, if you caught it yesterday a false negative is close to 100%, tested after 4 days and that test is negative 65 times out of 100, 5-8 days is about optimum, according to studies. Even then, what if a Caymanian tests positive at the airport before flying, has no symptoms, and has a very low chance of infecting anyone, deny boarding and tell them to find a hotel for a couple of weeks to ride it out?

      • Anonymous says:

        And thats why we should be isolating for 7 days and then testing!
        Why has CIG not been testing this system?

    • Anonymous says:

      Who cares, there is a $10k fine for rule breaking even if you aren’t sick or able to infect anyone, plus a ride to hotel prison. Plus you would have to persuade someone who isn’t paranoid about getting infected to stop by…

      • Anonymous says:

        wow…you know nothing of human behaviour,

      • Anonymous says:

        What, you mean the same way fines were enforced for home visits during lock down? Or the jail sentences available for hard curfew breach and only used in one case, who as I recall was committing a bunch of other offences whilst breaking hard curfew. The deterrent effect is simply not credible.

        Oh, and BTW as someone currently in quarantine I can tell you from personal experience that there have been very long periods in which the tag or the connected phone has not been working, and the only response from the command center has been to ring -after some hours – on a personal cell phone, rather than our landline, and ask to confirm that we are at home. Even a promise to visit and fix the culprit phone hasn’t been followed up on – and that was 4 days ago.

        The original poster has a legitimate concern. The current system appears heavily dependent on the co-operation of those in quarantine.

    • Anonymous says:

      Too easy to fake results

  4. Anonymous says:

    Is the age of the deceased known?

  5. Anonymous says:

    Condolences to the family and friends of the lady that lost her battle with COVID. I pray that her family somehow manages to find peace through this terrible time.

  6. Anonymous says:

    May she Rest In Peace. Let’s put the vitriol aside and focus on helping each other, here and abroad. Prayers for Nicaragua, Honduras and the islands in the path of Iota.

  7. Todd Heinz says:

    Covid 19 is a horrible illness .Prayers and condolences to her family and loved ones .

  8. Anonymous says:

    I agree with you chiding the inconsiderate “thumbs-downs” but no need for “trump supporting driftwoods”. Lot’s of local “trumpsheep” too!

    • Anonymous says:

      People can support whoever they want. The fact that you resort to slurs and denigration says more about you than Trump supporters.
      Give it a rest.

    • Anonymous says:

      Your comment is without merit and speaks more about you than anything else.
      Please put forward an intelligent structured point and perhaps we will listen.

  9. Anonymous says:

    All the thumbs down on these comments just goes to show the inconsiderate selfish assholes we have on this island.
    Most likely trump supporting driftwoods.
    RIP to the deceased, you won’t feel pain anymore.

    • Anonymous says:

      Dummy say wah? You don’t like the thumbs down so you arrive to the conclusion that not only are they Driftwood but they’re also Trump supporters? Ok Genius!

    • Anonymous says:

      Not everyone that posts on here are actually “on thIs Island”.

      Individuals posts here for many reasons – including those from competing jurisdictions, politician wanna-be’s, those seeking to sow seeds of discord in our community, etc

    • Anonymous says:

      Angry or just hate people in general?

    • Anonymous says:

      Most of the tRump supporters I know are born and bred.

    • Anonymous says:

      Lmao you liberals can’t leave orange man alone can you?

    • Bertie : B says:

      Comments can come from anywhere in the world ? Condolences to the family , God Bless from my heart.

      • Anonymous says:

        Ever heard of the internet, Bertie? It does happen to be worldwide. Might even be possible to read Cayman Net News, Cayman News Service, Caymanian Compass or other news articles ON THE MOON??? Don’t know. Just saying, anywhere on this earth, a person can access news about/from the Cayman Islands with a smart phone or a computer.

  10. Anonymous says:

    I was just thinking that the person in hospital had been in there for SO LONG. Shame she had to suffer for so long as well as her family and friends…RIP!

  11. Anonymous says:

    Need to stop people coming in to Cayman Is. now, after it gets in the community it will be too late. If have life,then have hope, no life, no hope .
    After the vaccine gets going and cases falls good then can open.up borders again.

    • Anonymous says:

      You can’t be serious. This case was a resident. Someone who lived here. Are you really suggesting that we shouldn’t allow Caymanians to return if they are sick? That would be the ultimate indignity and just plain inhumane. This is a manageable situation though quarantine and proper treatment.

  12. Anonymous says:

    That’s two people with serious health issues that died while positive to the virus.
    Japan, an island nation that also shut down and closed itself off had only 2,000 covid deaths in the last ten months now has over 2,153 suicide deaths just in the last month. They are now rethinking closing off the island, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/japan-suicide-coronavirus-more-japanese-suicides-in-october-than-total-covid-deaths/

    • Anonymous says:

      Japan has always had a high rate of suicide because of their cultural beliefs and honour system. Not a good comparison.

      • Anonymous says:

        Yes you are right but I was only comparing what happens to the economy. The high suicide rate is being blamed on that. The suicide rate is not a good comparison. What is happening to their economy might be.

    • nauticalone345 says:

      20,840
      In 2019, approximately 20.1 thousand people committed suicide in Japan. The numbers peaked in 2010 with close to 31.7 thousand suicide victims in total.

      Total number of suicides committed in Japan from 2010 to

      Please see below the numbers of suicides annually in Japan going back to 2015. If you think lockdown is depressing, try to contemplate the alternative – see the international news for any number of locales with uncontrollable spread of the virus.

      2019.
      Number of suicides
      2018 20,840
      2017 21,321
      2016 21,897
      2015 24,025
      6 more rows • May 15, 2020

      • Japan: number of suicides 2019 | Statista

    • Anonymous says:

      Your point won’t be taken seriously until the worst happens.

    • Anonymous says:

      they shut down to prevent mass spread of COVID amongst the population that may tun the deaths to 100,000’s.

      Look at the US, Covid in 10 months has killed far more Americans that died in WW1 and Vietnam war.

      And that is not including the COVID deaths they haven’t recorded as their testing has been so bad.

      Nero played golf as his country died from a plague, twiddling with his 3 wood

  13. Anonymous says:

    May she Rest In Peace and her loved ones find solace in the love they enjoyed and the knowledge she is not suffering.

    It is critical that Caymanians stuck overseas be enabled to return home quickly, through strict quarantine. Every day that they are forced to remain away increases the risk that others will succumb. This is a matter of life and death.

    • Anonymous says:

      Please can you explain your second paragraph? It makes no sense.

      • Anonymous says:

        Hundreds of Caymanians overseas cannot come home because the planes are full. Some Caymanians are having to go overseas for medical care and then cannot get back home. Despite a general understanding that local people have priority that is simply not what is happening. Cayman Airways is selling out limited flights on a first come first serve basis, including to tourists. That means there are simply no seats available for the locals that need them. Caymanians are accordingly stuck in places where the pandemic is raging.

        • Anonymous says:

          What tourists?

          • Anonymous says:

            Exactly, anyone who wants to get here that has a permit or residency or from here is allowed. If they can’t figure out how to get here or are denied then I’m sure it’s for a reason. I would like some examples of these people who can’t get a flight in.

        • Anonymous says:

          @7:35pm – thank you for explaining that part of your comment. I was also confused but now that you’ve expanded on it, it makes total sense to me.

      • Anonymous says:

        I doubt it…

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