First COVID-19 results of year reveal nine cases
(CNS): Nine travellers tested positive for COVID-19 in the first batch of results for the New Year. Chief Medical Officer Dr John Lee said Monday that a total of 578 COVID-19 tests were carried out since New Year’s Eve, the rest of which were negative. Although all of these travellers were said to be asymptomatic, there are now 46 active cases of the virus among those in quarantine and isolation and eight of those patients are symptomatic.
There are currently a total of 834 people in isolation or quarantine, but with the arrival of the BA Flight on Tuesday, that number is expected to increase again. That flight will also be bringing Cayman’s first batch of COVID-19 vaccines.
Officials have still not confirmed the number of shots Cayman will receive but it is said to be several thousand. According to the national vaccination plan, healthcare and front-line personnel will the first to get the shots, followed by the elderly and most vulnerable.
Category: Health, Medical Health
CNS – you may want to look at the actual math and see that this notion that Sweden’s no lockdown approach “failed” is a complete fallacy.
Sweden – **Extremely limited lockdowns**
– Total Number of Cases – 469,748
– Total Deaths – 8,985
– Percentage of deaths vs cases – 1.91%
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/sweden/
USA – **Limited Lockdowns**
– Total Number of cases – 21,755,772
– Total Deaths – 368,328
– Percentage of deaths vs cases – 1.69%
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/
Brazil – **Limited Lockdowns**
– Total Number of cases – 7,825,616
– Total Deaths – 197,956
– Percentage of deaths vs cases – 2.5%
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/brazil/
United Kingdom – Rampant Lockdowns
– Total Number of cases – 2,836,801
– Total Deaths – 77,346
– Percentage of deaths vs cases – 2.72%
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/uk/
Italy – Rampant Lockdowns
– Total Number of cases – 2,201,945
– Total Deaths – 76,877
– Percentage of deaths vs cases – 3.49%
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/italy/
France – Rampant Lockdowns
– Total Number of cases – 2,705,618
– Total Deaths – 66,565
– Percentage of deaths vs cases – 2.46%
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/france/
So, based on the data you’ll see that you’re actually more at risk in a place that institutes lockdowns than those that don’t do much at all.
So please, enlighten me – what’s the point of a lockdown and how has Sweden “failed”?
Based on the data it seems to me that all lockdowns do is destroy economies, actually increase the death rate in covid cases, and based on the UN’s recent report could kill more people than the virus.
https://unglobalcompact.org/take-action/20th-anniversary-campaign/covid-related%20hunger-could-kill-more-people-than-the-virus
CNS: Sweden says Sweden has failed. Sorry, I’m tired so I’m just going to give you a few links. You need to compare to nearby countries, which all have socialised medicine, a healthy population, similar economies and demographics.
Sweden’s King On Coronavirus: ‘We Have Failed’
Sweden’s Covid-19 failures have exposed the myths of the lockdown-sceptics
idiot original poster…who has the same grasp of statistics as donald trump.
the only stat that matters is death per captia of the population.
1:27am: I agree with you that those stats do nothing for the “you’re actually more at risk in a place that institutes lockdowns than those that don’t” argument. Those stats given are heavily affected by age/health/lifestyle of population, quality of medical care, and other factors.
I disagree that the only stat that matters is deaths per capita. That stat is certainly very important but not the only one that matters. Looking at Cayman’s deaths per capita (2/65000) gives you 0.003076923076923%. If you exclude patient zero, that was already basically dead after multiple cardiac events on the cruise ship, you’re looking at a rate of death per capita of 0.001538461538462%. How does that rate do anything to support a lockdown?
Deaths vs positive cases do matter as it determines recovery rate. Recovery rates should play a role in decisions on lockdowns and re-openings.
Cayman has an advantage over all of the countries given in those stats……it can be wholly isolated from outsiders. Once the borders were shutdown, if Cayman had done a 100% lockdown for 3 weeks…..virus would have burned out. Instead, there was a pseudo-lockdown that had to be extended and extended. Now, borders might reopen over a year later.
Do we know if all in-coming “positive” PCR travel cases are now automatically relocated to CI Gov’t hotels for supervision (at their cost), or is everyone free to bide their illness time and method wherever, so long as they don’t leave their front door, press their signal button on time, and are pronounced clear by PCR on day 15? ie. are the brand-new-arrival rental tenants in my condo complex, delivered by hazmat geared officials, allowed to anonymously serve their quarantine on their honor system, in my building, without any announcement to surrounding immediate proximity covid-free family households, even if tested positive? I ask because there is nobody sterilizing our railings anymore. No security. No masks, or general community feeling that those would be necessary anymore. Since they arrived and came up the stairs with their luggage, does my family need to gear up again and wear masks and gloves just to go visit the “home” dumpster? Do we need to take precautions in their immediate downwind air flow as they relax, coughing on their balcony, or with all their windows open? I don’t aspire to demonize anyone unfortunate enough to be positive. I don’t need to know their names, or vocations, or have their photographs. I have an abundance of sympathy. However, it would be courteous to be informed if and when someone was booking-in for a general quarantine amidst the public, or immediately beside their unit, with perhaps some guidance on their prescribed entry and exit dates, and perhaps some “if you see this” phone numbers. With the new 7x more contagious strain coming in, we desire the open courtesy to be given appropriate heads up notice on when we are being put at heightened risk, so that we can adjust our own vigilance and expectations. We should also hope that CMO and Travel Time are making 7x adjustments to their inbound protocols and previously loose policy assumptions of months ago, or we stand to fall out of step with a new strain already overtaking the capacity of the rest of the world. Once this new strain breaks into our community, all the months of hard work we put in, is over.
there is a reason cig is holding no more press briefing as they are now fully negligent and responsible for all covid cases in cayman and the ongoing risk to the population.
questions they don’t want to face:
why are they not doing pre-departure tests of travelers in any format?
is it possible that an already positive tested travller can still get a flight to cayman?
how many positives are in home quarantining?
who is monitoring visitors to people in home quarantine?
why are quarantine hotels fully supervised with security but nothing is done for home quarantine people?
what is the latest updates on the quarantine breach investigations?
cns and what is left of cayman media should demand these answers on a daily basis.
That BA flight will also likely bring new covid-positive cases, possibly of the new UK variant. As I recall, Dr. Lee said a couple weeks ago that we weren’t able to test for that? How does that work?
So why not postpone those flights for another couple weeks? Oh no! I need my pork pies!!
He clearly stated that his tests will still show positives regardless of strain. They can’t tell which strain a person has but will still know they are positive.
Clown. Some people are returning after having spent much needed time with relatives who have endured a lot more than Cayman. Our quarantine procedures are working. Deal with it.
Deal with there are not supposed to be any “wanting” recreational or business travelers right now. Zoom or Facetime if you want to. Our airport has been expressly closed to all of that “want” air traffic since March. These are supposed to be dedicated repatriation “need” flights only. You apply and sign a contract stating that you either need in, or you need out, and the need for doing so. Going home for Christmas should not be on the “need” approved list, and if that is being approved then there’s a serious problem at Travel Time. The public purse must not be paying for wanty indulgent vacationers to hole up in catered and secured accommodation capacity, consuming our finite “needs” budget.
What a nice person you are – not!
reality doesn’t care about your feelings.
Actually we reopened the borders to certain people on a restricted basis. Travel Time no longer exists. It is now Cayman Travel and the rules are different. You can just buy a ticket to leave no questions asked at this point. Coming in is still restricted by not to the same extent.
The new variant is no longer confined to the UK, it’s everywhere now. USA, Canada, Jamaica, Brazil, all have cases… Travel Time should assume it’s coming in on every inbound plane load, and astute outbound passengers should also assume they are being seated in a chair previously occupied by a possibly inbound positive passenger. BYO alcohol wipes and be thorough.
We should all contact our MLAs (sorry MPs) and let them know that it is unacceptable that we keep importing more and more cases of Covid. Until we require day of departure testing we all face unacceptable risks that are easily remedied.
After all the safety measures we were instructed to take for practically all of 2020 to remain covid free, we are now allowing a potential shut down if people continue to come to Cayman while the rest of the world is shutting down. Where are the briefings and who’s pushing your buttons Alden?
The UK has just closed schools and banned unnecessary travel. Hopefully that includes travel to Cayman.
Perhaps our legislators are too busy voting themselves raises to even consider the risks the new strains are creating. Either that or they just don’t care.
Both!
Until and unless we require day of departure PCR/LAMP testing for all passengers boarding planes to Cayman the numbers will stay high. So will the probability that other passengers, airline crew, CBC and airport staff as well as taxi drivers handling incoming patients will be infected and will in turn bring Covid back into our community. Every sensible government on the planet is now requiring pre-departure testing. It is a shame ours is asleep at the switch.
Glad to hear all our regional teachers made it back then….
Might it not be better had they not?
🤔 we are allowing BA flights to Cayman and the rest of the world said “no” to the, why?
Hasn’t been a BA flight since Dec 15th. Try again.
So I woke up and suddenly GCM -> MIA flying Cayman Airways is 402.83 USD.
What happened ? What did I miss ?
“Time to recover” ?
I thought there was CAYMANKIND somehow, but hell no.
All the more frequent every day USA, Jamaica, private, business flights….
Because we require quarantine and the “rest of the world” doesn’t.
Asymptomatic or not they are positive. More positives flying in.
Awesome Alden just classy
Elvis – why are you scared of a virus with a survival rate for people under 40 of 99.997% ?
CNS: The pseudo-macho name calling is truly sickening. Stop it. The idea that people under 40 shouldn’t be worried about the virus is either fantastically stupid or unbelievably callous. Most people in the Cayman Islands know someone who is vulnerable either because of age or a pre-existing condition. I cannot imagine the kind of person who simply does not care about it spreading to them. And no, shutting them away somewhere does not work on any level.
Thumbs up was to CNS comment. Thank you for the leadership and facts CNS.
CNS – perhaps one solution to the problem of people like 7:13 posting random ridiculous numbers with no attribution to a credible source is to simply leave the number/fraction/percentage blank. That would discourage the 7:13 type of disinformation posts and hopefully encourage meaningful evidence based discussion.
Just left the evidence.
Read the great barrington declaration where the real experts call out Govt’s BS approach to the virus and confirm as follows:
The Great Barrington Declaration – As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies, and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection.
Coming from both the left and right, and around the world, we have devoted our careers to protecting people. Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates, worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes, fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health – leading to greater excess mortality in years to come, with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden. Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.
Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage, with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.
Fortunately, our understanding of the virus is growing. We know that vulnerability to death from COVID-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young. Indeed, for children, COVID-19 is less dangerous than many other harms, including influenza.
As immunity builds in the population, the risk of infection to all – including the vulnerable – falls. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity – i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable – and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine. Our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.
The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity, is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection, while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this Focused Protection.
Adopting measures to protect the vulnerable should be the central aim of public health responses to COVID-19. By way of example, nursing homes should use staff with acquired immunity and perform frequent testing of other staff and all visitors. Staff rotation should be minimized. Retired people living at home should have groceries and other essentials delivered to their home. When possible, they should meet family members outside rather than inside. A comprehensive and detailed list of measures, including approaches to multi-generational households, can be implemented, and is well within the scope and capability of public health professionals.
Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal. Simple hygiene measures, such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practiced by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities, such as sports, should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally, rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open. Arts, music, sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish, while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.
https://gbdeclaration.org/
#restmycase
CNS: 5 failings of the Great Barrington Declaration’s dangerous plan for COVID-19 natural herd immunity
Those who favour the survival of only the fittest have a perspective that fortunately the majority of those with common sense do not agree with. If this is your thing you might wish to check out another organisation with alternate views of reality:
https://www.tfes.org/
Those who believe the earth is flat and the rest of the universe is a myth.
Is survival of the fittest not the way of the entire natural world?
before we figured out how to walk upright and use fire it was survival of the fittest. If you want to go back to that please hand in your smart phone, computer, medical prescriptions along with all other items that have been created in the last few centuries and go find a cave to live in.
Ever heard of capitalism? Survival of the fittest personified.
Last i checked still alive and well in 2021. So i’ll keep my computer etc.
7:13 provides conclusive proof that there are random number generators in Cayman
10.01pm – CDC in US is random numbers? That’s the source
CNS you may want to read the latest from the FDA released today.
https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/safety-communications/risk-false-results-curative-sars-cov-2-test-covid-19-fda-safety-communication?utm_source=CDRHTwitterD
By the FDAs own admission, PCR testing for covid is flawed. It gives false positives and false negatives in a substantial amount of cases.
The New York Times reported this flaw back in August 2020 and said that in the samples they reviewed from three states where labs use a Ct of 37-40, up to 90% of tests were essentially false positives.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/29/health/coronavirus-testing.html
Knowing this i think its fair to say that the approach from those in power is all wrong.
But hey don’t take my word for it. Take the word from the 40,000+ medical professionals across the globe who all say the same thing and signed the barrington declaration openly stating that lockdowns are not the way to fight the virus and that we should instead use a strategy called focused prevention.
https://gbdeclaration.org/
XXX – (CNS: people can look up the names if they like)
Let that sink in for a minute.
World experts in immunology are saying governments dont know what they’re doing, that lockdowns do more harm than good and the virus is only really life threatening for those with underlying health conditions and those who are of old age.
Then we have the FDA openly acknowledging that the covid tests we all used previously don’t work and incorrectly provide false positives in a substantial number of cases.
XXXX (CNS: Deleted more pseudo-macho BS. See comment above.)
The rest of us will continue living without fear as we know that the risk of death from covid is miniscule and that the number of positive cases the world over is stupendously exaggerated.
CNS: For balance…
expert reaction to Barrington Declaration, an open letter arguing against lockdown policies and for ‘Focused Protection’
5 failings of the Great Barrington Declaration’s dangerous plan for COVID-19 natural herd immunity
Thank you CNS
The GBD represents a fringe Darwinian/libertarian view of reality which thankfully no sensible or compassionate person would accept. As seen above, the GBD mantra is then further distorted by even more fringe elements with no understanding of science or medicine who then compound the distortion. In a free society all we can do is call BS whenever it appears. Thank you CNS for doing that.
So we’ll just ignore 40,000 doctors…
because according to you they lack compassion? Lol
CNS: The country that tried this appraoch – Sweden’s Covid-19 failures have exposed the myths of the lockdown-sceptics
How many locals who have not traveled are still testing? How many asymptomatic cases in the community? How do you know?