More than 500 people vaccinated over weekend
(CNS): As Trinidad and Tobago deal with a surge in COVID-19 cases and impose new lockdown restrictions, here in the Cayman Islands an additional 517 people had their first shot of the vaccine over the weekend, bringing the total of adults who have had at least one dose to 36,291, or around 56% of the entire population. The focus remains on encouraging those under the age of 30 to take up the free vaccine, as just over a third of that demographic has done so. However, over 90% of the over 60s are now inoculated and 83% of those aged between 50 and 60.
The latest figures from Public Health also show that 60% of those 40 to 50 have had at least one dose with an overall rate of 49% for those between 16 and 50, while just half of the 30 to 40 year olds have had at least one shot.
Thanking everyone who has already got their first shot, Dr John Lee reminded those who haven’t already done so that the clock is ticking on the shelf life of the Pfizer shots that Cayman has in stock.
“I am really pleased to see how the community has come together to take up the vaccine and continue the fight against the global pandemic. I would like to remind the community that the last scheduled delivery of vaccines expires at the end of June, so your first dose needs to be by 9 June to allow at least 21 days between first and second doses. The Public Health team looks forward to having those who haven’t taken the vaccine yet come forward at this time,” he said.
Governor Martyn Roper posted on his Facebook page that he and the new premier, Wayne Panton, had discussed the “concerns about vaccine take-up” during the first of their regular weekly meetings.
On Monday Public Health officials revealed another two cases of the coronavirus in travellers arriving in Cayman over the weekend. But there are now just ten active cases of the virus among the 701 people in quarantine and isolation, with just one person suffering symptoms.
Meanwhile, according to local media in Trinidad and Tobago, where there is a surge in coronavirus cases, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has said, “Our healthcare system… is now in danger of being overrun because of the rate of infections we are experiencing.”
The country currently has 2,506 active COVID-19 cases. As he justified new lockdown measures, Rowley said, “And for those who spend time describing this as some arbitrariness and some opportunity to be disagreeable or uncooperative, what I will say to you, I hear you because you’re still alive.”
T&T healthcare officials said that the healthcare system could reach its capacity in just ten days.
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Category: Health, Medical Health
You can’t hide from Covid, it’s endemic throughout the world. Govt and population has to accept that cases will rise once opening up and is inevitable, but a vaccinated population will keep these cases low, any infections will be less serious and hospitalisation very low. Allowing only vaccinated tourists, from countries with low case rates in the begining would be best approach. But let’s hope that once opened up the Govt don’t overreact if cases do inevitably rise and we get rounds of open, closed, open closed! Accepting that Covid is here to stay is needed for the world to move on, getting a Jab is a way forward. One of many choices we will have to make.
Opinion is divided on border opening. We should have a formal referendum to allow the people to decide.
Question – How many infectious people getting through our border Covid protocols does it take to spread Covid to the community potentially causing hospitalizations and death?
Answer – as few as one
I noticed that the government Covid statistics page has not been updated for about a week. I wonder if that is because of bad news?
https://www.gov.ky/news/press-release-details/covid-19-update-30-april-2021
An excellent comment was given by the head of the CDC yesterday in relation to the US situation. It should be applied in the Cayman context as well so that we can get our vaccination numbers up. From CNN:
“We knew that we would have a lot of supply by the end of April, early May, but we also knew this would be the time that we had people who were more hesitant, that people wouldn’t be rushing to get the vaccine,” Walensky said. “So we have hard work ahead of us. We know what we need to do. But we really do need to reach people one at a time in the communities and understand why they might be hesitant.”
We are not hesitant, we were never hesitant, our bodies simply don’t need it.
9:21 am: totally agree: Public Health should identify influencers in each community, screening them on the basis of their existing basic information on the efficacy of the vaccine.
The next step would be a training programme to prepare them to go door to door to listen to the community concerns.
They could then return following a follow up training session to clarify concerns.
The information gleaned from this exercise could then be fed into a wider public awareness programme developed by GIS.
Thst programme could come in phases, each adjusted as the influencers return to their communities.
The job is not over. We are acting as if we are at the finish line. COVID is a long term affair.
Our vaccines are going to expire at the end of June. I don’t think there’s time for all of the special steps that you think would work. If you don’t have the vaccine, the first shot, by June 9, you are out of luck. The rest of us will be protected, you are taking your chances after that.
Here is a reality check for the ‘open the borders cuss a bunch of us got the vaccine’.
The Seychelles Islands (Population about 98,000) has a higher vaccination rate that we have and decided to allow fully vaccinated tourists back in and now has a critical outbreak of Covid some of it related to the new South African Strain. As a result they are shutting back down hard.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-56992121
If you want to be accurate – the advocates of border opening generally write – “Open the boarders”
it’s important to note that a majority of their citizens got vaccinated with the chinese Sinovac which some experts put as low as 50% effective against COVID.
That’s actually the most important to note.
The Chinese Sinopharm vaccine has been shown to be generally ineffective. The Seychelles used that vaccine, so no surprise that it didn’t work there. No comparison to our situation with the highly effective Pfizer vaccine we have been blessed with
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/china-vaccine-efficacy-not-high-gao/2021/04/11/dafe3ab6-9a8f-11eb-8f0a-3384cf4fb399_story.html?fbclid=IwAR0xlJwkX4HWJqpsuSLSPM8wl2ygXiun1t2hoK8RtOFlyeZaSwlqYklQps8
Based on the comments, day after day, week after week, month after month, Cayman has descended into collective madness. Or is it a handful of terrified individuals clearly suffering OCD keeps posting here?
I agree! The handful of ‘open the borders’ and ‘Covid is not as bad as the flu’, and ‘the vaccine is bad’ people who keep posting nonsense show classic OCD behaviour, either that or they are trolls in Eastern Europe some where.
It’s time now to open!
Send the excess to Trinidad before they expire and waste
Time to insist that all WP holders must have proof of vaccine at permit application or renewal. That’ll cover 50% of the population straight off the bat.
It’s not expats…
You are probably right that the proportion of unvaccinated among the locals is higher, but requiring vaccination as a condition even just of new WP grants as opposed to renewals would surely make a bit of a difference.
You understand Jamaicans and Hondurans are expats too?
As would requiring the civil service to be vaccinated a la St Vincent. But not sure any Cayman politician has the balls to try that one.
No the snowbirds over 60 have been flying in, taking the vaccine before younger Caymanians are eligible, then flying out. Some people have been patiently waiting their turn in line, unlike many expat queue jumpers.
Which explains why the vaccination rate at the moment is shit? No barriers to anyone being vaccinated yet people aren’t turning up – including your younger Caymanians. Why is it every time we have an issue with our bag i our it has to be the fault of an expat?
Yep. That’s the 50% that already received the vaccine
Florida Gov. DeSantis has ban covid passports and ID so business owners cant deny anyone without the jabs and also prohibits indefinite lockdowns also mandatory masks since the vacc are here thats the whole point, who wants can get it who dont then thats fine. They are free to choose and florida is one of the better off states dealin with covid & people are headin to states like that by the thousands 👏🏽
What does florida have to do with us? That has zero bearing on our border situation.
What’s worse than a anti vaxxer? One who thinks Florida is ran well.
He is the Best US Governor! He treats people as adults! Florida is well run!
Now put your triple mask on and get back into your closet.
Yeah all those jobs, prosperity and freedom in Florida are terrible. Let me guess, you get your news from CNN and and MSDNC….Where Covid is concerned Florida has faired no worse than commie run California or NY with their draconian and tyrannical measures. You sound like a moron.
So go to Florida and raise the average IQ here considerably at the same time. Win-win!
Rich coming from someone who doesn’t possess the requisite skills to make a thoughtful argument.
Consider opening up now for residents that are vaccinated and test negative 72 hrs out and upon arrival. Lets start here!
And for tourists who are vaccinated and test negative within 72 hours. Just because we aren’t residents we have family and friends on the island whom we haven’t seen in over a year.
So our friends and family should risk death because you are not willing to spend 14 days in quarantine to see your friends and family?
Some of us work and do not have a 14 day quarantine plus a holiday week time off period.
We’ve been fully vaccinated. So has our family. Have you?
In case you have not seen the news lately, the Seychelles Islands which has a much higher vaccination rate than we do, tried opening to fully vaccinated tourists only. They swiftly developed hundreds of Covid cases with people dying and have now had to shut down again.
Can Panton, Roper and Lee hold at least ONE news conference giving their preliminary thinking on reopening (partial or otherwise), and when we will allow more than just Cayman Airways to fly into Cayman?
Complete silence. So frustrating.
I fully agree with this. Just give us some information, a timeline, or benchmarks. Something.
Thousands of people havent travelled in 18 months and need to be able to make some plans for summer travel.
Just give us a thought, a nugget, a warning bark…something.
They announced a press conference for 3pm tomorrow.
Isolating is a privilege, ‘travel for summer’ even more so, ‘need’ is a very privileged perspective when kids are going without food in Cayman.
Cayman seafarers went for long periods of time to sea. Please have some perspective and reflect on what caused this pandemic in the first place, is human wildlife conflict.
I see they’re having a press briefing today…..FINALLY! Hoping they give specific information on a plan unlike the press briefings we’ve gotten used to that didn’t say much except “you better thank us because we’re awesome”.
People need to stop thinking of Covid as somewhat temporary, and just get the shot. Since the NYT yesterday said experts are finding it very unlikely that herd immunity levels will be reached for years to come, if ever, we should make our tourism aim to be a covid free destination and NEVER open up to unvaccinated tourists. Zero quarantine to full vaccinated but this means residents who want to travel ever will always have to do the full quarantine if they don’t want to get the shot. Invest in the local film industry because film crews avoiding the covid protocols is going to be a big draw and can create a new industry in Cayman where Caymanian youth can prosper in an area other than legal and accounting. Offer people an escape from the Covid reality that will persist for some time to come in the rest of the world, not as a pandemic, but as a serious illness making the rounds much like a never ending bad flu season that will require a vigilance in daily life even for those that are vaccinated. It’s not going away, let’s start thinking long term.
This should be the top story. The article shows that everyone has been vaccinated who has any significant risk of serious covid. Open the border!
Everyone is at risk if we open the border and there is no herd immunity.
Uninformed. Yes, everyone is at risk, but the level of risk differs for age and medical comorbidities. Those at higher risk have now been vaccinated to a significant degree, is it enough? No one really knows, the previously accepted herd immunity of 70% may not be correct as there are numerous examples of stable covid with herd immunity below 70%.
The real measure is stability of an acceptable level of morbidity and mortality. An expectation of a zero level is unreasonable, we do not hold that level to anything else, cancer, smoking, hypertension, cholesterol, obesity, driving autos etc etc etc.
The level of vaccination, compared to other areas supports opening the border with minimal restriction. Vaccination, negative test 3 day prior to arrival, negative on arrival.
” an acceptable level of morbidity and mortality”. In plain English lives must be lost. Are you willing to die? Or lose your parents? Or worse kids? I am shocked at how callous people are to the possibility of a someone dying. Maybe because they do not think it will be themselves affected.
Unreasoning fear
Can we have an FOI as to how many of those vaccinated are actually residents and not visiting sons daughters and grandparents. I know of at least ten people who are just visiting relatives/parents and have been vaccinated so the CIG figures of residents vaccinated are definatly wrong. It is a lot less.!!!!
And large numbers of persons who were vaccinated have now left.
There are also Caymanians and residents who have been vaccinated abroad and are now returning to Cayman. With such a large amount of vaccine on hand in Cayman and so many people here who cannot be bothered to get vaccinated I am glad that the vaccine that is here was used and did not end up at the dump.
10 whole people?? Wow. 😑🤣 you know they checked IS’s for local address.
Many hundreds, actually, and of our government actually knew (and could report in general terms) who was here and on what basis, we would know for sure.
They did not check my ID.
They checked my ID, even wrote my Cayman drivers license info down. Same with everyone around me. You had to have a local ID, or a passport showing your work permit or visa. People who were “visiting sons/daughters” would have been turned away as they don’t have an ID showing they are a regular permanent resident.
What does it really matter? They didn’t take vaccines that people wanted here and couldn’t get. We have an excess of vaccines so we have enough for everyone who wants one. Our problem is that not enough of our people want one! Other people realise what an incredible gift the vaccine is, where the people here in Cayman are too bloody stupid to realise how lucky they are.
I sincerely hope we don’t all have to suffer for it later when we open up, covid returns to the community, and our healthcare systems get over run.
It matters because we cannot possibly know what percentage of the people physically in Cayman have been vaccinated.
We cannot say the exact percentage as no one knows how many people there are in the island! It’s all guess work….
Why is that? It can only be due to the most astounding levels of incompetence within government generally. (Not blaming healthcare professionals).
It matters because its another case of those damn expats taking advantage of Caymanians. How dare they use the vaccines we didn’t want and were going to throw away because they expired! /s