Border opening dates still on track
(CNS): Government is not changing its plans to begin the phased reopening of the borders on 9 September, when restrictions on travellers and commercial flights will be lifted. However, Premier Wayne Panton has revealed that government is moving the date to achieve the 80% national vaccination rate target to 14 October, when Cayman is due to allow all visitors into the islands if they have had a fully verifiable course of the COVID-19 vaccine without having to isolate.
But at that time there will be a review of the circumstances before government takes that step, the premier said at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. At that point there will very likely be transmission of the virus in this community again, he said, and we will need to have as many people as possible vaccinated to prevent anyone from getting seriously ill.
Although government is not going to make its target of 80% of the country being fully vaccinated by 9 September, everyone arriving in Cayman at that point will still be required to isolate so the risk of community spread remains much lower than it will in October, when the quarantine requirement will be removed for those who have the vaccine.
At that point the country will probably also have to reintroduce mask, social distancing and other COVID protocols in certain circumstances to try to limit the potential spread, such as reducing the number of people allowed to gather in groups, reflecting the increased level of risk.
The premier said the plan is still on track to begin lifting the isolation requirements on 14 October but a firm decision will be made ahead of that date. “We are not afraid of making a decision. What we are afraid of is people getting very sick from COVID,” he added. He warned that the risk to anyone who is not vaccinated at that point will increase significantly.
Panton also offered his backing to employers taking steps to require staff to get their shots and take what measures they feel necessary to keep their staff and customers safe. He said that the legislation to amend the immigration law to introduce the requirement for all work permit holders to be vaccinated should be tabled in Parliament before the end of this month.
Government is now planning a new vaccine campaign to get to the 80% target. It currently has over 8,600 doses, which expire at the end of October. This is almost enough to reach the target. According to the figures released Wednesday evening, 51,175 people, or 72% of the estimated population of 71,106, have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 49,187, or 69%, have had both shots.
The aim over the coming weeks is to increase access to the vaccine with pop-up clinics in all of the constituencies, and even a vaccine bus that will go from district to district. Health Minister Sabrina Turner said her ministry will also be organizing town hall meetings to enable people to raise their concerns and ask questions to tackle the stubborn reluctance among younger members of the community in particular.
Counter to the anti-vaccine messages proliferating on social media, Turner confirmed that there have been no deaths or serious illness reported to the Health Service Authority that have been attributed to the vaccine. Dr Samuel Williams-Rodriguez also confirmed that, contrary to the claims being made on social media, Cayman’s death rate this year is lower than last year and there is no indication at all that the vaccine has caused anyone’s premature demise.
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Category: Health, Medical Health, Politics
It’s so funny that the “government” has an estimated population of 71K and Economics and Statistics Office (a Government Entity) has 66k. If the population is indeed 66k then we are actually at 77% of total population full vaccinated. Wonder where the government is getting their numbers from?
In response to an FOI it came out that the EO advised that they were 95% confident that the population was between 60K and 71K people. ESO use the statistics median of 65K for their calculations, including their recent demographics report. Government has decided to use the top end of the range instead.
Some truth to the pro vax / non choice believers:
“People who recovered from a bout of Covid-19 during one of the earlier waves of the pandemic appear to have a lower risk of contracting the delta variant than those who got two doses of the vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-27/previous-covid-prevents-delta-infection-better-than-pfizer-shot
Let the immune system do what it does best.
#nomandates #mybodymychoice
This is because unvaccinated people would have had a higher viral load and therefore needed more antibodies to fight off the virus. Essentially, they took “booster shots”.
You thought you had a point.
Vaccinated and unvaccinated carry the same viral load. Keep up with the times.
CNS: To clarify, people who catch the new delta virus are found to have about the same viral load whether they are vaccinated or unvaccinated. However, unvaccinated people are nearly five times more likely to be infected with Covid than vaccinated people, according to a new CDC study. See here.
I caught COVID in May 2020. Everyone in my family got it, ages 18-84, despite our efforts to protect Grandma. We even had relatives singing Happy Birthday songs from the outside…that is how everyone was careful. Yet, we got it. And great-grandma was the first to recover, though out of precaution she was admitted to a hospital where she spent 5 days, mostly getting oxygen.
As of today, we are not vaccinated, we are not worried, we do wear face masks in crowded places.
Some truth back at you.
99.9% of all covid deaths are from Unvaccinated people. You want to roll the dice? Go for it.
so are the vaccinated. Pfizer’s own study shows the absolute risk
Aaah un what??
300,000 children aged under five die from diarrhea every year in Africa. They have no choice but to roll the dice. How much news does this get?
Stupidest statement ever. Go line up to go catch Delta so you can have natural immunity. Death is natural immunity.
Pure unadulterated GARBAGE!!!
How is it garbage you ask? So glad you did!!!
So hands up all those who have had covid? 669 out of 71k or 0.94% Okay. That’s the only way to get natural immunity.
Okay. Hands up those in the 669 who are non vaxers? Lets say 50% so we got 335 out of 21,000 (50k of 71k) or 1.6%
So. we are saying that little crumb of info is for the 1.6% of the unvaccinated. So what about the other 98.4%? huh.
Damn when you fool good.
Get vaxxed so you do not become another USELESS STATISTIC!!!
OOoh and before I forget let me ask you a few questions shall we. How is it that SOME PEOPLE contract covid twice? You know people have contracted it twice right?
What about Covid 1 vs Delta, how does it being another form of Covid affect the situation? Ooh and how long does antibodies of covid stay in the system? Strange but I swear I read a UK study saying after 3 to 6 months only 10% of the antibodies still existed. How much protection does 10% give you because as far as I am aware no one here has had it for 9 months or more now?? A newer study said for as long as 8 months see this link
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6529/eabf4063
So, you still like the odds of “Natural Immunity”? Maybe you should TRY to contract Delta to protect you from Delta??? I guess its about as smart as relying on “Natural Immunity”
People….
1. Get Vaxxed and your family.
2. Get plenty of mask while they are still available
3. Start preparing a game plan to limit your exposure when we develop community transmission
4. Pray and pray hard.
So your advice on how to survive getting COVID is to catch it first? Yeah that makes sense, particularly when the chances of dying the first time around are massively higher than from a side effect of the vaccine. Over 4 million people had to rely on their immune systems and didn’t get to be around to boast of their elevated antibodies.
Listen to this then think about you natural immunity sh!t.
https://edition.cnn.com/videos/us/2021/08/25/colorado-fitness-coach-coronavirus-vaccine-affil-pkg-vpx.kusa/video/playlists/coronavirus/
Florida is offering free monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID. What to know about it
Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article253713523.html#storylink=cpy