East End clinic worker COVID positive as cases climb

| 15/09/2021 | 75 Comments
Cayman News Service
East End Clinic

(CNS): One staff member at the Health Services Authority’s East End Health Centre has tested positive for COVID-19, which was discovered through contact tracing. The clinic was closed Wednesday morning and is expected to reopen today at 1pm after deep cleaning and the reassignment of staff.

As contact tracing rolls on, health officials have not yet revealed the exact number of community transmissions from three separate local outbreaks of the virus, including the close contacts of this latest confirmed case. At least ten people, including three children, have tested positive despite having no travel history or close contact with a traveller.

While the coronavirus now appears to be circulating on Grand Cayman after leaking into the community, with around 40 active cases including infected travellers, officials have confirmed that at this point there are no cases in the Sister Islands among travellers or any community transmission.

Recent concerns among residents that travellers were being given different quarantine periods at a single address on the Brac have been addressed by Travel Cayman. After visiting the residence after a report of a potential breach of the rules they found that the house had been securely and safely converted into multiple residences.

“Quarantine should not be treated lightly,” Governor Martyn Roper said Wednesday. “Whilst we still have these protective measures in place everyone must adhere to the rules. Do not leave your place of quarantine, do not have visitors whilst in quarantine, and make sure you receive deliveries in a COVID safe, contactless way… Every one of us needs to assume responsibility for the welfare of our community,” he added.

Meanwhile, despite the positive case, officials said that the COVID-19 vaccination clinic scheduled for Wednesday evening was set to go ahead from 5-8pm. The Camana Bay clinic is open today from 10am-2pm and 4-7:30pm.

Residents of Cayman Brac can receive their vaccines from 9am-1pm at the Aston Rutty Civic Centre. People attending the clinic are reminded to bring their own facemask and practice safe social distancing.

See the vaccine schedule on the HSA website here.

For more information on vaccines contact the HSA Communications team at
communications@hsa.ky

See here for more information on securely verifiable vaccination records.

Anyone with flu symptoms is urged to stay at home in the first instance and contact the 24 hour Flu Hotline or your general practitioner to speak to a health professional about those symptoms before visiting the flu or testing clinic.

Flu Hotline: 1-800-534-8600 or 345-947-3077 or 345-925- 6327 or email flu@hsa.ky
Callers will be screened for travel history and advised on what to do next.


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Category: Local News

Comments (75)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    I really hope that the Government understands that we are under attack from every corner of the world.
    We must secure our borders. Jamaicans are piling in illegally (from the many people on this islands they have to be here illegally) and it’s only a matter of time before the Haitians start piling in… God for bid….. I really hope and pray they haven’t already made it here… someone is moving them by the ten of thousands to South and Central America… please let’s get real before it too late.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Can I just make a complaint about this COVID hotline ….

    Like a good citizen, I called to report I had a cough, chills, runny nose, none stop watery eyes, sore throat, loss of taste and smell and do you know what I was told by a person with a British accent…..

    “Do not go to the clinic to get tested. Take some panadol and wait 3 more days. If your symptoms become worse go to the clinic”.

    Can I say in 3 days my symptoms did not get worse but remained the same. Here I am 10 days later still coughing and sneezing; with a runny nose. I am at work and I will not be going out of my way to contact that hotline again. Who knows if I have COVID?!

    I’m sure there are lots of people like me as my child picked this up from school. There were many other kids and parents who were/still are sick.

    Happy days!

    • Anonymous says:

      So if the “person” had a Jamaican accent would that have been more to your liking ?
      I believe you received sound advice, irrespective of their accent.

      • Anonymous says:

        Yes, I said British, you know, the cheeky chaps.

        Wrong Caymanian buddy and ain’t no one talking about Jamaica right now, but I don’t think the customer service could have been worse, so yes, speaking to someone from Jamaica would have made me feel better.

    • Anonymous says:

      You are lucky you got an answer. I have called for days and still waiting for a response.

    • Anonymous says:

      Go get the pcr test

  3. Anonymous says:

    Given that all of the infected employee’s co-workers had contact with him/her in a close-contact indoor environment, and are in a possible 14 day incubation period for covid now, will they all be quarantined?
    We are going to find ourselves very short on medical staff soon.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Cleary, there are a lot of people in Cayman wholly mentally unprepared to learn to live with COVID, despite an adult vaccination rate of over 90%.

    Thank you to our leader for going back on your promise to the Cayman people you announced in June. What the hell was the point of that in the end?

    Nothing is going to open in January. There will be another excuse as to why we cant move on. We will cower and try again next summer.

    Pursuing a policy that tolerates only Zero-COVID is completely futile and not sustainable. After 18 months it is disappointing you are still acting this way (after even you said this is not sustainable).

    • Anon says:

      So we just open up and let the kids catch covid ?Great idea. How about we wait until there is a safer vaccine that kids can use such as sinopharm. How about we get better test kits such as saliva tests which means we will have more people getting tested. The pcr test is unreliable and wasn’t designed for this on the first place.

      • Oi says:

        PCR test is very reliable and this is exactly what it is designed for. Kids have a survival rate above 999,999 out of 1,000,000, for them it is no worse than flu. The vaccine is pretty safe, it is just the tiny risk associated with vaccines is not materially larger than the tiny risks associated with covid.

      • Anonymous says:

        Kids obviously already catching it!!! As expected, their cases are very mild…..so mild they didn’t even know they had it until HSA did screening because of schoolmates!

    • Beaumont Zodecloun says:

      I wish my six years of education enabled me to be as cocksure as you. It must be really fine to be that smart.

      • Anonymous says:

        It’s not being cocksure, it’s listening to the science and making sensible public policy, instead of making decisions based on emotion. Get a clue.

      • Anonymous says:

        Time to use some common sense Beaumont. You obviously did not get too much in your six years of education.

      • Anonymous says:

        6 years of education. That explains a lot.

    • Anonymous says:

      “Mentally unprepared” Yea has nothing to do with the health situation of some families.

      You all for opening the border are the greediest sob’s. I hope you all catch covid first so you can shut up about it.

      • Tony Stank says:

        And totally not mentioning the children who have died in America because it won’t support their stance and world view. People are more than stats. Each one has a name and loved ones who grieve.

  5. Anonymous says:

    Is HSA requiring all staff to be vaccinated? Please say yes …

    • Hubert says:

      Make it mandatory for all Cayman Islands Government employees, including all HSA staff, to get mandatory vaccinations. We are headed toward a public health Armageddon on these 3 islands if we don’t get our act together very soon.

      Certainly we will not be opening up till late next year the way we are now going.

      Just look at Florida, Georgia, Texas and Alberta in Canada. Learn people learn.

      • Anonymous says:

        What? The elderly and vulnerable ARE mostly vaccinated. Why should the rest of the population take a vaccine for an illness that has more than a 95% survival rate? Even higher if not obese! And why are YOU so worried if you’ve been vaccinated? Vaccines exist to protect those who get it. So… you are protected and others aren’t going to harm you. Chill.

        • Anonymous says:

          Actually wrong. Vaccines also exist to protect the herd.

        • Orlando Bob says:

          7::32, Not possible to chill when I look at the number of skyrocketing cases of children entering ICU’s in places such as Florida and Georgia. Perhaps you are not aware that there are no vaccines available for children under 12 or perhaps you have no children. The reason places like Florida are in the state they are in now is because too many people earlier this year chilled just like you. So get hot Bro.

          • Anonymous says:

            And most of those kids got it from unvaccinated ignorant parents and family members. Please remind everyone of that.

      • Anonymous says:

        Most of vaccinated world has now survived Armageddon and moving on. Cayman still stuck 40 years + 2 behind.

        • Hubert says:

          12:27, Try telling that to the people in Alberta, Canada today where the public health Armageddon has hit.

          A full scale public health disaster.

          If it can happen in the wealthiest province in Canada it can happen in the Cayman Islands.

          Don’t be smug.

    • Miami Dave says:

      The answer is no.

    • Anonymous says:

      Did government require all CS be vaccinated – Premier had to plead and beg ‘Minister of Education’, Donna Bush government media ‘expert’ to get vaccinated – how many others..

      • It ain’t you says:

        Well if we had a choice of vaccines that would not be an issue. Not everyone wants to take Pfizer

    • anon against ignorance says:

      The answer is no, same as the Prison Service, so if you are well behaved you catch it at the hospital, if you are naughty you catch it at the prison.

  6. Anonymous says:

    If most of these new positives are asymptomatic and only aware of having Covid due to positive test after contact tracing, there are probably others that have/had it out amongst us. The good news is that obviously they’re doing just fine! I hope all that test positive will have very mild cases.

    • Anonymous says:

      Amen! If they tested everyone on the island right now there would probably be dozens more positives who have no idea they even have COVID. Postive test does not equal being hospitalized or dying for goodness sakes!!!

      • Anonymous says:

        All those summer colds and allergies most likely were covid and were overlooked because government kept saying the island covid free. It wasn’t until the elderly lady went to the hospital for another reason and was tested, set off the panic, and other people were contact tested and boom!- covid in the community. It’s been in the community a long time. There is no reason to change the reopening. Learn to live with covid. Been living with covid on island. Covid will be there in October, at Christmas, at the new year and beyond. No point delaying.

    • Anonymous says:

      Nobody will admit to having met with Jamaicans in the import business , to receive their goods for further distribution.
      Coast guard watch out for late night visitors in “canoes” , as they arrive on our shores.

      • Anonymous says:

        You not bored with blame the Jamaicans yet? Look at ya local Cayman business/Government connection, otherwise why they come?

      • Anonymous says:

        Watch out for those that have put in their orders and receiving. The deliverers only want their money.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Hope the government will, for now, restrict travel from Grand to the Sister Islands. Our health care here is excellent, but we have such a high percentage of elderly people, that a rapid community spread could be devastating.

  8. ELVIS says:

    This was always going to happen so no surprises to be honest.

    Sit tight. keep safe. non vaccers?
    well…….. good luck if your still refusing.

  9. Anonymous says:

    “Learn to live with it,” they say. Wait until it is one of their loved ones that ends up on their belly for 15 days, hooked up to a ventilator.

    • Anonymous says:

      Why do people automatically think Covid means ventilator?!? Vaccinated persons (like the VAST MAJORITY or our island is) rarely end up on ventilators or even in the hospital. Unvaccinated persons MIGHT need hospitalization and a small percentage need ventilators.

      Get vaccinated!
      Follow facts and science not fear!!!!!!

    • Anonymous says:

      Agreed. It’s all very well to say this when it is millions of people you don’t know overseas who have died. When it becomes someone you love who is seriously ill, perhaps all of these ‘just live with it’ people will suddenly come to know how that feels.
      Even worse, if their loved one needs a ventilator and we don’t have any left. Then how will it feel?

    • Tony Stank says:

      No worries man if the rain doesn’t came soon, the tears of CITA and the real estaters are falling like a tropical downpour

    • Bill says:

      And your solution is? Given Covid will probably never go away? Not sure being on your belly on a ventilator is a great idea – I’d definitely worry about that treatment!

    • Anonymous says:

      Get vaccinated and the chance of ending up on a ventilator are effectively ZERO.

      Chance of kids ending up on a ventilator is also effectively ZERO.

      • Robert Mugabe IV says:

        You almost got it right !
        Both vaccinated/unvaccinated with underlying conditions will make up the 99.9% of people who eventually end up on ventilators.

        This is now the pandemic of fear mongers and panic merchants.

        • Anonymous says:

          except everyone has a pre-existing condition for example:
          High blood pressure
          high Cholesterol
          Ever smoked
          Ever had bronchitis in your life
          Any heart issues
          Asthma
          ever had the flu

          I’ve seen all these included as pre-existing conditions.

          So anyone over 25 probably has had at least one of the above “Pre-existing conditions”

      • Anonymous says:

        5:02, You are right on first point but completely wrong on second point. Look at Florida and Georgia the past month for numbers of kids on ventilators.

  10. Anonymous says:

    The virus is on the island but no one is being hospitalized.

  11. Anonymous says:

    At the press briefings, can it be kept ‘brief’ and to the point?

    Between the prayers, stories, and meaningless platitudes, there’s about 50% filler.

    The update can then be kept to about 30 minutes of useful information.

  12. Anonymous says:

    OMG !!! IT’S EVERYWHERE !!!!!!!! Quick, get to Cost U Less and get as much toilet paper as you can carry.

  13. Anonymous says:

    No word on vaccination status, which has to mean all the recent adult cases except for one have been vaccinated.

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