Over 80 COVID cases reported at weekend

| 25/10/2021 | 307 Comments

(CNS): Just two travellers tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 on exit from quarantine at the weekend but another 81 people, including 13 children, picked up the virus in the community. According to various sources, people have tested positive across all sectors of the economy, including vaccinated staff at Cayman Airways and an unvaccinated civil servant who travelled to both Cayman Brac and Little Cayman before receiving a positive test result.

There have also been reports of bar staff continuing on the job while waiting for their own tests after co-workers tested positive.

Chief Medical Officer Dr John Lee noted the importance of people staying home after they have had either a positive PCR test or a positive lateral flow test in order to slow the rate of progression of the virus through the community. They should remain at home with their household contacts until they have discussed with Public Health the next steps forward.

“If you’re positive you will need to isolate, but please contact Public Health on further advice about what to do with the other people in the household,” he said.

Public Health officials are also urging people to remain vigilant about COVID-19 safety practices, including wearing a mask, washing hands, getting vaccinated and getting a booster shot if eligible.

Dr Lee said that health officials are monitoring the level of hospitalisations and severe symptoms as compared to the overall number of positive cases, as the pace of the virus appears to be increasing. The number of active cases is now 320. The 83 positive cases were from 1646 PCR tests administered between Friday morning and Sunday evening and there are now 1458 people in isolation.

It is apparent that Cayman’s daily infection rate is increasing and efforts to curtail the spread of the virus do not appear to be working. The current number of symptomatic patients is 204 which is around 64% of those currently infected with the coronavirus. While one positive COVID patient has been released from the hospital, another patient was admitted Sunday for an unrelated matter.

Lateral flow tests were expected to be distributed today to schools across Grand Cayman and are now available at local pharmacies, but there is still no sign of the policy surrounding the use of the tests as a tool to manage isolation. “Further information will come as we move forward relating to the rollout of lateral flow tests,” Dr Lee said.

Vaccinations increased marginally over the weekend, with 217 people getting a second dose and another 135 getting their first shot. The booster programme is still open to all healthcare workers, vulnerable people and anyone over 50 who received their last shot at least six months ago. To date 2,603 people have had the third shot.

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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.

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.


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Category: Health, Medical Health

Comments (307)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    It’s up to me if I want to refuse to get tested if I’m sick. It’s up to me if I go to work when I’m coughing and sneezing and feel terrible – I, I, I need the money! It’s up to me if I want to wear a mask, even though I’m coughing and sneezing. If you don’t like it, stay home and hide under your bed. You are being selfish by hindering my right to live free. You all are a bunch of babies. We all die, so you might as well get used to the idea. In the meantime, I want to live my life the way I, I, I want to and you can’t stop me!

    • Anonymous says:

      That’s actually not true. Under cayman law if
      Positive you have to notify public health. And it is the responsible thing to do if you have symptoms to take a lateral flow test at home and isolate if positive. It’s also the responsible thing to do to wear a mask in crowded places when you may come within 6 feet of other people.

      Stop being selfish – this is on everyone to show some self responsibility to limit spread as much as possible so we can all enjoy our freedoms and avoid quarantine as much as possible.

  2. Anonymous says:

    The pale horse and its rider have arrived

    • Anonymous says:

      The pale rider never left. He is continually driving the roads of Cayman. You are officially more scared of Covid than death on the road. Think about that for a moment. Then go back to being terrified of your life.

  3. Anonymous says:

    90 more cases today and 2 additional people receiving supplemental oxygen per the latest official release. Start making plans, stay out of public spaces as much as possible, practice safe distancing and hygiene, and pray for some common sense from this government as the wave is exponentially growing with no end in sight.

  4. Anonymous says:

    There’s just so much ignorance, and combined with irrational fear and nonsensical policies, we’re living in a nightmare. Sometimes i wonder if any of this is real.

    Here we all are (mostly) hiding behind anonymity (self included) and spouting out all our incredible knowledge and what we’d do, and how awful the other side(s) are and what a joke PACT or PPM or Jim Bodden have become (why not blame him too, we’re all fair game apparently).

    Get a grip. Take a step back and just think for a second – is it healthy to be this angry? Is it healthy to be this frustrated? This righteous? This entitled? This uncaring?

    I find myself agreeing less and less with people the more i read or hear, mainly because the myopia is disarming and alarming. The only thing concerning me right now, at this very minute, is who is brave enough to stand up and tell Wayne Panton that his mask is too big? Seriously, if its any bigger, we may not even know if it’s him behind it.

    People – there are clear, unquestionable facts that many of us are simply ignoring because we ‘KNOW’ what’s right and what should be done. It’s not surprising it’s come to this, all we’ve been told for near 2 years now is that the end of the world is upon us. Naturally, that’s kinda scary and it’s being repeated so frequently across all mediums and its all we’re talking about all day long that it’s blinding us to reality and preventing rationality.

    This is not good.

    Here’s some facts that are simply indisputable and we all should try to embrace them and consider them before losing our collective and singular minds whenever someone says or types something we don’t agree with, or whenever a group of govt make a decision or claim we definitely (joke) know is wrong.

    Covid19 is not a pandemic anymore, it’s endemic. It’s here to stay.

    There are many vaccines out there that are reducing hospitalizations in previously vulnerable folk.

    The great, great, great majority of all of us are in no threat/danger/risk from any serious illness should we get exposed to infectious Covid19.

    There are loads of therapies assisting recovery of mild/medium and even some very ill patients.

    Covid19 has an infection fatality rate after 2 years that’s nearly the exact same as the flu.

    Children are more at risk from FLU than COVID19.

    Vaccines do not stop you getting Covid 19, or transmitting it, or dying from it. But most people who get vaccinated never get sick from Covid19.

    There are BILLIONS of unvaccinated people in the world – yes, UNVACCINATED – that have not died from Covid19.

    Mask efficacy is debatable. Cloth masks (like Wayne’s) are futile – you may as well try holding water in a sieve.

    Exercise and good health, washing your hands and not being stressed by the news are really good things to stop you dying from Covid19.

    There are strong concerns about the direction governments are going in around the world regarding privacy, digital IDs and social norms.

    There are millions of people protesting Vaccine Passports and HUman Rights transgressions globally every week

    Overall, this Covid19 situation could be forgotten about if we stopped talking about it and you’d never know it was here if we could stop all the restrictions tonight. You may hear of someone very ill or even dying from a flu bug, same as always. Your doctor would tell you to take care to wash your hands more often than normal, there’s a bad bug going around…take care of Granny.

    Stop worrying, stop being so scared. It’s not healthy for you. it’s terrible for your children to be constantly in a state of fear and hearing you all day long

    Go back to living normally. ask the Government to acknowledge that having people put on a mask as they enter a bar, only to take it off after they walk 5 yards to their table, isn’t based on anything but irrationality.

    Don’t worry about borders reopening. You currently have about 7 viruses in your nasal passage anyhow, but you have an immune system that works incredible well against them all AND Covid19.

    You’re going to be fine. And let the Government stumble through – they’re as clueless as you and me, they wanted to fix a dump and build another hospital and focus on education. Instead they are being forced to scramble and try not to get anything too wrong and frankly, like everywhere else, hope for the best.

    Which you should too. This is NOT Ebola or Yellow Fever or SmallPox. This is a really nasty flu that loves vulnerable folks with multiple illnesses – and it’s already waning globally in strength as it cruises its way thru a 2nd season on the way to becoming an endemic bug. A bug you’re immune to.

    You really are. And your immunity to it is better than any vaccine. That’s a fact too. It really is. Just Cuomo on CNN won’t tell you.

    take it easy. turn off the news. go for a walk with your lover. have a glass of wine. chill out. Stop worrying, every sniffle isn’t death. Try to remember that.

    • Professor Yaffle says:

      A number of fair points….but your immunity is NOT better than any vaccine unless you have got it from surviving the virus (and even that is debatable.). The one thing we have going for us is the take up of the vaccine and booster here and the generosity of the UK in sending it. Please get vaccinated its quick easy and will reduce long covid cases get us towards normal and could save the lives of many of our elderly residents.

    • Anonymous says:

      Oh please. I haven’t read such a volume of self-righteous drivel in a long time. But I have to admire how you start by admonishing people for being know-it-alls who really know nothing and then proceed to instruct us with everything you know (apparently from dubious news sources). That takes such hubris that I can only assume you have trouble finding hats that fit your head!

    • Anonymous says:

      Lots of words, some good, some bad, but the swipe at CNN at the end gave it all away. I guess we should all watch Fox News, go out to restaurants and bars, and live, laugh and love

    • Anonymous says:

      Excellent comment. Thank you.

  5. Anonymous says:

    It is being reported this afternoon that another mitigation measures is about to become available to those who want it. Too bad it will not be available prior to the flood of Covid arriving after 20 November. Can’t interfere with the profits.

    “Reuters reports that an expert panel has voted overwhelmingly to recommend the US Food and Drug Administration authorize the Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE Covid-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, saying the benefits of inoculation outweigh the risks.”

  6. Anonymous says:

    So now we have progressed to having our own in hospital needing oxygen to breathe. Does the cabal that PACT handed power to care? No.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Would PACT please communicate with their cabal bosses and let us know whether the cabal will permit any mitigation measures now, and if not now when?

  8. Anonymous says:

    Last evening’s CDC downgrade of Cayman to high risk will probably mean that sensible tourists will stay away leaving the airline seats open for Covid deniers and other undesirables that are more likely to bring the virus starting November

    • Anonymous says:

      Cases, not hospitalized. Doesn’t scare us. We are used to seeing thousands of cases a day. Get vaccinated. Wear a mask when you can’t social distance and continue on.

      • Anonymous says:

        Too bad the restaurants, bars, salons, and gyms don’t rigidly follow recommended safety measures. Improper mask wearing, no hot water in bathrooms, and zero social distancing. This is not helping to curb the spread, and is most likely exacerbating it daily.

  9. Anonymous says:

    Or 0.013% in hospital based on uk population

  10. Caymanian says:

    By Christmas? Before the end of Oct. Today we had 90 new cases. By Christmas 200 to 300 per day.

  11. AZM says:

    @12:45 pm

    Thanks for the stats link. Its a frightening curve up.

    • Anon says:

      what;s frightening is the idea of staying closed and crie, poverty and government debt gig out of control

  12. AZM says:

    Another Covid-19 report today, 92 more positives of which two are in travelers, who are in quarantine.

    Last report of 82 cases, again, two of which are travelers.

    Where are these 170 people, are they in home quarantine? We know how well that works, right?

    We had friends arrive from Florida, they own a condo, and of course are allowed home quarantine. Well, the mans geo tracker is apparently working fine, the woman’s doesn’t work at all. Her comment, sarcastic or not, was that she would be able to gadfly in the community. My wife and I both told her that if she loved these islands enough to buy a vacation condo, that she should not (possibly) endanger the community.

    Its kind of amusing but sick, anti-vaccination folk here are just as adamant and willing to endanger everyone else as in the USA, GB: they are selfish, malignant narcissists and unconcerned for anyone but themselves, not even family apparently.

    I’m sure most of you are familiar with the cases of these folks who contract Covid who either has died or eventually recovered and are now preaching that folks SHOULD take the vaccine like some born again preaching the Bible.

    There was a case on Little Cayman, supposedly backtracked to knowns here and the Brac. How long b4 it explodes exponentially on both islands?

    I know I am cynical, but have come to the point where I don’t thing the new regime is mindful.

    When was the last time you saw in the papers/online what our infections are since the beginning of the pandemic, its usually blocked out in all I have seen?

    Do we have a Trump down here now and the adoring psychopathic behavior that were in the US under his regime?

    For the islands and its peoples sake do it responsibly!!

  13. Anonymous says:

    I hear that the testing service and other covid related services are already buckling under the strain of numbers, just dealing with our own community. People are waiting for days on end to get a positive test result, meanwhile going about their everyday activities and spreading the infection.
    And people with symptoms calling the flu hotline are being told they just have a cold, go to the pharmacy and get some cough medicine, and are being discouraged from getting a test. Is this to keep our confirmed cases artifically low?
    So what about the tourists? Won’t they all need a negative test to get on their flight home? How is our testing service going to cope with the huge extra demand of testing all the tourists on time. And are tourists going to have to pay for these tests themselves?
    And what will happen if a tourists tests positive and cannot go home? Will they and their group be removed from their hotel and sent to an approved quaratine facility? Who will pay for it? What if they cannot pay/refuse to pay?
    What if they need covid medical treatment and don’t have insurance? Who pays for that?
    This whole thing seems to be a complete disaster in the making. A lot of expenses for the government (ultimately for the people of Cayman) while the income from tourism goes to a select few already rich people.

    • Sheriff says:

      You ask many questions that PACT must answer. IMHO the details of the reopening plan should have been in place before sharing the reopening date.

      I’d put money on PACT pausing the reopening once again.

  14. Anonymous says:

    81 reported yesterday and 90 reported today with 2 hospitalizations. The CDC has also moved us from Level 1 to Level 3 “high risk”. PACT is doing such a great job….NOT

  15. Daniel Johns says:

    Again for the cheap seats, a negative test before travel means nothing…. There is a 2 week incubation period for Covid. Why does no one follow science anymore??? Realllly, and letting antivaxer’s in is not in Cayman’s best interest. We can see the effects of the few cases, now turned into hundreds… Science and math are the 2 biggest factors here.. If you disagree with facts, and math.. Wellll you are a friggin moron..

    • Anonymous says:

      Spoiler alert: There are thousands of anti-vaxxers already here as well as thousands who think that vaccination is some sort of armor and that the pandemic is basically over.

  16. Anonymous says:

    These boosters need to be released to the wider public NOW!

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