Bars, clubs to close by midnight in face of Omicron
(CNS): The government will be rolling out new regulations forcing bar, club and restaurant owners to close by midnight every evening until New Year’s Eve as a way of preventing a potential new and explosive wave of COVID-19 infections related to the Omicron variant.
During Thursday’s press briefing, Medical Officer of Health Dr Samuel Williams-Rodriguez confirmed that the first case of Omicron, which was identified in a traveller yesterday, had come from the United States and was picked up after a positive lateral flow test on day two after the individual’s arrival.
This means the person and their family were out and about in the community for two days before isolating. There are also now another ten suspected cases in travellers, which raises concerns of a dangerous holiday spike in the virus.
Premier Wayne Panton suggested that, if possible, people should should stay home from work over the coming days, as he announced a number of new regulations that are expected to be rolled out after a Cabinet meeting tomorrow, including the early closing for bars and a reduction on social gathering numbers to cut super-spreader events.
He said mandatory testing would be required for all front line workers and there would also be a requirement that anyone visiting the prison or a care home or other institution must produce a certified negative test that is less than 24 hours old or be tested at the location before entry.
“Unfortunately COVID continues to be a cause for concern for us and vigilance is required with the omicron variant currently raising the alarm across the globe,” Panton said, as he urged people to re-think their socializing plans for Christmas. “There is no definitive playbook for COVID-19… This challenge will be with us for some time to come.”
He said scientists were learning more about Omicron every day but it is expected to outpace Delta shortly and we cannot be complacent. Even if the virus is less severe, it spreads more easily and appears to evade protection from vaccines and previous infection, so there will be more hospitalizations and deaths.
“As a country we must and will continue to take the measures necessary in response to all variants, including Omicron, to protect our health system,” the premier added, before he announcing the new measures that were coming.
Despite the heightened concern, government is not introducing any new mandatory quarantine requirements for travellers from countries such as the UK, where the Omicron variant is fuelling further record-breaking infections, as “that would kill tourism”.
There are also plans to remove the southern African countries placed on a red list earlier this month, given that this strain of COVID-19 is now in at least 77 countries around the world and it makes no sense to single them out.
While government officials appear very concerned about the virus, with both the premier and Health Minister Sabrina Turner urging people to stay home and scale back the partying and socializing over Christmas to small close family gatherings, Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan confirmed that government still plans to allow a cruise ship to dock in Cayman on 28 December.
The testing regimes are being tightened and anyone found to have Omicron, regardless of their vaccination status, are now required to isolate for 14 days. The health minister also urged people to report positive lateral flow tests, even if they have no symptoms. She said people must seek a PCR test if a home kit shows they are positive for COVID in order to find out whether or not they have the Omicron variant.
Officials pressed home the vaccination message, urging everyone to get their shots and for those who have already had two shots, to get a booster dose. Dr Williams-Rodriguez confirmed that “fully vaccinated” for travellers means two doses, but a booster shot is still needed to protect people from this new variant.
Panton also confirmed that since 8 September, 105 people have been treated in hospital for COVID-19 in Cayman. Most of them had other health problems and 80% were not full vaccinated.
Urging people to get their shots, he said that healthcare providers here were beginning to burn out and the country needed to keep infections down to prevent stress on the system.
See the press briefing on CIGTV below:
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Category: Business, Health, Medical Health, Politics, Tourism
Please if you are afraid of the vaccine and have concerns about its safety ask yourself the question- why are the UK hospitals full of dying unvaccinated people asking for a vaccine with their final breaths. Why are they not full of people dying from the 100’s of millions of vaccines delivered in the UK this year? You can change your mind when the evidence changes.
That’s not wrong that’s smart.
Lets get Jabbed and back to normality.
Panton: “Even if the virus is less severe, it spreads more easily and appears to evade protection from vaccines and previous infection, so there will be more hospitalizations and deaths.”
This is the same man–Chief Clown Car driver–who invited the cruise ship to call on the 28th. The is all to often no logic, no sanity, no presence of mind in the policies he and his Clown Car minions promote.
The Panton/PACT Clown Car rolls on with this lunatic set of rules. What good is having a bar curfew but then making an exception and giving your blessings to New Years Eve being a superspreader event? A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. The early closing curfew will create a fair degree of pent-up partying demand that will uncork on New Years Eve. That night is known for reduced inhibitions and an increased over-indulgence in drink and risky behaviour anyway. Why allow that to occur until normal closing time? Gee, Clown Card drivers, what could possibly go wrong? Perhaps allowing a 12:30 closing with last call at 11:45 is a good compromise. It will allow partiers to tipple in the New Year without significantly extending the Covid-friendly boozy close social interaction.
Guardian reports that all non-essential shops, restaurants, bars, etc are shutting in the Netherlands because of an upsurge in Omicron.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/dec/18/covid-live-experts-call-for-stricter-restrictions-in-england-very-soon-omicron-spreading-fast-in-france
I am hoping that HRH Kenny Duke of Northward will reconsider and either stop the cruise ship or require testing prior to passengers being allowed off the dock. He must be aware of how Typhoid Mary got that name and surely he does not want to be known for ever more as “Omicron Kenny”.
Omicron is starting to impact London in significant ways –
“London Mayor Sadiq Khan has declared a “major incident” in the British capital as Omicron cases continued to rise on Saturday, according to a statement published on the London Assembly’s website.
Khan took the decision “following discussions with leaders from NHS London, local authorities and emergency and other essential services in the capital,” per the statement.
There have been 65,525 newly confirmed Covid-19 cases in London in the past seven days, with 26,418 cases reported in the last 24-hour period alone — the highest number since the start of the pandemic, according to the statement. The number of Covid-19 patients in London hospitals has gone up 29%, according to the London Assembly.”
Omicron was identified in the UK first about 3 weeks ago and probably arrived at about that time. Today the UK identified 10,000 new Omicron cases in one day. 7 dead so far as deaths typically lag infection by 2 – 6 weeks.
CNN – “UK records more than 10,000 Omicron variant cases in the past 24 hours, health authorities say
British health authorities announced Saturday that an additional 10,059 Omicron variant cases have been recorded in its latest daily figures.
The total of confirmed Omicron-variant Covid-19 cases has jumped to 24,968 as of 6 p.m. Friday, the UK Health Security Agency said on its website.
The number of deaths related to the Omicron variant stands at seven, the agency said.”
So 99.97 chance of survival for known cases which doesn’t include unknown cases and that’s crediting every death as due to covid and not with covid.
Too bad they don’t promote early treatment and are still all in on a vaccine only solution. Especially a vaccine that seems to last about 3 months now.
82,866 today Sunday. Is government getting the message?
Should cut down on the shooting and stabbing, unless they let them all hang out in the parking lot after.
The cruise passengers should be tested before they get back on the boat. There is more chance of them catching Covid here and bringing it back on board to spread than Cayman getting it from them. But Caymanians hate tourist so spread the hate.
You should realise that even if a cruise tourist did get exposed to Covid here, the chance that would lead to a positive test a few hours later is exceedingly low.
However given that Omicron infected cruisers would not have been tested in at least 4 days by the time they get to Cayman, they should definitely be tested before allowed past the dock.
It five o’clock somewhere🍺🍺
Join you in sanitize from the inside:)
Time for the vaccinations to be mandatory and let’s get on with living normally.
Ignorant foolish take.
Everyone is going to get it vaccinated or not—let us know when you had it
Ignoring reality and accepting pea-brained policy isn’t the normal response to any international pandemic health crisis in history. This MAGA-logic has led to >800,000 deaths in the USA alone. That’s 266 x 9/11s. That’s not normal. We need to starve the virus to get back to normal.
Its too late for that now, we can only slow it to prevent hospitals being overwhelmed. Clear messaging, a solid booster campaign and a sense of national emergency would have helped in last weeks briefing but we got a rambling tea party instead.
Why is it too late to starve the virus of new hosts? I reject collective surrender and this pervasive inevitability thesis. We don’t have to present ourselves as eager fresh hosts, that’s a choice rather than a certainty, whether official government policy or not. There are COVID frontline workers that go to work everyday without coming home with virus, so it IS possible for many people to know how transmission works and take suitable precautions. Think on that. Is 6 feet really that hard to grasp that we would all just decide not to bother?
Allowing hundreds of potentially Omicron infected cruise tourists to mingle with our resident population on 28 December is likely to cause a surge in Omicron cases. That will almost certainly shut down whatever is left of our winter stay over tourism season. Well done Kenny.
Some useful information published today by the WHO =
“Omicron is spreading rapidly in countries with high levels of population immunity, but it is unclear if this is due to the virus’ ability to evade immunity, its inherent increased transmissibility or a combination of both, the World Health Organization has said.
In its latest technical update on the coronavirus pandemic, the UN health agency said data on the clinical severity of Omicron remains limited.
“More data are needed to understand the severity profile and how severity is impacted by vaccination and pre-existing immunity,” the WHO said.
It added, “There are still limited available data, and no peer-reviewed evidence, on vaccine efficacy or effectiveness to date for Omicron”.
With cases rising so rapidly, hospitals could be overwhelmed in some places. “Hospitalisations in the UK and South Africa continue to rise, and given rapidly increasing case counts, it is possible that many healthcare systems may become quickly overwhelmed.”
The WHO brilliant group, Roger Daltry where are you now.
Hahaha in Jamaica I have not been to a bar, restaurant or nightclub in almost two years. I have been wearing a mask over my face every single day since March 2020. I only got vaccinated in July 2021. We are getting a late curfew only on Christmas and NY Eve this year. You people are very fortunate.
Any sign of Omicron in Jamaica yet?
Apparently we were given two machines to be able to study the types of virus here but I don’t know what happened to that. The consensus is it’s a mild variant so we lifted the travel ban on the African countries. The problem here is the huge swathe of the population who refuse to get vaccinated at all. No consequences to them, plenty for the rest of us who are fully vaccinated.
Based on the evidence, there is some cause for concern and proceeding with caution is warranted. So stop getting all your knickers in a knot.
I think the idea is that since the club crowd doesn’t really get going till midnight, if bars have to close at 12 it will deter large groups from going out, drinking, lowering their guards, dancing and spreading. Makes some sense to me. I support it.
In all governments.
Today’s HSA update says more Omicron cases have been found. Thanks to the decision to abandon quarantine even after Omicron’s transmissibility was known, our Omicron wave is starting. When the Omicron cruise ship releases hundreds or untested people in 11 days it will get much worse.
It is by all accounts milder, which is a positive . Natural immunity all round. Try reading more beyond the rabid news headlines, it really helps. Covid is not the world’s only disease, there are many more much worse. So try to stop obsessing over it. Your Welcome.
10:44>>
It is currently a raging global pandemic. “Milder” is comfort to a fool unless its morbidity/fatality rate is accompanied by a comparatively low rate of spread. For example, if a particular pathogen compared to another is half as deadly but three times as transmissible, the net effect is more body bags filled.
Between the global cults of anti vaxxers, the vax it all away crowd, and the combined thirst for the dollar and personal gratification over the safety of others, it’s clear that the human race deserves whatever fate brings. This pandemic on top of a global climate change catastrophe seems like no coincidence.
Cult of drug dealers and drug pushers is more accurate.
Might I suggest that these government press briefings just include the relevant facts of the day and quit the mindless preaching, blathering and bloviating from the panel. If you are asking the media to only ask four questions then you should be brief as well? Second, would the media start asking some hard questions like, Why if inbound travelers must take a LFT test 24 hours prior to arrival then have three tests while on island why isn’t Bryant demanding the same for the floating petri dish headed to Cayman 12/28?
Ask why we are following U.K. protocol, but Isolation there, following positive test is 10 days with call to cut it to 7 days. Why are we saying 14 for omicron?
Who voted for these morons? Time for a new election ASAP
You allow tourists in who can walk all over the place spreading covid, because you have them tested with the flow lateral test which is useless…great job ci government pat yourselves on the back with this one….remember this is how covid started ONE PERSON TRAVELLED TO NEW YORK WITH covid and it became a pandamic
They were tested 24 hours before they flew in. Give me a break. You want them tested every 20 minutes? They are vaccinated, tested. What are you? There is more covid chance with the local population than the tourist population.
A new election would cause a lot of confusion. How would JuJu, JonJon, Wayne, Heather, Jay, Isaac, Sabrina, and a few others know which team they were on?
The team that paid the most, of course.
And vote for who?
Who voted for these morons? Exactly the same people who would be voting in the new election you are asking for. With equally successful results no doubt. The average standard of elector intelligence is one problem; the competence and even honesty of the candidates the other.
What a bunch of muppets the CIG is! Running around like the sky’s about to fall in. I’m so utterly sick of this nonsense and pointless restrictions. Get the booster and let’s all get on with our lives and stop ruining our tourism industry. Omicron will be here and will rip but it seems milder that Delta (see the South African stats) so serious illness should be avoided. If you don’t want to be vaccinated and boosted then you should be the ones staying at home shielding. You’ve no right to stop everybody else living their lives because you believe the nonsense on YouTube rather than the medical experts.
You’re pro Reopen Cayman agenda of “it’s milder” is certainly a boring trope with nothing to back it up, but go on with your nonsensical comments
Smashing job, you Reopen Cayman cretins!
Omicron news from France
“France’s prime minister Jean Castex likened the spread of the Omicron variant in Europe to “lightning”, adding that it would be the dominant strain in France from the start of 2022.
Nearly 3,000 people are in intensive care with Covid-19 in France according to latest figures.”
Oh no. The reopen crew won’t like this!
Thanks for the copy and paste. What is your point?
Still shaking my head that they are going ahead with bringing 2000 – 3000 potentially Omicron infected people off that cruise ship in just 11 days with no testing or anything. Can’t decide whether somebody got paid off or its all down to idiocy or ???
Minister of Tourism promotion.
minister of tourism is a complete moron…why the people voted someone in who can’t even travel to the us is beyond me..great job Bryan, you will be remembered for opening the borders to allow another variant to spread
If you mean that Premier Bryan is looking to promote his own agenda then I would agree.
ReOpen Cayman has a website. It’s a who’s who of established political corruptors that are pro-cruise tourism. They were pushing to build a pier too. How soon we forget.
The Chinese are just waiting for Mac and his UDP hangers on to tell them to come back.They all move in mysterious ways who have much to gain.
Enough with the testing already!
MAGA!!!
Enough with the dumb shite you type!
Yes, if there was no testing there would be no covid and lots of people would just die for non apparent reason. The covid “problem” would sorted.
We all know KB a is gunning to be premier his sharp suits, sly comments and is clearly greasing up to the pro cruise lobby.
He is one dangerous man who will, totally corrupt this country.
Is he the son of Mc
Stay home , never go out again , wrap yourself in cotton wool. Problem solved. Life is far too short, to play hide and seek with a virus. It is weakening now, and they know how to treat it. So your hysteria is a mute point . Get over yourself. You are very welcome.
For an air arrival a day before test is required for entry into Cayman.
The Holland America cruise arriving December 28 will disembark guests that were tested 4 days prior to arrival.
Is this a concern? Maybe, i guess we will see.
I would be more concerned as a passenger knowing that i require an onboard test prior to disembarking after my cruise.
The decision to go ahead with the disembarkation of people from the Good Ship Omicron has everything to do with money for a few and nothing to do with science, public safety or common sense. Government should at least require an LFT test supervised by Border Control before letting the people off the ship to move beyond the dock.
You people worry and complain about everything, but don’t worry about flying off island to Miami, London or New York and then returning and going out partying.
The CDC Director has confirmed that the doubling time for Omicron is about 2 days. If that is correct then 10 local or cruise ship related transmission cases could turn into 1000 in 10 days.
https://www.deseret.com/coronavirus/2021/12/17/22839426/omicron-variant-predictions-next-week-cdc-director-predicts
And in 32 days, 327,680 will be infected at doubling.
(BTW, your math is off for 10 days…).
BTW your math is off more than theirs
Assuming we have 10 active cases in the community and doubling every 2 days 1000 active cases would occur about day 13 not day 10.
Other models suggest doubling every 1.5 days in some populations which starting with 10 active cases in the community would mean that we would reach 1000 active cases by day 10.
None of this makes any sense. 2 hours after midnight Omicron is more transmissible? Give me a break! This is a complete joke. Humanity is falling for this charade hook line and sinker. If we keep treating the globe like we are in a hostage situation things are only going to get more and more draconian. Regardless of your choice to protect yourself however you see fit we should not all be subject to this repeated BS or we will NEVER get out of this nightmare. It only stops when we collectively come together and say ENOUGH!
Stay home if you give a shit about your people. It’s the only thing you can do that will make a difference right now.
Got to cut Carbon man!