Minister and his PS locked down with Omicron
(CNS): Planning Minister Jay Ebanks and Parliamentary Secretary Isaac Rankine are locked down for the Christmas holidays after testing positive for COVID-19, officials have confirmed. The men will also be locked down with their immediate families for two weeks because, despite being vaccinated and having had a booster shot, the men are suspected of having the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 and will not be interacting with their North Side and East End constituents for the Christmas or New Year festivities.
The men both tested positive on Monday after Ebanks had come into contact with a civil servant who also tested positive with the virus. Both men are reportedly doing well, with only mild symptoms.
Officials have confirmed that Deputy Premier Chris Saunders will be acting for Ebanks as minister while he remains in isolation until the New Year.
It is understood that the two men are the first members of the PACT Government to be infected with the virus. Dwayne Seymour MP was said to have had the virus in November before he joined the government.
CNS has not been able to confirm which other members of the opposition, if any, have also tested positive over the last few months.
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Category: Health, Medical Health, Politics
The Policiations should be ashamed and say sorry for coming to the Brac and ended up spreading the Virus, Leaders should have the common sense to lead, they could did the meeting by the internet.
My friend, this Minister does not have the intellect to spell the word “lead”, much less know it’s meaning. He is so far out of his league it ain’t funny. Just look at the above pic; his look is akin to a toddler being scolded and not knowing or understanding why he is being scolded. In other words, an “what did I do” kinda moment.
What Job/jobs minister Jay had before he was voted in Parliment and became a minister ?
For sure not a job that required a lot of anything. All one has to do is listen to him talk and you will realize very quick he lacks basic education and people skills.
So I see one very bad KB decision has been reversed – Holland America has announced that the cruise ship is no longer arriving next week. One source of Omicron removed.
Hopefully PACT will see the light, continue that trend and rescind the board appointments of people with criminal convictions for fraud, corruption, etc.
https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/find-a-cruise/C1W07I/J187.html
Hon. Johanny plays a good game. Roads in North Side are all improved, fishing boat parking lot expanded to encompass a football field and covered up a nice wetland in the process. Now tearing down a forest for low income households. if trees were left the CUC bills would have been much lower, but nah…take down every tree except the thatch….this place is funny, but no so much.
sad state of affairs.
And yet he shows no signs of life trying to get his Planning Department up to speed on Brac. Yes, yes take care of North Side, it needs it. But don’t forget part of your portfolio is planning and Brac is part of it.
BTW an on island inspector will not take anything away from Grand Cayman, because that same inspector can do plan reviews from Brac – just like the Planner here does already – just saying.
And yes I am glad to see North Side getting some much needed immprovements after years and years of neglect.
I’m sure the minister didn’t intend to put anyone in “danger” but this just proves that all, regardless of vaccine status should be at least lateral flow tested before traveling between islands, In my opinion. Especially if you intend to have meetings with others!. All should have the basic responsibility to do a simple LFT on the day of travel, just for reassurance! I do when I travel!
On the note of the planning inspector, We need our own stationed building inspector again on the sister islands for sure. From what I hear, We surely don’t need a particular condescending inspector holding up jobs for his petty power rush and ‘his’ perceived perfectionism/professionalism.
I wonder what drugs the minister is taking for it.
Shame on the supposed to be leaders coming to the Brac, no mask, hand shaking and spreading the Virus, not necessary to come at this critical time, what happened to the internet ? shame, shame, what leaders are they ?
Even though you are under the weather, it is hoped that you will feel better. Rest up, recover well and in 2022 have great stories to tell 😉
Why are we unnecessarily locking down entire families again? We are going backwards, this variant is milder and results in 30 – 70% less hospitalizations. One family member tests positive and everyone gets locked down for two weeks. Does everyone get locked down again if another family member tests positive on day 15? No wonder people have stopped reporting positive cases with these crazy lockdowns again
Fear
BTW, one of those who attended the Brac Planning Meeting last Thursday, is POSITIVE. It should be noted that this person can be seen at a local restaurant/bar without a mask, drinking a beverage and sitting in bar stools next to patrons on both sides of him also without masks —– hmnn just saying.
Let me tell you a story of fact. One week ago today the Honorable Minister for Planning – Jay Ebanks attended a meeting at the District Administration Building. This meeting was about the lack of an on-island building inspector, lack of administrative support and overall poor office conditions.
Minister Ebanks, who took a position in the northeast corner of the head table proceeded to walk clockwise to each person seated and offer his hand for a handshake -fact.
After discovering he was positive, persons who attending the meeting were contacted on Monday to get a PCR test on Tuesday morning.
Took mine before 10AM and did not get contacted by Public Health until after 4PM the following day (30 hours to get results, so much for getting timely results).
Tested negative, only to be told that I would have to isolate until Friday morning when I could be tested again. Forget any travel plans for Christmas as it is clear that Public Health is unable to provide more timely results.
So not only has the Minister of Planning failed the Brac community by not pushing for an on-island inspector – he has also put a huge lump of coal in all the contractors Christmas stocking by him effectively shutting down construction and causing chaos with their families Christmas plans. Wow, thanks Minister.
For those of you in the public who may be unaware, one member in attendance stated to the Honorable Minister that it was him, Jay Ebanks, who could push for an on-island inspector, as he was part of Cabinet – and that it was at Cabinet meetings where such things could easily be approved, funded.
Last thing I would like to mention is the legal implications of locking down persons who have a NEGATIVE PCR test. Looking thru all of the COVID related Legislative Gazettes I could not specifically find any policy pertaining to locking down a person who tested NEGATIVE.
The Lab report results include a section that states “If all members of your household are negative, you are free to leave quarantine”. It further states words about being negative, being fully vaccinated and conducting daily LFTs.
I wish all those associated with this meeting a Blessed Merry Christmas and good health – including the Honorable Minister who should recognize his culpability of offering to shake hands during COVID times.
All of this happens for a reason Honorable Minister, but do realize your actions affect the livelihood of many in our community and their families.
Signed,
Common Sense and Expect I Will Experience Retribution for Being So Damn Honest
So are you saying the Minister brought covid to the Brac intentionally and made sure he infected everyone and also said that the Brac would not be getting a Building Inspector? I don’t see anything where that decision was made but I might be wrong, can you elaborate or was there a press release?
That’s not what the writer is saying. More like, better decisions could’ve been made considering these are the people making the decisions.
Exactly
@11:58am. okay gotcha..but 7 paragraphs? Just sounded like someone was angry and needed to bitch and place blame somewhere.
Constructive criticism is always good but no need for all the rambling and accusations..
Probably should head to an open bar on Christmas Day and avoid family.
If you lead you set the example – you dont go around shaking hands with the public.
The Minister is well aware of the lack of a cohesive policy for inspections on the Brac. He is well aware the Brac Planner is in an office the size of a broom closet. He is well aware that his own Director of Planning has instructed the Planner here not to assist anyone with the OPS system.
He is well aware that funding is not an excuse. Successive governments have in the past and continue to find money when they want to find money.
The Minister by lack of his own initiative allows this all to continue. He was afforded a solution, without the consultation fees/costs…. you are welcome Honorable Minister. Go to Cabinet meeting, you got support from the Minister for District Admin – and am sure the collective Cabinet will support such a meager request for funding.
If you need help finding a combination inspector who suits all of the Government requirements, let me know via this forum and I will do my part to help unna find one.
To the writer at 9:30AM – no am sure he did not intend to spread covid – but trying to shake everyones hand was not exactly him following protocols.
They both look like very large men. Hope they come through well. Maybe cut back on the rice and beans and Heavy Cake.
The Very Large is also known as a Comorbitity.
A Royal Caribbean ship has been banned from Curacao and Aruba due to Covid. Is Omicron Kenny negotiating to bring the infected passengers and crew here?
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/royal-caribbean-covid-outbreak-port-entry-denied/index.html
The cruise ship contacted Omicron Kenny to inform him they would not be stopping in Cayman due to the high risk of their passengers getting infected in Cayman. Transparent PACT (as in we can see through all of them) will probably announce they have decided to cancel the ship.
Seriously, how did you get this inside track? Did Holland America post a press release?
I know the Premier mentioned it would not be coming on the Cayman Marl Road show, Premier Access last night.
Two more Caymanians dead yesterday as a result of ‘living with Covid’. This is the example we ought to have followed:
“As other countries reimpose restrictions alongside the Omicron variant’s emergence, New Zealanders can look forward to celebrating Christmas and the new year with family and friends. With no community cases of Omicron yet detected, restaurants, cafes, cinemas, sports venues and night clubs remain open with minimal constraints aimed mostly at the unvaccinated.”
lock them and their families down….we will be keeping watch.
karma soon come for no-plan-pact.
On behalf of the people of Cayman Brac we would like to thank these 2 morons for coming over and locking down a bunch of us for Christmas. What was so important I that couldn’t be done over zoom? We had been Covid free and if this thing spreads because of you all I hope you’ll be providing the funds necessary to keep us afloat due to our loss of business. No Thank you to you both!
Moron is an extreme understatement
They came to the Brac a few days ago to meet with the contractors and we heard they was NOT wearing face masks.
We had 3,516 people test positive for COVID.
We had 11 people die.
Resultinly, 0.003% of people with COVID in Caymman have died.
Lol… You take more risk driving on the roads with these stupid ass drivers than COVID.
0.3%
as a treble vaxxed..ur stats don’t lie.
but…get vaxxed. its the vaxed that support ur stats.
Are you saying that it is ok for 11 person to die from something that could be perfectly avoided just because driving is more dangerous?
Are you also forcing others to take risks they don’t want to take because you decided that you take other risks?
You are definitely not a Christian. Not that you have to be one, but you are not.
0.3%, but still riskier to drive down the road.
I think you mean 0.3%….
yeah typo… Still basically nothing.
I doubt it is a typo, probably a limited understanding of math and lack of numeracy.
But very kind of them to try to enlighten us.
For most of us this a low probability/high severity event but for high risk individuals the probabilities become troublesome.
@9:09pm I will take my risk with the drivers over covid..Until you watch a family member suffer and die from this terrible virus you will never under that statistics mean absolutely nothing.
I only ask that when you post certain things like this that you understand that these statistics maybe frivolous to you but for a person going through recent loss it is very disheartening to hear these very unkind statements.
I was looking for MR. T in that photo “I pity the fool” (Mr. T quote)
@CNS I wonder if in the New Year your publication would be interested in doing a salary breakdown of elected members of Parliament? Including the pay bump for having a ministry post , secretaries etc ? I’m pretty sure most individuals would be dumbfounded at the results.This info should be available through freedom of information?
CNS: As will all things, we are hampered by lack of funds to hire more staff, which means we generally just don’t have the time to do such things. It’s still just the two of us.
Gern,
Isn’t it hard to believe only two people run CNS! They do a fantastic job!
The public should have total access
on every member of parliament’s salary AND expenses, ‘bonuses’ etc etc.
Saunders probably getting extra pay for doing Jay’s Planning job over the Christmas period, which we all know amounts to nothing, yet Jay can’t work from home if he needs to.
The Caymanian Electorate for the most part are not very bright.
CNS: For the record, I do agree that people should have access to all income of MPs, including their office expenses. People should also be able to see how they voted on issues, but such things are time consuming.
Boris Johnson will wait until AFTER December 25 to announce any post-Christmas Covid changes as studies show Omicron IS milder and reduces hospital admission by 40% – but hospitality bosses plead for clarity on whether they can open for New Year
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10328541/Omicron-Covid-MILDER-says-Professor-Lockdown-real-world-study-severity.html
“Officials have confirmed that Deputy Premier Chris Saunders will be acting for Ebanks as minister while he remains in isolation until the New Year.”
If he’s only got mild symptoms why can’t he work from home like everyone in the private sector that can do so has to do while in quarantine? I’m guessing he will not see his pay reduced because of this if he’s out of vacation days and sick days.
Work from home? Hell, does he work from the office.😅😂
Reads article, screams at sky…But but but….the unvaccinated…the unvaccinated..
4:30 yes if you want to be with the covid positive unvaccinated go and join them at the hospital – they will all likely pass by there at some time or another.
Likely? 99.97 survival rate suggests highly unlikely. Subracting cormidities that land you in the hospital in the first place makes it extremely unlikely.
Utilizing known and effective therapeutics makes it massively unlikely, but that may interfer with your psychotic obsession.
@4:30pm Yes the difference here, the vaccinated are isolating at home, unvaccinated are isolating in the hospital.
They should have done an LFT at home every day and just stayed out of the way for a few days until they got two days in a row negative.
Could have been back to… work in no time.
It’s a fools game to be locked away for a minimum 14 days when you are not sick and no longer infectious.
Yup UK down to 7 days qt for the vaxed
CNS – I don’t know if the photo you used is old or recent but my questions are where are their masks and where is the social distancing?
CNS: I’ve now dated it in case it became an issue. It was the only photo we had with both men in it.
Last night I saw the hand-out culture in action. There was McKeeva in a big white pickup, followed by MP office staff in the “official?” Tahoe (it has a flag pole), visiting locations in WBW with lots of fresh beef and other goodies.
People are so used to that now, no politician could be successful without that approach.
Disgusting!!
Another way to say this is that Caymanians as a people are vote-whores.
#Leggewasright
Small things amuse small minds.
I’m guessing the goodies weren’t paid for out of McKeeva’s pocket
Is anyone checking his CIG credit card statements these days?
Hehehehehehe 🤣
Got my beef and its gonna be good.
Please CNS, do not make these MPs more than what they are. They are responsible for Ministries or posts, they do not own them. The Parliamentary Secretary is NOT the Minister’s possession – as much as they like to think they own their Ministries and all the staff therein.
Funny though that they “own” everything under their domains except when it’s accountability time!!
They will need 7-foot fishing rods with a clothes pin on the end to hand out the $25 bills to their supporters over Christmas.
Love this comment.
So you see my people these shots are not working…
How do you survive daily life while being so stupid?
How do YOU survive daily life while being so stupid?
by being a “civil” “servant”
seriously why are government workers called that?
I have yet to meet one that was civil and they certainly don’t see themselves as serving people, more the opposite, and that is if you do manage to get hold of one for the 2 hours they are in the office each day.
So you see my people, ignorance is at full force! Why is it that some people are so doubtful of science but the second they feel ill they run to the scientist/doctors pleading for help? Im sick of these antivax conspiracy people. Just dont take the vaccine and live or die and stop trying to prove something!
he who laughs last, laughs best. Report in 2 years on your state of health.
3:27 you report also. Remember death waits for no man so be careful how you prophecy on others. Karma has a funny way to make you eat your words.
He who laughs last is the slowest to get the joke.
Even the scientists are confused.
The vaccine may not fully prevent infections from occurring, but it will keep people from getting sick and clogging up the hospitals and morgues. This means the shots are working.
Obviously no good for weight loss.
Well said.
After a year of information about the vaccine you still don’t understand. The vaccine works against severe illness and hospitalization. The vaccine works.
The smallpox vaccine works, the covid vaccine sort of works
But the civil servant they came in contact with was not vaccinated. Wonderful. First class.
“Both men are reportedly doing well, with only mild symptoms.”
I’m guessing you don’t really know what the purpose of a vaccine is right? Or an education?
Except that unvaccinated people can also experience mild or no symptoms. An educated person would know this.
An educated person would also appreciate that your chances of having a mild outcome are massively better if vaccinated than not – but go on, keep drawing an equivalence between vaccinated and unvaccinated if it reassures you.
Well duh.
If the Covid vaccines are not working, my dear tin-hat purveyor of tripe, please give us a rational explanation why more or less 80% of those hospitalised for Covid in Cayman are not vaxed.
Then please explain why fully vaccinated people are dying too.
Really? I guess you don’t do very basic maths?
That still leaves 20%, (not an insignificant % in any survey) of hospitalized people who are fully vaccinated, and boosted. (if you are not boosted, you are not counted as vaccinated but are put into the unvaccinated category)
What is the rational explanation for that?
When you compare the stats for people who test positive for covid, the ratio of unvaxed people who catch COVID versus the vaxxed it is closer to 60% to 40% which very closely mirrors the ratio of vaxxed to unvaxxed in the community.
This tends to support the theory that the vaccination does nothing to prevent the disease (which is what a vaccine is supposed to do)
What is the rational explanation for that?
By the way, I am fully vaxxed and boosted but I still have a lot of questions about this “vaccine”
They make some people happy so let them be. Besides telling someone the obvious just pisses them off. Let them be right for a change.