Omicron already circulating in community
(CNS): While four confirmed cases of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 have already been confirmed in travellers over the last few days, Public Health officials said that by Saturday there were another 23 suspected cases waiting confirmation, seven of which were among people with no travel history. With the super-contagious strain of COVID-19 now circulating in the community, the chief medical officer issued an emergency order cancelling a major dance hall event at the Lion’s Centre on Saturday night amid fears that the country is about to see a significant rise cases of the virus over the holidays.
“In response to possible community transmission of the Omicron variant the chief medical officer has issued an emergency order to cancel a large event planned for this evening,” said Premier Wayne Panton in a statement issued Saturday evening.
“In light of this rapidly evolving situation, I want to appeal to members of the community to carefully consider your attendance at any large gathering and to adhere to all safety protocols. The Omicron variant is extremely contagious and we must do all we can to slow the spread,” he added.
The Rub-a-Dub Cooler Festival at the Lions Centre had been sold out and had already been rescheduled after being cancelled in September, after the Delta variant started circulating in the community for the first time this year.
Now, given the increased transmissibility of the Omicron variant, Medical Officer of Health Dr Samuel Williams-Rodriguez urged everyone to strictly practice COVID-19 prevention measures, including hand washing, mask wearing and social distancing throughout the holiday season.
“These simple guidelines, combined with the full vaccination course and booster, offer the best chance of protecting ourselves and those we love,” he said.
The first suspected case of Omicron was identified in a traveller on Wednesday. Public Health officials confirmed that the individual was vaccinated and so had not been in quarantine and had been moving freely in the community for two days before testing positive.
The following day at the press briefing, Dr Williams-Rodriguez confirmed that there were at least ten more suspected cases, four of which were confirmed Friday. But by Saturday officials said there were at least 27 likely cases.
According to the latest information about this variant from around the world, early scientific studies show it multiplies about 70 times quicker than the original and Delta versions, and data suggest that cases on average double about every two days.
Wall Street Journal: The Science Behind Omicron’s Rapid Spread
Listen to a message from the premier below:
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
Category: Health, Medical Health
Thailand has recognized that short term pain can produce long term gain and has re-introduced quarantine to slow the importation of Omicron. Too bad our politicians don’t learn from what is happening elsewhere.
Are you stupid??
The head of the W.H.O. put things in perspective with the following Omicron related maxim – “an event canceled is better than a life canceled.”
Can we please follow that in relation to the Omicron cruise scheduled to arrive in 1 week?
And all of the New Year’s parties at the bars that are being advertised
New Zealand has recognised the threat posed by Omicron and has delayed their border opening for at least 2 months. We should do the same.
A sad announcement from Texas. The first person to die from Omicron in that state was unvaccinated and thought he had natural immunity because he had previously been infected with and survived Delta. A lesson there for some I hope.
You seem to have missed out the part that he had underlying health conditions.
Wonderful news, and since Omicron is the least dangerous yet, and most of the population is vaccinated, we should just remove existing restrictions.
Full stop there, Repoen Carrie.
The CDC says that Omicron has gone from 12.6% of Covid cases to 73% of Covid cases in just one week.
“The Omicron variant causes over 73% of new coronavirus cases in the US, according to estimates posted Monday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The week ending Dec. 18, Omicron accounted for 73.2% of cases, with delta making up an additional 26.6%.
The week prior, ending Dec. 11, Omicron was estimated at 12.6% of circulating virus, versus Delta’s 87%. Previously, the CDC estimated Omicron accounted for about 3% that week.
The week ending Dec. 4, Omicron caused less than 1% of new cases.”
No worries, the Reopen cult is telling us that Omicron is harmless and most are vaccinated here, so we’re all good. Throw caution to the wind and live, laugh, and love.
In news from the US
“Coronavirus cases surged in New York City and around the United States over the weekend, dashing hopes for a more normal holiday season.
In New York, new Covid cases rose 60% in the week that ended on Sunday as the Omicron variant spreads rapidly around the US northeast. New York has set records for the most new cases reported in a single day since the pandemic started for three consecutive days.”
The rise in cases has set off alarm bells for public health officials, who see Omicron fast becoming dominant in the United States and fear an explosion of infections after holiday gatherings., Reuters reported.
Thanks dad, we all have the internet. You can stop 🛑.
The trouble is some morons believe everything they read or see on TV.
It’s the morons who believe everything sent via WhatsApp, Facebook and Fox News that are the most concerning.
At least some places don’t have idiots as political leaders.
“In Quebec, Canada’s second-most populous province, schools, bars, gyms, casinos and cinemas will be closed as of Monday in order to combat the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
All non-essential workers are being asked to work from home and restaurants will have to reduce their capacity to 50% and limit their hours from 5am to 10pm. The new measures will come into effect at 5pm local time on Monday.”
Stable genius Quebec also gives vaccination QR certificates to residents after a single dose of a two dose course, so go figure.
For those prematurely equating Omicron to a common cold, this from a study by Imperial College in the UK. The study examined confirmed Covid cases between Nov. 29 and Dec. 11.
>The risk of reinfection with the Omicron variant is 5.4 times greater than that of the Delta variant. This implies that the protection against reinfection by Omicron afforded by past infection may be as low as 19%.
>The study finds no evidence of Omicron having lower severity than Delta, judged by either the proportion of people testing positive who report symptoms, or by the proportion of cases seeking hospital care after infection. Hospitalisation data is still coming in.
>Omicron is associated with a 5.40 fold higher risk of reinfection compared with Delta.
>The researchers found a significantly increased risk of developing a symptomatic Omicron case compared to Delta for those who were two or more weeks past their second vaccine dose, and two or more weeks past their booster dose (for AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines).
>Prof Neil Ferguson from Imperial College London said: “This study provides further evidence of the very substantial extent to which Omicron can evade prior immunity given by both infection or vaccination. This level of immune evasion means that Omicron poses a major, imminent threat to public health.”
Give it a rest, please.
Neil Ferguson 😆. Please tell me this is satire.
Nothing this man has said has been anywhere near the truth. He has zero credibility.
Disliked by those who prefer nonsense rather than science.
“two weeks to flatten the curve” “95% efficacy from infection” “two shots” “80% vaccination rate” “three shots” “4 shots”
Disliked again
All you need to know about Neil Ferguson is this…..”
Ferguson and his team used statistical models to estimate that cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were significantly under-detected in China.“
Imagine needing a team of medical professionals under his leadership to come up with something that the dogs on the street in every country knew. China were lying, oh my goodness can you believe it.
The man must be held in high esteem LOL
Professor of Fear, Neil Ferguson
“>The risk of reinfection with the Omicron variant is 5.4 times greater than that of the Delta variant. This implies that the protection against reinfection by Omicron afforded by past infection may be as low as 19%”
This is because vaccine and natural immunity of previous strains are not as effective in preventing infection of this new variant. Just because you become infected, does not mean that previous immunity doesn’t still work to prevent hospitalizations and death. In fact, evidence is showing that vaccine and previous natural infection do help against this variant. No vaccine is going to put a magic shield up in front of your face.
“>The study finds no evidence of Omicron having lower severity than Delta, judged by either the proportion of people testing positive who report symptoms, or by the proportion of cases seeking hospital care after infection. Hospitalisation data is still coming in.”
Evidence in the UK is behind as it’s still new there. Looking at South Africa where this variant emerged, infections are going down and there was no extreme surge for the hospitals to deal with. This means Omicron is much less deadly than the Delta variant.
“>Omicron is associated with a 5.40 fold higher risk of reinfection compared with Delta.”
It’s far more infectious this is true. However, this will only accelerate natural herd immunity.
“>The researchers found a significantly increased risk of developing a symptomatic Omicron case compared to Delta for those who were two or more weeks past their second vaccine dose, and two or more weeks past their booster dose (for AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines).”
So?
“>Prof Neil Ferguson from Imperial College London said: “This study provides further evidence of the very substantial extent to which Omicron can evade prior immunity given by both infection or vaccination. This level of immune evasion means that Omicron poses a major, imminent threat to public health.””
Agree, but the vaccines are still working against it. Just less so against initial infection. Infection does not mean sick or hospitalized or dead. Some will have a bad reaction to the infection but those numbers appear to be low in countries with advanced Omicron spread.
Name one person who’s had covid twice in the world?
CNS: Sanne de Jong and Luciana Ribeiro. Science Magazine – More people are getting COVID-19 twice, suggesting immunity wanes quickly in some
However, that article is more than a month old. See Business Standard – Reinfection risk with Omicron is 5.4 times greater than Delta: Study (Caveat: the study in question is not peer reviewed. Caveat to the caveat: Omicron is still very new.)
At this point, the idea of reinfection is accepted fact. Legitimate questions remain about how often and how severe such reinfections are and how to prevent them, which is why there are ongoing studies. Wherever you are getting your information from, look somewhere else.
You lost me at Imperial College, the same “reputable” institution that predicted havoc during phase one only to be proven woefully wrong.
cayman came through one of the highest rates of delta community transmission in the world with little pressure on our health service?
and now we are panicing about omicron(aka a mild cold)???
cayman has 10 times the amount of hosp beds compared to most other developed countires???…plus we have one of the highest vax rates in the world….
where is the prespective from government?
A question to be answered please.
Will a second booster jab help in anyway?
Unlikely at this time. The thinking behind the booster is that immune response decreases over time (taking some very large averages across a population, which will include people with naturally lower initial immune responses anyway). Also that its easier to boost ‘everyone’ than to test everyone’s actually immune response to try to judge when you actually need a booster. So one booster should be enough for a while yet. The doctors will be watching real-world immune response drop-off in larger countries to judge if/when populations are likely to benefit from another booster, like annual flue jabs. (Just, different, because COVID is not a flue. One need for the annual flue jabs is different flues emerging over time. Which is where you might see the COVID vaccine change over time as well with future COVID strains. But we’re also not there yet.)
In short, they don’t have a clue. They’ll let us know when they figure out what happens to us.
of course…. any jab taken within last 0-6 months will help. get ur next jab asap
From a recent study by Imperial College, London:
“Depending on the estimates used for vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic infection from the Delta variant, this translates into vaccine effectiveness estimates against symptomatic Omicron infection of between 0% and 20% after two doses, and between 55% and 80% after a booster dose.”
Hopefully a successor to Comirnaty in next couple months for a second booster in 6 months, if necessary. Israel started boosting about 5 months ago, so they’ll probably be the pace car on that again.
so we are drifting back into lockdown because of the risk of the unvaxxed putting our health service under risk????
surely they are the ones that should be excluded from social settings not the responsibel double/treble vaxxed people.
time for march….cos nothing the government is making sense.
That’s total nonsense. It’s actually everyone, vaccinated or not who isn’t wearing proper masks correctly, everyone who isn’t distancing properly, everyone out in public who is sick but too selfish enough to to stay home or forced to work while sick. It’s also every business that isn’t following guidelines to protect people.
wrong. unvaxxed are 10 times more likely to end up in hospital (and accordingly put our health system under stress).
do you understand basic maths?
12.43. Site your source please.
The health system was never under stress from Delta and that was supposed to be Armageddon. Safe to say we fared extremely well. Stop with the fear mongering.
Whether you want to believe it or not, there haven’t been many week-long vacation recharges for anyone working in COVID response in last 2 years. Staff burn-out is high, with or without your patient body count validation metric.
Do you think you’re invincible because you’re vaccinated or do you think it’s part of a multi layer response including proper masking, distancing, capacity restrictions and isolations?
so why has every other developed nation but severe restrictions of the unvaxxed?
will wait for answers
So despite best efforts, The Symphony of the Seas returned to Port of Miami with close to 50 positive cases. They stop short of laying blame, but the Cruise Line are definitely stating all protocols were followed.
We are hosting a cruise ship next week, that all passengers and crew will be fully vaccinated and tested and will follow all protocols.
It is a week long cruise, on return, someone is going to test positive, maybe lots of them.
What kind of position will the Ministry of Tourism take when the cruise returns to Miami and dozens of people test positive and the finger is pointed at Cayman with our high level of community transmission as the first stop on this voyage.
I think we are putting our long term tourism industry at risk by rushing to get these visitors back while Omicron is raging in the region.
We have waited this long to offer a safe cruise experience, let’s wait a little longer.
I believe Kenneth is working with Marc to have the cruise ship passengers spend their day at the Ritz Carlton beach. It’s a win/win situation.
You lost me at “I believe Kenneth is working”.
Hardly a win/win situation for those at the Ritz-Carlton. !!
Maybe we’ll get luck and they will blame us for all the people who test positive on the ship and ban the Cayman Islands as a cruise ship stop forever.
what is your fear of a cruise ship with less infection rate than the local population?
From which crystal ball did you gain your knowledge of the Omicron infection rate aboard the ship and the rate in Cayman on the date the ship is calling into port here? Or did you just pull that tidbit outta your…you know…yeah…there.
Lot of that going around.
Omicron loves cruise ships, even wehen the crew and passengers are supposed to be ‘fully’ vaccinated –
“Royal Caribbean Group said on Monday that 48 people on its Symphony of the Seas cruise ship tested positive for Covid.”
Perhaps this is the wrong forum to ask this question. But will unvaccinated children be allowed to disembark the cruise ship that will be arriving in Cayman in a few days? How will that be monitored? I suspect this question has been asked and hopefully answered.
Holland America’s website says no unvaccinated passengers will be allowed including children who are unvaccinated
presumably a ‘fully vaccinated’ cruise means no unvaccinated children….but who knows what the fine print says
Until we adopt an early treatment strategy, we will flounder around endlessly blaming the unvaccinated and a vaccine that doesn’t stop the virus.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
Wake up.
Stop talking sense. Very little room for that here.
The majority here can’t handle The Cold Hard Truth,
they prefer to live under their beds in fear.
The NHL cancelled their season until later this month because of the spread. What you think is fear, is actually scientifically based concern.
Concern
Noun – Anxiety, worry
Verb – Worry, make anxious
Scientifically based, I think not.
Do the right thing PACT close this omicron $#@% down and please stop listening to decepticons running bout the place here wid they foolishness rub a dub styleee in the middle of a pandemic Really??? and all these socialite dingbats can celebrate on ZOOM and FaceTime after all that is why they are there in the first place to be seen.
From Monday’s Miami Herald:
Forty-eight passengers and crew members tested positive for COVID-19 on Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas ship, which docked at PortMiami on Saturday, the cruise company said. The four dozen cases on the massive cruise ship, where vaccination was required for the vast majority of passengers 12 and over, are prompting worries and speculation that cruising may see a repeat of the disastrous spread of COVID-19 that occurred at the onset of the pandemic — and the subsequent shutdown of the industry for more than a year. In a statement on Sunday, Miami-based Royal Caribbean said that each person who tested positive immediately went into quarantine. Six people who tested positive disembarked the ship mid-voyage and were transported home. The ship that pulled into Miami the day before left port on Dec. 11 with 6,091 passengers and crew on board, 95% of whom were fully vaccinated. Of the 48 who tested positive for Covid-19, 98% were fully vaccinated. Royal Caribbean said in a statement that the passengers who tested positive were either asymptomatic or had mild symptoms. However, passengers noted that was not the case. James Johnson and Connor O’Dell, an engaged couple who live in Orlando, were on Symphony of the Seas with a group of 12 family members. All members of their party were fully vaccinated. Johnson’s aunt started feeling very ill with a sore throat and an ear ache and later developed a strong cough. After testing positive for COVID-19, Johnson said she only received an oxygen and temperature check and were told that medical staff was too overwhelmed to monitor her more closely. Miami’s Top 25 best-paid employees See the who earns the most in the city of Miami government READ MORE The couple and the rest of their party, who had been in close contact with Johnson’s aunt and had gone to the ship’s crowded night club, said that they received conflicting information from Royal Caribbean about whether they needed to quarantine and that initially they would not give them coronavirus tests. “We did our research and read their COVID policies, on their site they say they have excellent testing capabilities, that’s why we thought it was safe to go,” Johnson continued. “They failed their own safety standards.” “I bought into the safety aspect,” added O’Dell, whose dad also tested positive and is now getting regeneron anti-body therapy at his home in Tampa. “I was reading the literature they have online and thought, ‘how much safer can you get?’ Everyone’s vaccinated and has to get tested. And then you get on board and find yourself in the middle of the outbreak.” The voyage that resulted in 48 positive cases of COVID-19 was a seven-night Caribbean itinerary leaving from Miami and visiting St. Maarten; St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands; and CocoCay, the cruise line’s private island in the Bahamas. The new cases come as the omicron variant is quickly spreading across the United States, potentially throwing a wrench in holiday travel plans. Royal Caribbean said that Symphony of Sea’s future trips would not be affected. The ship is has already left Miami for a new trip to Mexico, according to vesselfinder.com. Royal Caribbean requires that all passengers on the Symphony of the Seas who are 12 or older be fully vaccinated. All passengers must take a COVID test before boarding. Crew members are required to be fully vaccinated and are tested weekly. While the breakthrough cases may be a setback for the cruise industry, which only began restarting over the past six months, it’s still too soon to know the damage that omicron will do. The variant was only identified about a month ago in South Africa and scientist are still searching for answers about how contagious and severe it is, and how it effects vaccinated people. Cruise industry leaders say that being on a cruise ship is the safest kind of vacation travelers can take at the moment because of the controlled environment where they can mandate vaccines. But breakthrough infections have the potential to put the industry in a bad spot again. Cruises were COVID-19 hot spots at the onset of the pandemic, causing the industry to completely shut down for over a year.
I see that the CITA boss is crying foul over not being consulted before the government made a wise decision to cancel the large gathering. It’s clear who thinks they pull the strings here, and who is pushing a return to normal in spite of a global pandemic. Now, the government should place a moratorium on workplaces. Most office work can be done remotely to help slow the highly contagious Omicron variant down before it’s too late for our health care system.
Why are we all Michael Jackson, hair on fire with a variant that is largely asymptomatic and apparently non lethal? Why not access the risk based on the actual risk? Have any local Omi patients become seriously Ill? Is there a great risk to our safety? Or, is this the evolution of a virus that might actually be beneficial? Seems like a lot of overreacting and political posturing. Actual peoples’ lives and futures are being destroyed because of this overreacting, I wish Government would count to ten, take a few deep breaths and think two steps ahead before they act .
How are lives being destroyed? You need to count to ten and realize you have breath… therefore, all is well. Precaution is necessary. If you’re bored go play in the sand. A delay is not the end!
23, 46, 92, 184, 368, 736, 1472, 2944, 5888, 11776, 23552, 47104 ….
Anyone heard from Bermuda? Their silence is a bit concerning.
LOL, the Bemuda’s news commentator you mean? Stuck in his closet with 4 masks on?
Bermuda found its first Omicron case a few days ago. Now it makes up 60% of news cases in Bermuda and numbers are growing like they are everywhere once Omicron arrives and government response is inadequate.
So what about the Public Buses? Most passengers are jammed like sardines against each other.
The driver and even most passengers do not wear their mask correctly. Drivers are allowing passengers to enter the bus without a mask on.
I have even witnessed a person place one hand over the mouth for the entire trip. Allot of Jamaicans tend to do this, and also when they enter restaurants to buy food!!!!! Hello, the germs are on your hand, then you will touch the bus door or restaurant door for others to touch and contract any virus (if the virus is there).
When is the PACT going to clamp down on probably the fastest super spreader method on island?
Tight cramped spaces; Windows are closed; Masks are not being worn correctly; Frequent hand touching of surfaces, especially doors and seats and Handling of Cash!!!!!!!
Public Transport is the “Cruise Ship Covid Incubator” equivalent. Let’s not talk about having cruise ship passengers on public transport along with locals/residents.
God help us all.
While you are correct that the germs are on their hands you might want to step back and think for a moment.
Because everyone you see “wearing” a mask – most of them are not worn correctly and if you watch people for a little while you will see them touch their mask with their hands and then touch doors, etc… so if you have a worry about the “hands as a mask” person – you might want to consider that they are almost entirely the same as most people wearing masks when it comes to spread via touch.
It seems too contagious to stop. If the reports thus far are true that it more contagious and less likely to result in hospitalization maybe it’s time to let our vaccines and natural immune systems do their job instead of trying to contain the inevitable.
Temporary morgues are being set up in countries like America. Why do you think it’s ok to throw caution to the wind?
show me a source that says temporary morgues are being set up in America or other countries ‘like’ America. Stop fear mongering
Something wrong with your internet? Would you like fries with that?
Mobile Morgues Return As States Prepare for COVID Omicron Surge
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/mobile-morgues-return-as-states-prepare-for-covid-omicron-surge/ar-AARV1YY
They have had them since April 2020, and kept them on standby when not in use. getting prepared for the worst is not a sign that the worst is coming, its a sign of being proactive.
We’re doomed I tell ye… aye doomed…. Everybody needs to buy a shovel to bury the dead 🙄
As of SL 89 Dec 17th, 2021…
TICKET OFFENCES AND FINES:
1. Failure of the owner or operator of a relevant public place to restrict the number of persons so that customers or congregants are able to social distance. 4(5) $1000
2. An owner or operator of a restaurant or bar failing to maintain distance of at least six feet between tables while offering services. 5(5) $1000
3. An owner or operator of a restaurant or bar failing to ensure that servers and staff wear masks or cloth face coverings while serving customers. 5(5) $500
4. A person not maintaining at least six feet from every other person in a restaurant or bar when not seated at a table or counter 5(6) $250
5. Holding a public meeting, procession or parade 6(3) $1000
6. A person who enters a place or facility of quarantine or isolation or a private residence contrary to regulations 8(1), (2), (4)(b), (4)(c) or (5). 8(7) $500
7. Visiting or permitting another person to visit a place or a facility of quarantine or isolation, or a person in a place or a facility of quarantine or isolation. 8(7) $500
8. Permitting another person to visit a private residence where the private residence has been specified by the Medical Officer of Health as a place or facility of quarantine or isolation. 8(7) $500
9. A person who has been directed by the Medical Officer of Health to isolate at a private residence specified as a place or facility of quarantine or isolation, failing to ensure that a person who is providing food, grocery or medication delivery services does not enter the private residence or have contact with that person or any other person at the private residence. 8(7) $500
10. A person who provides food, grocery or medication delivery services to a place or facility of quarantine or isolation or a private residence specified as such having contact with any person in quarantine or isolation at the place or facility of quarantine or isolation or the private residence specified as such. 8(7) $500
11. A person who provides food, grocery or medication delivery services to a place or facility of quarantine or isolation or a private residence specified as such failing to leave the place or facility of quarantine or isolation immediately after providing food, grocery, or medication delivery services. 8(7) $500
12. A person failing to comply with the directions of the Medical Officer of Health in relation to any social distancing requirements and the use of personal protective equipment in a place or facility of quarantine or isolation. 8(7) $500
13. A person who is directed by the Medical Officer of Health to remain at a private residence or such other place or facility of quarantine or isolation removing or passing, or permitting the removal or passing of, any item from a place or facility of quarantine or isolation. 9(4) $500
14. A person who has handled an item which —
(a) comes from a place or facility of quarantine or isolation; or
(b) has been handled by a person directed to remain at a place or facility of quarantine or isolation,
failing to comply with the directions of the Medical Officer of Health. 9(4) $500
15. Visiting a patient who has tested positive for the virus in a health care facility without the written permission of the Medical Officer of Health. 10(4) $500
15A. Visiting a patient other than a patient who has tested positive for the virus and who is in a health care facility without a negative result of an approved test. 10(4) $500
16. Visiting a residential home care facility without a negative result of an approved test. 11(3) $250
17. Not complying with the directions of the manager of a residential home care facility in relation to any social distancing requirements and use of personal protective equipment in the residential care facility. 11(3) $250
18. Visiting a detainee in a place of detention or a prison without a negative result of an approved test. 12(4) $250
19. A person failing to comply with the directions of the Director of Prisons in relation to any social distancing requirements and the use of personal protective equipment in a prison. 12(4) $250
20. A person who has not completed an approved vaccine course not providing a medical certificate which shows a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test of a sample from the upper airways no more than forty-eight hours prior to the departure from Grand Cayman to Cayman Brac or Little Cayman. 13(8) $250
21. The operator of a boat failing to ensure that the boat only has on board at any time no more than one hundred persons or seventy per cent of its legal capacity, whichever is lesser; or operating or manoeuvring a boat so as to congregate or gather with any other person on any other boat or vessel where the number of persons gathering exceeds one hundred persons. 14(4) $500
22. Failing to only use a boat for the purposes of fishing in the areas specified in Schedule 1 or failing to comply with the following conditions when using a boat for the purpose of fishing in the areas specified in Schedule 1 —
(a) possessing clearance to leave the waters issued by the Customs and Border Control Service;
(b) ensuring that the boat has on board at any time no more than twenty-five persons or its legal capacity, whichever is lesser;
(c) ensuring that the operator and the persons on board the boat return to the Islands no later than forty- eight hours after the commencement of the outward journey; or
(d) operating or manoeuvring a boat in the areas specified in Schedule 1 so as to congregate or gather with any other person on any other boat or vessel where the number of persons gathering exceeds twenty- five persons. 15(6) $500
23. A spectator at a sporting activity that takes place in an outdoor area failing to cover the spectator’s mouth and nose with a mask or face covering when unable to maintain or not maintaining a distance of six feet from every other person. 16(5) $250
24. A person at a sporting activity that takes place in a gym, fitness centre or other indoor fitness area failing to maintain a distance of six feet from every other person in a gym, fitness centre or other indoor fitness area. 16(5) $250
25. The organiser of a sporting activity permitting more than two hundred and fifty persons at any time as spectators of or as participants at an outdoor sporting activity. 16(6) $500
26. An owner or operator of a gym, fitness centre or other indoor fitness area permitting a person other than an employee to enter the gym, fitness centre or other indoor fitness area where that person —
(a) has not, at least fourteen days prior to the date of the sportingcompleted approved course, proof of which must be submitted in the form of a vaccination certificate; or
(b) does not present the owner or operator with a medical certificate which shows that the person had a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test of a sample from the upper airways, or a negative result of an approved test, no more than forty-eight hours prior to the date of the activity an vaccine sporting activity and which specifies the name and address of the approved laboratory where the test was performed. 16(7) $500
27. An owner or operator of a gym, fitness centre or other indoor fitness area failing to comply with the guidelines issued by the Medical Officer of Health in relation to the operation of gyms, fitness centres or other indoor fitness areas. 16(7) $500
28. Failing to wear a mask or cloth face covering when inside a taxi or omnibus.17(3) $250
29. Operating a taxi or omnibus where the operator or any other person in the taxi or omnibus fails to wear a mask or cloth face covering when inside the vehicle. 17(3) $250
30. Renting scuba or snorkelling equipment to a customer for a scuba diving or snorkelling activity, including for training in scuba diving or snorkelling contrary to regulation 18. 18(5) $500
31. An owner or operator of a business using or permitting the use of hookah, shisha pipes or water pipes at the place of business. 19(2) $500
Probability of enforcement of any of the above……?
Just stay home.
and do not go out after midnight.
The question at this point is; “How many more dead Caymanians and residents will PACT accept as collateral damage for continuing to do either nothing or the wrong things (cruise ships included)?
The Legacy issues are extremely precarious. The architects of today’s bad policy may find themselves summoned to the Hague to face “Crimes Against Humanity” charges. There’s already an effort to get Bolsonaro referred there. Trump, Johnson and others can’t be far behind.
Maybe if Caymanians got vaccinated or it was mandated for them they wouldn’t die like you forecast. Caymankindness right there.
1:22, we all must face the consequences of our actions…..good or bad. The deaths we’ve seen have been persons that chose to remain unvaccinated instead of following science and sound medical advice.
PACT (and PPM) begged and pleaded with all citizens to get vaccinated. Vaccines are free and readily available. Deaths aren’t on government, they’re on the vaccine-holdouts (anti-vaxxers) that died.
Wayne is reported to state, “The Omicron variant is extremely contagious and we must do all we can to slow the spread,”. If that is true Wayne then why the “F” are we allowing untested passengers off a cruise ship to land here and mix with our population in 9 days!
Time we gave out essential information like every other country does. 7 deaths in hospital, 14 currently hospitalised.Of these how many were double vaccinated (with or without a booster), and how many had chronic underlying conditions, and what are the age groups?. We need this info to assess how serious our Covid infections are.
Boosters are a good tool, and should be part of every personal survival strategy, but they are not bullet proof vests. All hospitalised patients and even the ill at home should MATTER. These are our neighbours, relatives, coworkers, and friends. Those looking for metrics to prop confirmation bias narratives should look around the world and witness that those assumptions are all being rewritten. Everyone can catch Omicron, and transmit it on to others who may be more vulnerable, so it almost doesn’t matter anymore. Try to keep up.
Why continue with the testing sites bringing people together who are testing with symptoms and then those who have just arrived without symptoms and will pick it up from the community. I am extremely nervous to go to be tested by people who may or may not be vaccinated and to wait in a crowded indoor place with people who may be infected.
Total Health on West Bay Td has an outdoor testing facility.
Where is that located on West Bay Rd, Please. Can you give me a landmark that it is nearby?
The vaccination status of the person testing you has detrimental effect to you. It’s all of you vaccinated person’s traveling up and down as usual that is unknowingly spreading the virus.
The un vaccinated people are very careful about what they do and who they interact with.
So what’s the problem here???
The vaccinated.
The vaccination status of the person may have detrimental effect to me if they are carrying the virus. They will be sitting very close to me- close enough to put a swab up my nose. I would rather have someone who is vaccinated and bolstered doing that job. You may have your own opinion, but that is mine. And, for my protection and for the protection of my family, I would like the health care workers vaccinated. The CI government wanted us vaccinated and tested. I would like the healthcare workers who will be so close to be vaccinated and tested also.
Where will you find such a place? Caymanians, by law, don’t need to get vaccinated. So the only solution is segregation. Testing centers run by expats. This is a slippery slope! Yet the vast majority of people agree with your fears.
More inept fumbling of Covid measures from the brain-dead occupants of the Panton/PACT Clown Car: Cancel a dancing event because it assembles people in a restricted space, but make people assemble indoors in a restricted area to test for Covid.
If Panton or any of his PACT compadres ever feel the need to see what a mindless, irresponsible politician looks like they need only look in the mirror.
I love how when you go for the vaccine you are sat next to each other with no social distancing at all in an indoor space and the way to move up the queue is to move into the next seat. Seats that infected people could be sitting in and everyone touching them.
To start ticketing people for being less than 6 feet apart is too subjective and would create anarchy… Not a workable solution.
It would make an interesting reality tv program: Six Foot Deep, the new series that tracks the RCIPS as they travel between food/liquor establishments, writing tickets and notices to appear. We could televise the perps’ ongoing and continued court appearances, and do frequent update and “did you see?” episodes for those ‘can’t miss’ moments.
It’s a winner, I tell you. All our local vendors could run nonstop adverts on the sidebar. There could even be phone-in tips for the uberpersecutive among us.
Cayman’s messaging needs to be dumbed WAY WAY down. Public Health advisors in Cayman ought to recast orders/instructions by removing the “tongue-in-cheek” early pandemic term “social distancing” entirely and just call it distancing.
Keep it simple: 6 feet of separation between non-household is required, by law, or there will be an expensive ticket. Then start ticketing. We are way past time for Public Health agencies to be retaining these cutesy confusing terms that are fueling non-compliance.
Or, you can just stay home for ever.
The issue is not severity but overload of the health service and mass absence from work in key areas. Police, border force, HSA, supermarkets, Cayman Airways to name a few. Don’t underestimate the impact of mass infection
Thank you! – Too many here just think me, me, me. “If I think that Omicron is not a serious threat to me then screw everyone else”, seems to be the mantra.
Well, it could also be severity as it’s still too early to dismiss Omicron as an intrinsically milder COVID variant for us. We are not South Africa with a median age of 27, with antibodies from having just weathered a Delta wave, or with the earlier wave recoveries – including South African Beta variant which we never got.
How quickly we forget that this fear of overload was projected for Delta….didn’t happen though did it.
If Cayman airways shuts down you won’t be able to bring in the virus. I say shut down.
Re-read headline.
Omicron Kenny is planning on importing it by the ship load.
This stupidity from people socialising like none of this matters, and refusing to report positive LFTs, and refusing to isolate when positive because it’s inconvenient – it’s killing people or making them very sick. And it could soon get very difficult here if we get a lot of illness all at once.
Example of exponential cases, doubling every 2 days:
Already at least – 27 cases
Day 2 – 54
Day 4 – 108
Day 6 – 216
Day 8 – 432
Day 10 – 864
Day 12 – 1728
Day 14 – 3456
Day 16 – 6912
Day 18 – 13824
Day 20 – 27648
Day 22 – 55296
Not too long – everyone in Cayman potentially
Protect our emergency services, healthcare services, hospitals, drs and nurses or they may not be available when you need them. Stay at home where you can, only meet people if absolutely necessary.
Omicron is more contagious but is also less severe in symptoms. No need to panic.
Get vaccinated and boosted.
Yes to #1
No more to #2. But you get in line for your 4th booster for whatever is coming after Omicron.
It is known to be more contagious but the severity of the disease is unknown at this time. Nobody in the scientific or medical community is saying that it is less sever. That is a questionable statement made by those who hope that is true.
Your wrong.
There are several doctors in South Africa (the origin of Omicron) who are on video talking about their actual hands on experiences dealing with Omicron patients saying that it is less severe and symptoms don’t last as long. Furthermore, a research group in Hong Kong has just released findings from respiratory tissue testing which shows that Omicron reproduces 70 times faster than Delta in the upper respiratory tract (the throat and sinuses) but 10 times slower than Delta in the lower respiratory tract (the lungs). This may explain the extreme contagiousness but why symptoms appear to be less severe.
And the what more boosters, and your tits fall off! Come on. These vaccines have not been tested or trailed long enough to determine long term side effects. Go get yours and get back to me when your stamina is gone, libido is gone and so forth. Guess maybe you will sue the government? We if we all do we won’t get anything as their broke from giving you all these free shots!
Look Kids – a moron!
Temporary morgues are being set up in America, but go on with your “it’s not serious” bullshit that has been debunked
1 is known true 2 is anyones guess. Some sqy less some say equal. Here is the kicker. Even if same it will be more.
Lets put it in numbers. Lets say Delta infects 4 out of every 10 people and Omicron 7.
1,000 D 400 O 700
So for every 1,000 people 700 are infected by Omicron vs 400 for Delta.
If they are equally as bad then more people end up in hospital and die because of larger bucket of infections from Omicron.
Thing is. Even if less severe you can still get a greater impact on health services just because of the greater number of infections.
A small percentage of a large number is still a large number.
It’s killing them or making them very sick? Yet the CDC and PHE says it’s too early to determine the severity of Omnicron. You have some other source?
Hospital admissions are going up and people are dying from Omicron every day now in the UK and it has only been there for 3 weeks.
More than 10 Omicron deaths in the UK already.
Except no epidemic spread operates on consistent growth like that. By about day 10 or 12 you would see significant reduction in natural infection rates as the disease has fewer places to go.
Of course, it was just an example of what uncontrolled exponential spread could look like. Our experience would be different with a much smaller population because we are more spread out on the island, and live more of an outdoor lifestyle.
Sequencing is very involved and takes 4-5 days. Thus, we need to factor that Omicron confirmation is from new case positives discovered almost a week ago, looking back in hindsight. Plan your outings accordingly.
Very relevant data that has been sorely lacking in the information stream so far. Thank you!
NO… Cancel your outings!
How many in hospital…that is the only relevant number…
Highly disagree.
One can get sick and contagious yet not in a hospital bed.
One can indeed get sick and contagious, but there’s degrees of sickness.
You have at this post time 15 ‘dislikes’ who are patently stupid – and part of the cause of the community outbreaks.
“I believe you may get your headlines, Mr Ismay”
Speaking of cruise ships and disasters…
Royal Caribbean ship docks at Miami port with 48 cases of COVID, cruise line says
@11:13 am, is the govt..providing guidelines on when they are supposed to be admitted to the hospital? From what I read earlier, they are asking people to just stay home. Are they trying to keep the hospitalized numbers low to show the world?