Suspected daily omicron cases rising rapidly

| 23/12/2021 | 40 Comments

(CNS): As expected, given the increased transmissiblility of this latest variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the number of new Omicron cases is rising, and there were 18 new suspected cases on Wednesday, compared to ten on Tuesday. There are 72 suspected cases of the new variant, which are going through genomic sequencing, in addition to the four already confirmed.

However, the latest research is supporting early suggestions that Omicron, while much more contagious, may be far less virulent than Delta. Two studies in the UK published yesterday point to this strain causing less severe disease than previous variants. Early data indicates a two-thirds reduction in hospitalization of double vaccinated adults compared with the Delta variant, or a 15-20% reduced risk of needing hospital treatment.

While Omicron cases here are increasing rapidly, Delta is still the dominant variant here. Interim Chief Medical Officer Dr Autilia Newton reported Thursday a total of 60 new cases of COVID-19, 42 of which were the Delta strain. Eight new cases were in travellers and 52 were from the community, including two on the Sister Islands.

In total, just 544 PCR tests were conducted on Wednesday, showing another increase in the positivity rate to 11% from a low of 3% last week.

There are now 3,544 active cases of COVID-19 in the Cayman Islands, including five on the Sister Islands, and six patients admitted to the hospital. The number of people in isolation as a result of community transmission was 3,506 but there are many more travellers who are in isolation that have not been included in the isolation numbers.

Government is still not making clear how many people are in quarantine, even though this is impacting the business community since they are unable to work.

Meanwhile, booster numbers continued to increase yesterday, as another 379 people got a third dose of the vaccine against COVID-19, bringing the total to 23% of the estimated population. But just 17 people came forward for their first dose and 39 for a second. 83% of the population now has had at least one dose.

CIG COVID-19 information and resources

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See current vaccine and testing schedule

An Isolation Support Line is available to help by delivering groceries or other essential supplies for people required to isolate suddenly, and who do not have other resources and support.

For Isolation Support call 946-3530 or 1-800-534-3530 or email isolationsupport@gov.ky

Operational hours 9am-4pm, Monday to Friday, and 9am-1pm on Saturday.

For mental health support, the Mental Health Helpline can be reached on
1-800-534-6463(MIND) from Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm

If you have flu symptoms contact the 24-hour Flu Hotline at 1-800-534-8600 or 947-3077
or email flu@hsa.ky

If you are having difficulty breathing, call 911


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Category: Health, Medical Health

Comments (40)

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  1. Caymanian says:

    NEW: Data from a new study suggests that the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 can persist in different parts of the body for months after infection, including the heart and brain. Scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found the virus can spread widely from the respiratory tract to almost every other organ in the body and linger for months. The researchers described the study as the “most comprehensive analysis to date” of the virus’s persistence throughout the body and brain.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Forget about Trump and Biden, they are NOT in charge here, think about who in charge here and what they are doing, just common sense, OK.

  3. Anonymous says:

    IN December 2020 the “Oracle” Joe Biden said he was going to eliminate Covid. As late as July 2021 he declared we were close to victory and Covid was in the late innings. Apparently, we’ve gone to extra innings.

    • Anonymous says:

      Joe Biden is asleep at the wheel, but saying that, no government has the ability to stop Covid.

    • Anonymous says:

      LOL, Trump declared the virus over by Easter 2020

      In fact the true “Oracle” has stated COVID was over 32 times during his presidency.

      Apparently the Right snowflakes try to ignore these things in their hypocracy.

      • Anonymous says:

        Lie.

      • Anonymous says:

        Donald Trump is no longer president, so his declarations regarding Covid hold little relevance to sensible Caymanians. Biden is the American leader now. And this leader’s level of cognitive decline is nothing short of frightening. He will soon render himself irrelevant to his own country. Just today a video demonstrating just that is going viral as I write this. The video is of the NORAD Santa Tracker call with Joe Biden. A participant named Jared ended his conversation with the president by saying “Let’s go Brandon!”, in response to which Biden smiled and concurred, saying “Let’s go Brandon, I agree”. You can’t make this stuff up, folks. Now even Ol’ Foggy himself goes on record as agreeing with “Let’s go Brandon!”
        So…Ho! Ho! Ho! And Merry Christmas!
        Get vaxed/boosted, maintain social and sanitary protocols and stay safe!

        • Anonymous says:

          24 @ 4:35 pm – Ever thought that Biden didn’t know what the phrase “Let’s go Brandon” meant? It’s a stupid manufactured tik-tok phrase. You really think the President of the US has time to keep up with tik-tok shit?

          Oh I forgot, you’re used to the last president who wasted the public’s money spending 23 hours a day on Twitter and the other hour signing executive orders and pardons!

          Most mature and educated people didn’t know what “Let’s go Brandon” means or never heard about it until this story.

          Biden didn’t have clue what the man meant but not because of cognitive issues!

          • Anonymous says:

            Lol..Let’s go Brandon has been has in the news for months. He sees the signs everywhere he goes. Football stadiums break out in the chant all over the US. There’s a rap song made about it which was the #1 download on itunes for a time. There’s air banners being pulled behind planes. It was obvious Jill knew..lol.

            By the way, it’s not from Tik-Tok. It originated at a nascar race where the crowd was cheering f*ck Joe Biden and the winner of the race “Brandon” was being interviewed and the person interviewing him said “the crowd is chanting “let’s go Brandon” but everyone viewing her interview could clearly hear what they were saying.

            But yeah, your general premise is Biden is sharp as a tack even though he can barely get through a sentence even with the aid of a teleprompter. It’s actually painful to watch.

          • It was not Tik Toc , it was said by a NBC sports reporter was interviewing Brandon Brown after he had won his first Xfinity NASCAR race in Alabama. She announced to him ,that the crowd were chanting Lets Go Brandon. Which was clearly not the case. Also he knows or did know exactly what it meant. Try doing a little research before spouting off garbage. Most mature and educated people also knew this before that interview. Class over for today !!

  4. Anonymous says:

    CDC cuts quarantine time for health care workers
    Workers previously isolated themselves for 10 days
    https://www.foxnews.com/us/cdc-cuts-quarantine-time-health-care-workers

  5. Anonymous says:

    The stats quoted in the article should be considered in the context of the wider takeaways from the two studies findings. The researchers did not find that Omicron is significantly less severe than Delta at face value. Their data suggest, for example, that Omicron may be more adept than Delta at reinfecting people with prior immunity from vaccination or natural infection, meaning they are less likely to be admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 in the first place. Both sets of scientists stressed the results were preliminary and that more research is needed to know whether Omicron is intrinsically milder than Delta in the general population.

    James Naismith, director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute and professor of structural biology at the University of Oxford, warns that Omicron’s very high transmission rate may become a major factor: “If Omicron continues to double every few days, it could generate many more hospitalizations than Delta from the double vaccinated population.”

    Tim Spector, an epidemiologist at King’s College London, reports a potentially similar outlook. Spector’s latest research data from populations that tend to be younger and vaccinated, makes it hard to conclude how Omicron infections compare to Delta infections among the unvaccinated or immunocompromised. Spector warn’s that although net hospitalization rates may currently be lower for Omicron than Delta, given the large number of infections probable due to Omicron’s vastly higher potential for spread and as Omicron overtakes Delta as the dominant strain, the absolute number of people hospitalized may end up being high. Still Spector said, he’s “cautiously optimistic,” adding, “I’d say so far the data aren’t living up to the rather pessimistic predictions.” The key words are “so far”. Omicron is only beginning its path to usurp Delta as a dominant strain. Because Cayman’s ability to cope with excess Covid hospitalisations is quite limited, the most prudent course is to remain vigilant and take swift and decisive action should we note an increase in Omicron hospitalisations. Hopefully the hoopla about Omicron will end up being much ado about nothing; however, we cannot afford to let our guard down until the data becomes sufficient to get a clear picture of Omicron’s impact. Bottom line: Get vaccinated/boosted, maintain social and sanitary protocols and pray for the best.

    • Anonymous says:

      Get a life

      • Anonymous says:

        Oooo! 9:31>
        Methinks that we detect yet another beggared wretch whose frangible psyche undergoes insufferable, yea, morbid, discomfiture when presented with facts. Such callow retorts are the stock and trade of those devoid of any credible refutation and thus must resort to the self-comfort they derive from their puerile screeching.

      • Anonymous says:

        Ignore this and you may lose yours. Your reply is very disappointing.

      • Anonymous says:

        or stay unvaccinated and lose your life

  6. Anonymous says:

    Crowds return to small businesses this holiday season despite rising COVID-19 cases
    https://www.winknews.com/2021/12/23/crowds-return-to-small-businesses-this-holiday-season-despite-rising-covid-19-cases/

    “ Business owners think people are also coming to Southwest Florida to get away from the COVID-19 rules in other places.”

  7. Anonymous says:

    Good thing that omicron will overtake delta i as it’s basically harmless if you are boosted. I’m in the Uk for Christmas and life is completely normal here. Time to do away with the pre departure pcr test for coming back to cayman – the boosted really are no threat to cayman hospital space, and we should
    Not have to do things to protect the selfish unvaccinated

  8. Elvis says:

    This will take the unvaxed but hey, u knew this already too right?

  9. Anonymous says:

    The last throes of the pandemic. This will fizzle out in mid January. Thankfully.

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