Suspected Omicron cases steadily increasing
(CNS): In a limited release about the current situation in the Cayman Islands relating to the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and the emergence of the very contagiou Omicron variant, health officials have implied that there are now around 35 people infected with this new strain but only four cases have been confirmed.
According to a short update from government Monday evening, the gene sequencing of test results is continuing and has yet to fully confirm at least 31 cases that had been detected as of midnight Sunday. But in what appears to be yet another review of how Public Health reports the details of the coronavirus, the information released was very limited.
Dr Autilia Newton, the new interim chief medical officer, appears to have directed a change in reporting, leading to another delay in important information being released to the public just as anxieties are heightened over the impact of Omicron.
Dr Newton said that 148 new cases of COVID-19 had been found over the weekend. Seven of them were in travellers and 141 from the community, but she did not say how many tests were carried out or how many of these were suspected to be Omicron.
There were 3,524 active cases as of midnight on 19 December, including eleven patients who are currently in the hospital. Officials also confirmed that there were no new cases over the weekend in the Sister Islands. The number of people in isolation has not been released, though it is understood to be more than 4,000 people.
Following a surge in demand for the vaccine at the end of last week, health officials were unable to supply the numbers relating to the current vaccination rate and the booster take-up.
New regulations are now in place to curb the spread of Omicron, which include the need for up to date tests for arriving travellers, longer quarantine requirements for those suspected of carrying the Omicron variant, various social distancing and public gather limits, as well as the controversial closure of bars at midnight.
However, travellers arriving with a negative test no more than a day old are not required to isolate until they test positive, despite the transmissibility of the new variant.
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Category: Health, Medical Health
Same thing is happening all over the world, including Bermuda – see URL –> https://www.royalgazette.com/health/news/article/20211221/live-government-to-hold-3pm-press-conference-on-covid/
Covid ain’t going away that quickly. So long as the vast majority of the world’s population is not vaccinated (and I do not mean the Western world here), variants will continue to occur in some fashion.
You can see from their charts they are clearly starting their fourth wave. Prior Delta infection provides little to no protection,
https://www.royalgazette.com/health/news/article/20211220/covid-19-more-than-100-new-cases/
nobody has any idea whether the variants come from vaccinated or unvaccinated. And for all we know they could come from a lab leak. The most recent ones are getting more and more vaccine resistant so you if follow the trail…
The virus is mutating to become resistant to vaccines. How soon we forget that there is no vaccine for other flu viruses.
Bermuda guy! You are back, thank God. was worried about you there for a bit. Glad to hear the ‘rona didn’t catch you.
Portugal is taking a positive step to limit Omicron:
“Portugal’s government on Tuesday ordered nightclubs and bars to shut doors and told people to work from home from 26 December to at least 9 January to control the spread of Covid-19 over the holiday period.”
Didn’t cayman do this a week ago? Shut bars after late hours and say work home if possible?
You know the answer, but do you think closing early some nights is the same as being totally closed…
Same as the rest of the world. Unavoidable.
Not according to some here who are pushing the “it’s mild” narrative to support their agenda. This endemic is a fluid situation and a ripple effect is felt across the world now.
“However, travellers arriving with a negative test no more than a day old are not required to isolate until they test positive, despite the transmissibility of the new variant.”
What are you suggesting CNS? Should we punish travellers and force them to isolate when you are just as likely to get Covid at the grocery store? Maybe you should have to show a negative test to go to a Bar, that seems more likely to account for numbers than fully vaccinated travellers….or even better, how about mandating vaccination for all travellers regardless of nationality. Hey CIG…Many countries are doing that, oh wait, if you force Caymanians to do anything you won’t get re-elected…spoiler alert…you’re not going to get re-elected anyway, so make those tough decisions, put country ahead of your job, cause that is actually your job. (And cancel that F@*#ing cruise ship, XXXXX)
XXXX
CNS: Hi Tom, no you can’t open us up to a potential law suit. However, if you want to put forward the $20,000-$30,000 retainer fee for a lawyer and promise to pay the balance, we can discuss the matter. It’s easy to be bold when we provide the platform for you to be anonymous.
Not sure how you deduced CNS’s view on quarantine from this article, being a bit rude in your reply. Having said that, travellers vaccinated and negative 24 hours before flying in are not the concern. Omicron is in cayman, like everywhere. The only solution is protect the hospital running out of beds by isolating the unvaccinated until they are boosted. Yes vax doesn’t stop you getting it, but it likely stops you dying according to the facts.
Actually every infected traveler who interacts with the public makes things worse. We don’t need that.
Travelers do not interact with the public the same way as locals interact with each other ( remember to be a close contact you need to be within 3 ft. Of each other for more than 15 minutes). The close contact comes into play mostly in the bar scene, the domino games, schools, etc. Most travelers will not be involved in those things. Even in a restaurant, they will not be in a waitstaffs face for more than 15 minutes.
Most public buildings are not enforcing social distancing, including grocery stores, bars and pubs, retailers, and restaurants. Casting blame solely on locals and giving cover to travelers and tourists is wrong.
But you can shut down. so what is your point?
The statement seems to suggest that the the author thinks incoming travellers SHOULD have to isolate on account of the transmissibility of omicron. my comments are directed toward the more likely sources of spread and how those situations should be addressed. Realistically the time for pleasant urging and PC statements has long passed, I believe it is time to be blunt, direct and make the decisions that may not sit well with some. If that makes one rude, then it’s time to be rude
While hospitalizations continue to fall…
and hospital cases down to 11….great news!
But when the place grinds to a halt and you can’t get your everyday $hit done you’ll most likely be the first to whine about it.
Well, the good thing is omicron will pass through quickly and help snuff out covid problems in weeks rather than months.
make a wish at 21:12 today, 21.12.21 for covid to go away!
“Suspected’ cases is not good enough. How the families are treated is radically different, we need to get the people that are unnecessarily and unfairly forced into isolation out!
Stop panicking people, this isn’t the same as Delta and isn’t causing massive hospitalisations or deaths in any country that’s infected. The real world information is that it’s actually presenting symptoms no worse than a common cold or mild flu and treatable by over-the-counter medicines.
Cancer, diabetes, alcoholism, weapons, and car crashes will individually kill and injure more people this year, but we didn’t close the country and economy down.
Get vaccinated, learn to live with it, and reclaim your lives.
yep, had cancer, just gave me the sniffles, don’t know why everyone goes on about the big C.
I don’t know anyone that has died of cancer, so that must mean no-one ever has.
you can cure Cancer with some anti-parasitics and sunshine.
I leaned that from a guy I must assume is a doctor as he had a labcoat on, while doing his YouTube stuff
Huuummm.
Did I not say this would all come back at us?
– US Flu Season.
– Cayman Flu Season
– Delta running rampant
– Christmas Gathering & Parties
– Cruise ship
– Omicron Variant
This is how Chaos starts. Throw in IDIOTS like the one I met at a local barber shop on Marina Dr over the weekend and the barber who allowed him to be UNMASKED into his shop spewing garbage conspiracy theories and risking the lives of his customers. Just goes to show why people like Jim Jones had followers. Some people will believe any stupid thing you tell them.
People…..there is no mass conspiracy to kill the world. No nano bots in the vaccine. No conspiracy that there is no virus. There were 5.36 million deaths attributed to Covid. By contrast the flu kills about 290k to 650k annually so Covid is about 10 times deadlier.
THIS IS REAL!!!
We have a spike ahead and it has not started as yet. This gets worse before it gets better.
Here is whats coming down the pipeline.
– A continued increase in infections back to our highest levels 200+ daily. Why? Omicron cares less about dbl vaccinations and reinfections are much higher. The catch rate is said to be as much as 70 times higher. I personally believe its a tad exaggerated but its significantly by all accounts.
– Higher hospitalizations than before – Not necessarily because Omicron is more virulent because this is unknown as of now but because significantly more cases will most likely mean more hospitalizations.
– More deaths – With more hospitalizations will probably means more deaths. How much more we do not know because we still are not sure how bad Omicron is. Some say weaker, some say equal but fewer says stronger. If its equal then a bit more but if weaker its equal or less. Its just a game of numbers there.
The long story is that this is not going away as it was seemingly being said to be. A blind man in the dead of night could see the cards were stacked adamantly against that and hearing supposedly reputable people like Dr Lee say it gave me great pause. I can only BELIEVE he was being TOLD to say so. He knows better or he should.
Make no mistake it was a stupid statement especially for him knowing how much the virus was in the community, the season, the parties and family gatherings, other countries, etc. Just too many reasons for it to not explode.
You got my attention until you said “Idiots”
I just ignore the unvaxxed and the ridiculous propaganda they read. Going into 2022, in Cayman, they are going to be more of a harm to themselves than others. Most everyone is now vaccinated here and we are talking about a virus all of us will one day become infected with. As for your points I just wanted to clarify some of your information:
“– A continued increase in infections back to our highest levels 200+ daily. Why? Omicron cares less about dbl vaccinations and reinfections are much higher. The catch rate is said to be as much as 70 times higher. I personally believe its a tad exaggerated but its significantly by all accounts.”
Infection doesn’t equal hospitalization or death. Yes, even if triple vaccinated, you stand a good chance of becoming infected with Omicron. However, what the data is showing is those vaccinated people have a very low chance of having severe symptoms from Omicron.
Also, your 70x figure doesn’t relate to infections. It relates to how much quicker the virus can replicate in the upper respiratory tract. Omicron replication is actually less efficient in deeper lung tissue. More than 10 times lower than the original virus. This means that this variant is more than likely less severe. Data from the recent Omicron explosion in South Africa also points to this being less severe.
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2021/12/lung-tissue-study-sheds-light-fast-omicron-spread
“– Higher hospitalizations (and deaths) than before – Not necessarily because Omicron is more virulent because this is unknown as of now but because significantly more cases will most likely mean more hospitalizations.”
Sound logic that more cases will indeed lead to more hospitalizations. We just don’t yet know HOW much more. Delta was unable to put our hospitals in jeopardy. So, even with more infected, they will likely be protected from severe symptoms either from previous infection or the vaccine.
All the regular Joe Schmoe needs to know is that getting vaccinated with the booster is the best decision you can make for yourself and the community. The vaccine is still showing effectiveness against Omicron as far as hospitalization and death is concerned. That’s all that really matters.
I suspect that Public Health have been instructed by Premier the ‘Honourable’ Omicron Kenny to limit access to information at least until the SS Omicron has dumped hundreds of infected passengers on our shores.
It’s all a cover. Snow & Omicron both have special delivery status for Christmas.
Sniff sniff
Limiting mix and mingle venues during an outbreak isn’t controversial. Much of the planet is doing the same. It’s that it was only bars, and suddenly at midnight. Policy has to make sense for public buy-in.
you miss the point the point…
cayman has huge vaccination rate
we have huge hospital capacity (on a per capitia basis)
we came through world highest community transmission of delta without much pressure on our health service.
no reason for nonsensical 12 pm rule…
Vaxed or not (and it almost doesn’t matter anymore), do you want to miss weeks of work as a positive omicron case? Some of us have other stuff to do.
And will increase exponentially….especially if/when cruise ship arrives here later this month.
But how will we know if it spikes because of the cruise ship? No one is going to test them, the vast majority of infections are asymptomatic and these days no one is going to volunteer for a test if you felt under the weather with the risk of a 14 day lock down for you and everyone you have been in contact with. So the only people being tested and who will get picked up are the air arrivals, and any community cases will get blamed on them in the same way that and cases stemming from illegal entrants gets blamed on air passengers too. By not testing cruise passengers before and after Kenny gets a free pass.
The cruise ships are coming for the main reason of having someone else to blame instead of locals for the local outbreaks. Taking personal responsibility is not a thing here at all.