Four more test positive for COVID-19
(CNS): Two people with a travel history to areas with confirmed coronavirus cases and two who have been in close contact with people who recently returned from overseas have all tested positive for COVD-19, Chief Medical Officer Dr John Lee revealed Sunday. All four are understood to be doing well and in isolation. And while the non-travellers’ contacts are being traced, that could prove difficult and increases the risk of local community spread.
Alongside the four new positive cases, 14 more tests samples had been negative, Dr Lee said at Sunday’s press briefing. Cayman now has 12 positive cases, one inconclusive case and 194 negatives from the 207 tests conducted here.
The 12 people who have tested positive range in age from 21 to 80 years old, with four of them having underlying health conditions. However, officials have said that, currently, no one is seriously ill as a result of COVID-19.
As he outlined the details of the latest four cases, Dr Lee confirmed that the two non-travellers had been infected by people they were in immediate contact with who had previously tested positive. Officials don’t know yet how many the two new travel case patients may also have infected, illustrating how rapidly this virus spreads. But in all cases, known contacts by these individuals are being tested and placed in isolation.
“It really stresses the need for all Caymanians to stay home as we do not know where you might meet a threat from this virus,” Dr Lee added, as he urged people to stay home to protect the lives of everyone in the community.
He said travel history was becoming less important because returning travellers should all still be in isolation, but their close contacts may have passed the virus on to others before they were isolated.
Meanwhile, Cayman continues to wait on test kits as well as personal protective equipment (PPE) for health professionals, though significant orders have been made to replenish existing depleted stocks.
Governor Martyn Roper said equipment was on the way from the UK, including test kits, and he expressed confidence that Cayman would get supplies of the ‘at home testing kits’ which are about to be rolled out in Britain.
“There is a lot going on behind the scenes on testing,” the governor said, noting the importance of testing to help manage the pandemic.
McLaughlin said he would like to be in a position to test every person in Cayman, as it is the “only way to know where we really are”.
Government is working hard to get as many kits as possible, the premier stated, adding that as more test kits arrived, he hoped that at least everyone on the front-line, from supermarket workers to police officers, can get tested. He said they were “doing everything we can” to get more kits and increase the number of people that can get access to tests.
Dr Lee spoke about the different type of kits available: some can only test for those infected now and others show only who has had the virus. But this, he said, would be very useful to measure the degree of immunity people are developing and to let them know after they have recovered that they are now safe to move about.
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Category: Health, Medical Health
Can somebody please close down EcayTrade, people are still buying and selling junk. This is not essential at all.
I guess you are another idiot.
While we are focusing on everyone’s health can we ban the garden blowers and work on sorting out the dump.
If government allows a plane load of 200+ persons from a region with known escalating virus cases and does not require mandatory quarantine then everything we have done to date was I giant waste of time, and everyone is back to day one!
So flipping pissed off by this. I have ‘self isolated’ for 10 days. For nothing!!! What a crock of shit!
Be responsible CIG! We beg you
So sad I even bothered to be responsible! What a fi-ing waste of time! Quarantine them! Idiots if they do not do so. I will find the money trail. The only reason not to quarantine is someone is getting dollars in their pocket.
Anyone else out there want to join in suing the CIG if they fail to quarantine this B A fight?
Has there been some indication that they won’t be quarantined?
And for Cayman Brac, I would like to give Kudos to Billy’s as they are doing the best and started best practices before the other supermarkets.
I think Cayman Brac should become Quarantine Island.
We send everyone sick there
CNS: So you want to send the infected population to a community where there are lots of elderly people who are especially vulnerable? And where there is only a very very small hospital to deal with those who may become seriously ill? I’m thinking that perhaps you have not thought this through.
Why don’t we send the sick people to your house 12:52pm?
Guys, stay at home PLEASE. You have no idea if you are inadvertently carrying it already and then inadvertently passing it on. OR if the nice message doesn’t work, how about #stayoffthestreetsyouidiots. Disclaimer, only for those idiots out and about for no real reason.
The wheelie motorcyclists along fairbanks road appear to be exempt.
Asymptomatic transmission? …and if others have been exposed, hence the attempt at contact tracing, does that infer that home isolation expectations were broken?
Perhaps I am reading too much into it. Can anyone confirm?
That’s how I read it. I have heard tales of such a breach – and it wasn’t a Caymanian.
It could just be people on the same flight, or people they encountered in the immigration line, taxi drivers etc. even if you go straight into isolation there will be some contact with other people, hence why they closed the airport.
Clear inference was that it was non traveling family members in the same home.
If so: (a) there does not seem to have been adequate isolation between the traveler and their family member (regrettable but understandable), and (b) some family member seems to have thought it OK to go out and about or otherwise be in contact with others (infuriating, and potentially criminal).
I wish all a speedy recovery and hope that there is no further spread.
They should name these people so the general population might know if they have been in contact with them. All knowledge helps at this point.
I thought they were supposed to be in isolation after returning from overseas?
And all members of their household…?
Yikes.
Please let us do a long lockdown Alden before its too late.
Please feel free to lock yourselves in your homes so you can stop worrying about what others might have to do. That way we are all safe from each other.
in case you missed it:
Can you kill coronavirus with UV light?
“There’s only one type of UV that can reliably inactivate Covid-19 – and it’s extremely dangerous.” https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200327-can-you-kill-coronavirus-with-uv-light
Yet,
“In the developing world, sunlight is already a popular means of sterilising water – it’s even recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The technique involves pouring the water into a clear glass or plastic bottle, and leaving it out in the sun for six hours. It’s thought to work because the UVA in sunlight reacts with dissolved oxygen to produce unstable molecules such as hydrogen peroxide, the active ingredient in many household disinfectants, which can damage pathogens.
Without water, sunlight will still help to disinfect surfaces – but it may take longer than you’d think.”
Please all, as much as I think people have good intentions of recommending home manufacturing of such disinfectants, DO NOT rely on this! It will never be strong enough to combat any virus!
UV-C but careful, you’ll burn out your retinas if you leave your eyes unprotected.
My husband and I did some drywall work a couple of years ago. I just found row extra masks. Are they of any use to our health professionals?
Call the hospital, why post on CNS?
Check yourself. No need to be rude.
Call your GP and ask if the hospital can use them, please don’t overburden the hospital lines. Thank you for your generosity!
Here it comes. Creeping in ever so slowly ready to silently strike. Stay in people, stay in
I have a feeling that the whole month of April is going to be a lot like the last two weeks.
They need to “flatten the curve” to include the “shopping at a supermarket and convenience store curve”
……so tell the zealots and bible thumpers to suck it up and have the owners open the supermarkets on Sundays to help “flatten” this, the shopping curve…….
We did it after Ivan, so why not now – and back then Savannah was a “dry” district!!!!
Good Call! And why has this not been done already MR PM????
Because apparently alphabet soup makes more sense.
Sav was a dry district? Do tell please? Pardon the ignorance, always lived in LCM.
Oh, you could drink in Savannah, but there were no liquor stores. Pedro St. James has had a bar for a long time though, and of course there were always functions involving booze there.
So 93.7% are negative. 5.8% positive but doing well (and hopefully continue to do so) 0.5% to be confirmed.
Assuming we can use the above as sample percentages, and assuming a population of 60,000 that translates to 56,232 negative, 3,478 positive (a large number) and 290 maybe.
Of course, the figures can change tomorrow, either way.
It’s important to note, that being infected does not mean one meets their maker. What matters most are deaths, which the Premier rightfully wants a count of zero. Currently hospitals are able to monitor the 12 positive cases. But if the disease spreads quickly, the real risk to one’s health is a timing / bed count one. You don’t want to catch it when the numbers potentially increase to 3,478 and there is no way to receive proper care. This is exactly when when people die unnecessarily.
So when the Premier tells us to stay home, STAY HOME!
Just to be clear, doctors were asking us to stay home long before the Premier did. The Premier is doing an excellent job, but for God’s sake everyone, do the right thing whether or not the Premier asks!
According to countrymeters.info Cayman’s population is 67,069. If accurate, your figures need to be increased. Also, according to the same source, annualized, there will be 332 deaths this year. Those deaths represent 0.5% of the population. How many of these 332 people will also happen to have the virus? Often in the foreign press we read about a covid19 related death. But when one reads on, the person had cancer, heart problems, etc. Families are livid that their loved ones are being used dishonestly by the press. Let’s hope the death rate is zero, but for this exercise assume it is 5% here (It’s 2.3% in China and 7.2% in Italy) 67,069 x 5.8% positive = 3,890. 3,890 x 5% = 195 deaths. It will be interesting to see, at the end of the year, if Cayman has 332 deaths (some from covid-19) or 332+195 with the latter being actual deaths from covid-19. (Again, hopefully NONE) But running the numbers this way, one can see why some believe there is a whole lot of scaremongering going on by the press. That being said, the virus is real, and God knows the pain never ends from losing a loved one, but with so many feeling ill effects at once, there will be runs on hospitals. Unfortunately, the very thought of sneezing, coughing, dry throat, can cause undue stress. The mind is a powerful thing. And staying home is easy to do, until some people can’t pay their bills, jobs are lost and businesses go under. This really is the perfect storm. I am not a conspiracy theorist. Run the numbers for yourselves.
Some perspective. New York City has 59,550 cases of today. By far the worst in the States. It also has a population of 18,804,000 which means 0.32% are infected. So much for the Forbes article.
Just wait two weeks and see what happens in New York. It is going to be horrific.
The biggest health tsunami ever will hit NYC in 2 weeks. 5 policemen have died thus month from the virus, many doctors and health care workers are sick and terribly overworked. Some have died. Nothing good upcoming other than fact that we now know that people who have already been sick with the virus seem to be immune now.
Obviously anti bodies are being built up in a lot of people.
Hope a vaccine is developed very soon.
All people I know who got flu vaccine this year got the worst flu ever with developed pneumonia. The average course of sickness was 4 weeks.
Maybe your prediction will come true because of the idiots making decisions. Today Cuomo released eight sex offenders, including three child rapists, from jail out of fear prisoners may get the virus? Given the low percentage of death caused by the virus itself does this make any sense? Just think of the undue stress being put on the victims, their families, police force and hospitals.
Please stop spreading the Fox fake news and other BS like that. Governor Cuomo approved the release of some NON-VIOLENT offenders – drug offenders, etc. Criminals, yes, because they committed crimes but NOT rapists!!
Watch real, balanced news outlets like the major networks and CNN or even the BBC. BBC has no vested interest in American partisan political bullshit so even if you don’t trust other channels, they are legit.
Fox News, OAN, Rush Limbaugh and other right wing morons just spout what Trump want them to say – all bullshit!! Fox is faux news!!
Please share one story that both Fox and OAN has posted that was fake. I’m expecting crickets on this one. Nice idiotic rant though.
Here is the biggest “Coronavirus is nothing more than the Democrats attempt at impeachment”. That was a month ago and Ms. Regan was fired.
What is OAN?
What? 580 people died today in NYC from the virus and you say this is a low percentage of deaths? Believe me the undue stress on people in NYC now is trying not to get the virus. People are also confined to their homes except for groceries.
And pray tell 12:08 where you got this info from? The 2 reports I saw, not on Fox, clearly said some white collar criminals were released.
So sorry for these new positive patients, but assuming they were actually quarantined and not at the beach or Foster’s, the window for transmitting this virus is closing. If we starve it of hosts we are in a much better place.
Well put!
Had been travelling – by any chance came in on the BA flights after airport shut to everyone else?
With all the supermarket bashing, it needs to be said the Kirk’s did a fantastic job of distancing people on Saturday. When one arrived, they had already locked off certain areas, planned a walk way and taped spots so people would distance themselves. It took two hours to get into the supermarket but that’s a small price to pay. Seniors were put to the front of the line. Kirks distributed water and hand sanitizer. Perhaps it would do our society good to point of some positives.
I thought Hurleys did a better job. shopping at early allowed me to feel safer. They were well organized and practise good social distance as well as having the movement of the line in a fast and efficient manner.
How many stores you going to, Bobo!
I plan to order my groceries online. But frankly, if I had to get into a crowded area like a supermarket I would wear a mask. I don’t care what the standard advice is about masks being unnecessary, and while I think you need to protect yourself in all the other ways, as well, I still think wearing a mask brings an extra layer of protection.
In all the videos of the Chinese you saw the people wearing masks.
The problem with ordering online is you get all the stuff that is about to expire or has already gone off. I just paid $300 for groceries that included rotten strawberries, rotten tomatoes, rotten salad, and I need to eat 12 eggs by Tuesday.
So, sauté the vegetable and make a great big frittata to feed you for 2 or three days. Put the strawberries in a smoothie, or boil them up and make jam.
You have food for God’s sake. Your recent ancestors made it through two world wars, the Spanish Flu, and the Great Depression. Just get on with in.
I think we may have stumbled across a cure for snowflakes amongst this global tragedy.
Hurley’s sent an email discouraging online shopping
Simple food industry knowledge:Eggs are roughly roughly 2_3 weeks good to eat beyond expiration date. If they are American grade eggs and have remained properly chilled it is fine. Not sure, Try a simple test with container water, put eggs in , if they sink they are fine. If they float: spoilt.
Dont believe me check online.
BTW most food can be eaten beyond expiration date. Most people get the date wrong, it is illegal to sell food beyond the expiration date but that doesn’t mean you can’t eat it. However, if it is past the consumption date then probably yes. For example most canned goods can be consumed 2_3 years beyond expiration date. But it cannot be sold. For example, If the can feels solid, the top is not puffed or sunken it’s fine.
Check on line and research this topic, you might just save yourself a lot money.
Exactly. Use your common sense. What would you do if there was a hurricane and no power?
Today’s snowflakes would whither and die. Notice how food venues are still open interacting with not just people but the very food we all eat. Ffs. Learn to cook. If you have a problem, toast and egg boiling is a good start – that gives you eggs and toast, egg sandwiches, boiled eggs, come on – have we become so pathetic we cannot even make a few meals for ourselves… wait.. sorry,… give me a minute… I need to get my helper to run to the store for me to do my weekly shopping… damn we are getting pathetic….
I recently spent some time researching medical information produced by mask manufactures which is geared towards medical personnel in the use of their medical grade masks, various types, qualities available, how to wear them, how to reduce cross contamination and so forth. From my learning I have found that the little tie in the back masks which most people wear will filter out virus droplets about 30 -35% of the time. Most of the manufactures medical instructions stated that they have a duration life of about average of 15 mins to 4 hrs. These are the same kinds dentist assistant’s often wear. Doctors use them for various situations BUT sometimes patients are made to wear them who are suspected of being highly contagious for various communicable diseases while they wait to be tested/ examined.
So why are are the general population usually told they shouldn’t bother with them and are better of social distancing and washing hands? Because unless you are properly trained and LEARN and become proficient in their use you can cross contaminate yourself and others very easily. It’s not so much the wearing of the mask but also ensuring they fit snugly over mouth and nose at all times, not touching your face once wearing them, the process of removal and disgarding them as well as the correct type to wear for the given situation.
I am not saying you should not wear masks, but I am saying if you do be very careful you don’t contaminate yourself and and others after you have finished wearing them. Think about disposal. Gloves MUST be worn. Don’t touch your arms, face, clothing before and after their use. Then after their use you need to remember to practice good hygiene; wash hands, arms and unless you have managed not to touch your face you have to wash that as well.
The process can be learned but it takes time.
Good to know. Thanks.
I just came across an idea from a US-based article that suggested making supermarket aisles one-way. That would reduce contact between shoppers. Possibly worth trying? Every person you come in contact with could be a carrier.
Already adopted here I thought?
Yes, I believe Hurley’s are already doing that. The other stores may well be too, but I personally have only heard that it is Hurley’s.
Haven’t shopped here the last few days, eh? Nanny/helper should have told you that’s what they were made to do…