Fuelled by fears over a community outbreak of COVID-19 after two people on Cayman Brac tested positive on Monday, and a further 17 cases were discovered the following day, a long queue of cars lined up at the Aston Rutty Civic Centre on Wednesday as people sought to get swabbed.
“What we are dealing with right now is mounting anxiety, which is rising and rising as we speak,” District Commissioner Mark Tibbetts told the Cayman Compass on Wednesday afternoon.
Tibbetts said that, on Tuesday, 90 PCR tests were administered, and 17 of those were positive for coronavirus.
“We don’t have [Wednesday’s] numbers just yet, but I can tell you the numbers are significantly higher that what we saw yesterday,” he said. “When you consider how small and tightly knitted the Cayman Brac community is, you understand why people are afraid, and rightly so, they are only human.”
He added, “It might seem like just 17 positive cases, but in reality, that’s a father, a mother, their children, the aunts, uncles, and even friends, which we all know and many of us would have interacted with.”
The coronavirus screening, which was being conducted by Public Health, was scheduled to end at 12:30pm today. However, photos submitted to the Compass showed that at 2pm there were still long lines of traffic at the civic centre on the Bluff in the Brac, as scores of people waited to be tested.
“Currently in line and have been waiting for half an hour,” said Amber Tatum, a Cayman Brac resident. “With the amount of positive cases being reported, I just want to be cautious and know my status as I have a young child at home”.
Unlike in Grand Cayman, where lateral flow tests have allowed individuals to get results within minutes, Cayman Brac is still administering PCR tests, which can take several hours.
The lag time between testing and results means a person who is found positive could have interacted with others in the community before learning they have COVID. People are only required to quarantine if they have tested positive for COVID-19 or are primary contacts of a positive case.
“We currently only have PCR tests available to the public, but moments ago we received our first batch of lateral flow tests, which will be for government employees,” said Tibbetts.
He said the recent outbreak, the source of which is unknown, has encouraged residents to take up the vaccine.
According to the Public Health Department, as of 26 Oct., 83.5% of residents in Cayman Brac were fully vaccinated.
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