From next week, Cayman health officials will stop giving daily updates on local COVID numbers, and will move to releasing the information on a weekly basis.
According to a statement issued by Public Health on Thursday night, the decision to change how the statistics are reported came following an assessment led by interim Chief Medical Officer Dr. Autilia Newton and visiting advisors from the UK Health Security Agency in early December.
“Going forward with immediate effect from Wednesday, 19 January, the report will document an epidemiological week, from Saturday to Saturday, as per international standards,” Public Health said.
Daily public reporting of COVID statistics continues to be the norm in many countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States. Numbers from individual countries are updated daily and added to worldwide statical reports produced by agencies, such as the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
Cayman’s Public Health Department, in its statement, said the new weekly repeat would include data and rates, as well as some graphs, “which will help to visualise the data and rates and make it easier to understand the changes, developments and overall trends of the epidemic in Cayman”.
In the statement, Newton said the new weekly publication of the data “will also allow key messages to the public to be more meaningful, and, hopefully, more effective”.
She added, “While the community has grown accustomed to daily reports of COVID-19 information, we are now focusing on producing data that will better guide our management of the pandemic locally. By adjusting our scope, the Public Health and Ministry of Health teams will be able to offer a clearer picture of how COVID is impacting our community over a sustained period of time.”
In a video message, she said the current method of daily reporting included the production of graphs “that were not very informative because the graphs do not change very much from one day to the next day, so by giving it once a week, it gives you much more of an impact.”
Two members of staff of the Public Health team have been compiling the daily statistics since they began in 2020, and they will continue to work on the weekly numbers, Newton said.
Thursday’s night update on COVID numbers contained fewer than normal details, with no mention of the number of active cases, vaccination rates, isolation numbers or a breakdown of how many new cases involved travellers or local transmission.
Public Health stated that it would be reporting fewer daily statistics as it prepares for its first weekly report. However, the department said it would make “critical information” available to the public as it occurs, through government communications channels.
The latest update showed 380 newly reported cases of COVID, including 11 on the Sister Islands. There were three new hospitalisations, bringing the total number of COVID patients in hospital to 10.
Since reporting on Omicron cases began, there have been 2,190 probable or confirmed cases of the variant.
South Sound Community Centre: Confirmation PCR testing only
Meanwhile, on Friday, the Public Health Department announced that PCR testing conducted at the South Sound Community Centre would only be for people who have reported a positive lateral flow test.
According to a press release, PCR results conducted at the centre will state “Not valid for travel”. Those who require a test for outbound travel are required to pay for their test, at several other available locations.
“The South Sound Community Centre’s afternoon clinic is for persons who have reported their positive LFT result,” Dr Samuel Williams-Rodriguez stated. “Therefore, this clinic is not to be used for any other purpose than Public Health related testing.”
The release reminds that people testing positive on a self-administered lateral flow self-test are required to isolate immediately, report the result on www.exploregov.ky and attend the South Sound Community Centre for their PCR test.
For travellers who test positive on a certified 2, 5 or 10 day LFT, the healthcare provider is required to report any positive test results to Public Health and the traveller is not required to use the self-reporting form. The confirmation PCR test is still required.
The clinic hours at the South Sound Community Centre have been extended and now run from 1pm to 3pm daily.
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Sooo….AKA….we arent scaring you and spreading fear easily enough on a day to day basis. So lets wait and show the data to best spread fear and allow us to justify our control over people. Awesome. A day late and a dollar short as usual in this pandemic.
Need I remind everyone who is freaking out: we (about 90%~ of the Eligible Population) lined up and got vaccinated. We were told this was the path to opening and returning to normalcy. What’s happened? We the vaccinated are being tyrannized by those who CHOSE not to get vaccinated. We are protecting people who largely CHOSE not to take the shots. Some people are taking more shots!! Stop with all the testing and fear mongering. If you’re afraid, stay indoors and isolated. If you’re cool with being out in life, go about your business. We all have right to chose. We have been stripped of our rights and now I feel we are trying to appease a small part of the population that is fearful. Let’s take a poll: how many people on this rock are ready to move on???
Outrageous. We deserve more information, more regularly and punctual – not LATE and LESS!
So a visitor with no symptoms tests positive on the day 5 LFT during their Cayman vacation. The PCR test can stay positive for 8 weeks. So they are trapped in the Cayman Islands? At $300/night? What a nightmare!
I’m not sure where you came up with that eight weeks of positivity statistic. I have reviewed the CDC website and can’t find anything to validate that.
It is great news that government wants to consider moving to phase 5.
I was hoping Omicron is the end of Covid as we know it and it becomes more like the normal flu.
I am very happy were Gov and PH are taking us: Stop testing, open the borders and get on with life!