As of 8am Monday, 437 positive COVID-19 results had been recorded since the last report on 29 Oct., comprising 418 community cases and 19 travellers, according to an update from the Public Health Department.
The press release – the first since the last update provided on Friday, which covered test results up to 8am on Thursday, 28 Oct. – stated that 3,693 PCR tests have been conducted since the last report.
Addressing the delays in reporting, in a video message accompanying the results, Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Lee Lee apologised, saying this was “due to the sheer number of results and the need to collate them all and make sure we’re not presenting any duplicate results”.
There are now eight COVID-19 patients in hospital, according to the update, with only one of these patients requiring supplemental oxygen, with none on a ventilator.
Lee clarified that supplemental oxygen “means having a little bit of extra oxygen other than room air”.
The CMO stated that “some of the hospitalisations might not be deemed strictly necessary in other jurisdictions”, but explained the patients were admitted due to the Health Services Authority taking a “cautious approach”.
NEED TO KNOW
He said, “I need to say that on the whole at the George Town Hospital, we often admit people… in order to make sure that we can watch them and monitor them.”
Lee noted that these latest results covered a three-day period and that the daily average over that time was 139 positive community tests.
The results bring the number of active cases of COVID-19 in the Cayman Islands to 1,205.
Of that total, there are 70 active cases in the Sister Islands: 68 on Cayman Brac and two on Little Cayman, with 44 symptomatic and being supported at home, and 26 asymptomatic.
The total number of cases recorded in the Cayman Islands since the start of the pandemic now stands at 2,241.
The breakdown of symptomatic cases compared to asymptomatic, along with the number in isolation, was pending, according to the update.
Lee said, “Just to give you some idea of the magnitude of these PCR tests, since 8 September with our first community outbreak this year we’ve done 44,248 tests in all.”
Minister for Health Sabrina Turner said, “I understand that some people will be concerned by the number of positives, but this is not unexpected based on Public Health modeling and projections.”
She added that Cayman remained “fortunate” not to have seen “high rates of hospitalisation or severe disease as compared to the overall number of infections. The vast majority of cases continue to be mild to moderate, with many being asymptomatic. We are well covered and well protected by our high vaccination rate, and just have to remain aware and vigilant with regard to our prevention practices.”
80% target crossed
As of Monday, 1 Nov., there had been 115,481 COVID-19 vaccinations given in total in the Cayman Islands. Of these, 56,661 (80% of a population of 71,106) have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 54,468 (77%) have completed the two-dose course.
Additionally, 4,352 people (representing 23% of those over the age of 50) have had a third, or booster, dose.
Medical Officer of Health Dr. Samuel Williams-Rodriguez addressed complaints regarding the timeliness of COVID-19 data coming out of Public Health over the past week.
He said, “The large numbers of positives necessarily led to a great deal more work in processing results, because each result is checked for accuracy. For example, each test is checked to ensure that it is not a duplicate from someone already previously tested. This has meant a change in systems in order that up-to-date results will continue to be supplied regularly.”
Turner added, “I would ask everyone to understand that results can take up to 72 hours to be returned, and that the testing volumes have increased drastically. So, please be patient, as we want to ensure that the national statistics we are issuing are reported accurately in addition to being disseminated as quickly as possible.”
Earlier on Tuesday, it was announced that there have been an average of 131 new COVID-19 cases per day for the week of 24-30 Oct., according to an update from Chief Nursing Officer Hazel Brown on Tuesday.
In a CIG TV update posted on Facebook, Brown said 2.5% of the positives came from travellers.
Breakdown by gender was also provided in the update, with 52% of the cases coming from females, and 48% from males.
The average age was 34, according to Brown, with an age range of one month to 80 years, including five infants under 1 year old; 14% of those between the ages of 1 and 18 years tested positive. Only 1% of the positive cases were over the age of 70.
Most of the COVID cases were members of the workforce. In addition, 36% are fully vaccinated, 3% partially vaccinated, and 61% are unvaccinated.
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61% of the new covid cases are unvaccinated I think that says something. When are people going to learn??
Let’s understand this now. So, the 80% ‘target’ was just partial vaccination. What fools we were to think that the 80% was complete/FULL vaccination. Why bother publishing a figure for FULL vaccination if it’s not relevant? I guess it’s just like a bonus shot, and you don’t actually need it. Since when has vaccinated meant a single dose? Does Pfizer agree that a single dose results in you being vaccinated and done, or, are you only halfway there?