The number of people in hospital from severe cases of COVID-19 almost doubled over the weekend from 8 to 15.
There were 843 new positive cases in Grand Cayman since Friday and seven new admissions to hospital, according to the latest report from interim Chief Medical Officer Dr. Autilia Newton. There were 11 additional cases from the Sister Islands.
The number of probable cases of Omicron is now approaching 3,000 since it was first detected in the Cayman Islands, though only 132 of those have been conclusively confirmed through genome sequencing as the new variant.
While Omicron is believed to be less severe than previous variants, based on preliminary data, it is more contagious and overall infection numbers continue to rise.
The report did not include the total number of current active cases. The last time government reported this figure was on 12 Jan, when there were 3,585 active cases.
High demand for PCR tests
Under current regulations, anyone who tests positive in a lateral flow test is required to have it confirmed by a PCR test at the South Sound Community Centre. Last week, Public Health announced that the daily testing period at that clinic would expand by one hour, with swabs now being carried out between 1pm and 3pm.
On Monday, demand for tests at the clinic was so high that police temporarily closed part of South Church Street to accommodate the influx of cars carrying people to the clinic.
A police spokesperson told the Compass, “The decision was made to implement the road closure in order temporarily to facilitate a Public Health Clinic at the South Sound Community Centre this afternoon.”
Asked if road closures would be likely in the area again, as the clinic operates daily, the spokesperson said, “The situation is currently being reviewed and we will send out an update on any further closures required going forward.”
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It was a complete zoo on South Church. The road was closed in both directions. I thought it was a major car accident. When I drove by the center it looked like a refugee camp with half the people in line being
Mothers and children. Young families. The line stretched into the street and there were cars parked on both shoulders. Clinic lines were long because Government directed all people in the country who suspected they were ill due to an LFT, to go only to the S. Sound Center between 1 and 3pm. They did this to try to segregate the sick people from healthy people at other testing facilities, but that South Sound facility was completely understaffed and not suited to the job of parking hundreds of cars in an a short 2 hour timeframe. It did not help that 3 days earlier (on Friday), PCR tests at health city began costing $120. Regardless of whether for travel or health purposes. They were formerly free. The lines at health city were short but customers had to pay in full. Many people felt intimidated by the governments direction into using only the South Sound facility and did not think paying in cash was an option. Only a brave few making the trip to health city. All of this disorganization is unfolding before the eyes of a watchful Cayman population, many of whom are choosing to self-test and self isolate without reporting their illness. I’ve heard firsthand that people see that our government cannot catch a break from good luck or good management and so they are laying low, and dealing with COVID at home, which is skewing the hospitalization numbers as we are seeing. Mercifully our vaccination rate is high And we have finally as a nation come to terms with the idea that Covid will be here. This horrible episode should burn itself out in 2 to 4 weeks. Stay safe everyone.
Nice job of reporting. Better than the accompanying article in the Cayman Compass. It seems that most of the time what gets reported is a sanitized version supplied by a police PR person.
The HSA should have multiple PCR culture collection sites throughout the Island. And charging $120 for a culture is ridiculous. Nice little system they have going there. The government mandates these cultures to be done and then makes a nice profit on them. Maybe this is another way they are trying to balance the budget.
Complete joke, banana republic. I have a whole family with COVID including a baby and we get asked to report to the SS Clinic post registering online as any good citizen would (most I fear are not. so all the public numbers are lies). I call the flu hotline and ask for an approach recommendation for Monday as I fear the lines will be long. “Just get there early”……
10’s of cars in the car park. 10’s of cara on the road, 10’s of people (who are sick) stuck in a line in the Cayman heat.
Which part of this solution shows that we are one of the most prosperous, intelligent, capable Caribbean islands. None, the answer is none.
Sort your sh*t out Cayman HSA/GOV and pump money into the solution. Let HSA take PCR results from the public sector like….I don’t know ‘Health City’ you know those fella’s that really know what they’re doig!
Concerned, disappointed, upset and sick father of an 8 week old, who is also sick.
Why would the hours be so restrictive? It creates a crowd so that if you didn’t already have Covid you will after going for this PCR test. Second – you’re SICK! You should be home resting not driving down to south sound and standing around other people for 2 hours! Third, most sensible people will simply NOT report their illness if the punishment for doing so is having to get up and go do the PCR test.
I really thought the new government was going to be better than this.
Does anyone know when we go to Stage 5?
The CMO needs to go to the S.S. Community Centre at 1.00pm to observe the chaos and suffering that senior management in Public Health are responsible for.
As for hospitalisation the public are entitled to more information, how many are unvaccinated and how many are on ventilators?. Previous reports have indicated that a number of admitted patients were not seriously ill, now we hear all 15 admitted are “severe cases”.
Its not 15 severe cases. As with other places in the world, it is most likely that half these people were ALREADY in the hospital, but have now caught COVID in the hospital. We are seeing similar data around the world. I have a friend whose 90 year old grandma is not feeling well. They told her DO NOT bring her to the hospital, as she will catch COVID and die. Our own medical system cannot keep patients sick… there will be more deaths, but at some point, when people are very ill, a flu or cold can take them from us. It is natural even if it sucks that COVID gets put on the death cert.
I don’t understand the reason for PCR after a positive LFT. Although false negatives are quite possible with LFT, false positives are uncommon. Why then if you test positive on LFT do you need to go stand in line for a PCR test? If you are positive on LFT you are supposed to follow the quarantine rules, so why do you leave quarantine the next day, after you’ve tested positive and go stand in line with a bunch of other people? None of this makes sense to me. But then many of the Covid regulations don’t make much sense so why should this be any different?