Grand Cayman, 26 October 2021 – The Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Lee, reports that as of 8a.m. Tuesday, 26 October, there have been 1,101 PCR tests since the last report on Monday, 25 October.  

Of these, there are two positive travellers tested on exit from quarantine and 90 positive tests from the community, including two children.  Of the two positive travellers, Dr. Lee said, “They’ll now obviously remain in isolation until they test negative.”

There were two admissions to hospital of people positive for SARS-CoV-2 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of hospitalised patients to four.

The two recent admissions are requiring supplemental oxygen. Of the prior admissions, one has been hospitalised since early September and the other was admitted for an unrelated matter.

Dr. Lee said, “I know a lot of you will be feeling frightened or worried with this increase in numbers, but they really are as we might anticipate with this being such an infectious disease.”

He explained, “It’s important to understand that once this degree of infectious disease is in the community you can’t really put the genie back in the bottle. It’s with us as we move to reopen the borders further.”

The Chief Medical Officer asked all residents to take the recommended safety precautions.

“In the meantime, I really need to ask you to follow the advice of people that you trust and have trusted for a good long while and the information sources that are trusted out there too. So, do please mask, distance, look after the elderly in the community and the vulnerable, and protect them as much as you can,” Dr. Lee said.

He also advised people to get vaccinated to protect themselves from serious illness if they have not already done so.

Dr. Lee said, “Please also consider getting vaccinated if you’re not yet vaccinated. Overwhelmingly around the world, the people who are admitted to hospital with serious illness and who unfortunately die, a huge majority of these are those that are unvaccinated. So, we can see the evidence that it will protect you.”

Public Health is reminding all households that have undergone testing for COVID-19 that they must continue to isolate at home, whether test results have been received or not, until they are advised they can leave by a Public Health official.

The vaccination clinics were not open on Monday, so a vaccination update will next be provided tomorrow (Wednesday, 27 October).

A video update from Dr. Lee on today’s results can be found at: https://youtu.be/sb5CB4dtaPU