Cayman: Masks come off and cases go up Loop Cayman Islands

Black Immigrant Daily News

It turns out that with the removal of Cayman’s mask mandate on June 30 that COVID cases have simultaneously gone up. And while it is important to note that correlation does not always mean causation, it is hard not to make the inference. Science has after all proven that mask mandates have conferred benefit in reducing community case incidence during the pandemic.

According to the latest statistics from Public Health, a drop in testing and an increase in cases resulted in a significant increase in the proportion of positive cases between July 3 and 9 from 28 per cent at the time that the mask mandate was removed to 48 per cent. There has also been a notable 36 per cent drop in testing.

A new strain of COVID-19 has also been identified in Cayman since the removal of mask mandates.

The sub-lineage BA.5 of the Omicron variant has been detected for the first time, which has been reported by the UK to be driving the recent wave of infections. The sub-lineage BE.1 has also been detected, which was first detected in March 2022 in Germany and has since been identified in 47 countries worldwide. Public Health anticipates that there is shift occurring from the BA.2 to the BA.5 Omicron sub-lineage in Cayman.

So what does the data tell us?

Data on the relationship between mask mandates and adherence are limited, although available evidence suggests that mask-wearing adherence increases in regions or time periods where mask mandates are in place and mask-wearing adherence is associated with observed reductions in COVID-19 case growth. A 2021 study examined the relationship between lifting mask mandates and population level COVID-19 outcomes, and observed a statistically significant increase in COVID-19 cases 45 days after lifting mask mandate.

A systematic review identified a natural experiment conducted across 200 countries that demonstrated 45.7 per cent fewer COVID-19 related deaths in countries where mask-wearing was mandatory. That said, COVID-19 deaths in the Cayman Islands have been very low since the onset of the pandemic and have typically been associated with comorbidities.

The New York Times says that Cayman Is currently in the top spot in the Caribbean for COVID-19 for cases per 100,000 people and in the 19th spot in the world. Cayman has taken the top spot or has been in the top 10 at various times during the pandemic– including when masks were mandatory.

NewsAmericasNow.com