In Depth: COVID-19 Deaths

As part of the COVID-19 public health surveillance all COVID-19 deaths are reported. There is no internationally agreed definition of a COVID-19 death. The same definition for reporting is used for COVID-19 deaths as in the UK, which is any death in which the patient had a positive COVID-19 result in the 28 days prior to the date of death. During the pandemic, there have been 36 deaths which meet this definition reported by the COVID-19 national public health surveillance.

In addition to this, the Cayman Islands General Registry holds a record of all deaths on island, including those which have COVID-19 mentioned on the death certificate.

During the pandemic, there have been 31 deaths recorded on the death registry where COVID-19 is mentioned on the death certificate.

Comparing these two data sources:

o There are 29 deaths which are included in both the death registry with COVID-19 on the death certificate and the COVID-19 national public health surveillance.

o There are an additional seven deaths which are reported by the COVID-19 public health surveillance which do not have COVID-19 detailed on the death certificate.

o There are two deaths which have COVID-19 recorded on the death certificate, but do not meet the definition of a COVID-19 death in the public health surveillance.

Individuals who have been reported as COVID-19 deaths in the public health surveillance often had other medical conditions, commonly referred to as underlying co-morbidities. Some of these conditions may mean the patient is more likely to have a severe infection if infected with COVID-19.

The following tables present the frequency of other medical conditions that the COVID-19 reported deaths had. A patient may have more than one condition present. Two medical conditions have been removed to ensure patient confidentiality. Where the frequency of the medical condition across all reported deaths is less than five, this has been masked to prevent the risk of identifying individuals.