The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

HEALTH Minister Dr Perry Gomez said he fully expects a travel advisory to be issued against The Bahamas in the coming days, after the country confirmed three more cases of the Zika virus in New Providence.

As of Monday, the Bahamas had four confirmed cases of Zika. Officials said they have intensified fogging efforts to kill mosquitos, as they called on residents to do their part to reduce the virus’ spread.

Referring to the three latest cases, Dr Gomez said the issue is an “enormous challenge” for the Bahamas and its tourism product.

“I was informed this morning that there is going to be a notice that a travel advisory would be issued against The Bahamas sometime today if it has not already been done so,” he stated.

Expressing his displeasure with the pending move, Dr Gomez said he thought it was a “little unfair” for an advisory to caution travel to the entire country despite confirmed cases being confined to New Providence to date.

Director of Public Health Dr Pearl McMillan cautioned visitors that there was no need for mass panic, as local officials were doing all they could to ensure that the necessary measures are put in place to control and prevent the spread of the virus.

“I would still recommend that they use mosquito repellents as they travel around, but we are pretty safe to visit because we have, like I said four confirmed cases in New Providence but we are seeking to do all we can to ensure that this does not increase beyond (what has been reported),” she stated.

Over the last month, both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration and the United State’s Centre of Disease Control (CDC) have issued a travel advisories to Brazil and sections of the Miami, Florida area.

In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration previously insisted that Bahamians travelling to both Miami and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the Summer Olympics take “appropriate precautions” to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes.

The statement also urged that similar precautions be taken by travellers heading to the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Aside from the four confirmed cases in the Bahamas, there have been multiple confirmed cases of the Zika virus in nearby Turks and Caicos, nearly a dozen more cases reported in Florida in the past week and an estimated 170,000 in Brazil to date.

Fogging

Assistant Director of the Department of Environmental Health Services Andrew Thompson yesterday indicated that officials have zeroed in on the Pinewood Gardens and Carmichael Road areas with its Zika fogging activities.

He said officials have noticed a spike in the amount of suspected cases in those areas.

He said officials have applied “significant emphasis” to the two sections in recent weeks, hoping to reduce breeding activities of the Aedes aegypti mosquito - the strain of mosquito primarily responsible for the spread of the virus.

Mr Thompson also confirmed that fogging activities throughout New Providence have increased.

“People like to really rely on the fogging, but you cannot just really rely on the fogging,” he said.

Mr Thompson added: “But we have intensified our fogging applications, particularly around the cases and suspected cases. Once that is done, then we are moving systematically throughout the areas that we call the localities where the suspected cases are and eventually we will do another application throughout the island of New Providence.

“We have the same programme going through the Family Islands where they have their ULV applications; where, if there are suspected cases they implement the protocol where they would go around that particular case or suspected case and do some source reduction, giving out educational material and that sort of thing.

“So really and truly the public, the community, the individual; it is a cry for them to really be proactive along with the relevant government agencies in this process.”

Fogging activities are contingent on weather patterns.

“It is nightly depending upon weather,” Mr Thompson said.

“If there is rain, we cannot fog. If there is weather or wind beyond 10mph, it is very futile and the success rate would be minimal simply because you have to impact the body of the mosquito, so if you have wind beyond 10mph a lot of the chemical just flies away.”

Additionally, Mr Thompson urged residents to do their part to combat the spread of the virus, by eliminating standing water and emptying containers that can collect water.

Environmental Health officials have now implemented a public assistance programme, offering residents an opportunity to have unneeded items that could hold water to be carted away from their property.

“We have put out the notice out there to say that the public is hereby informed that the Department of Environmental Services has put in place public assistance programme to help in getting rid of all water holding containers where the mosquitoes breeds,” he said.

Homeowners and occupants are asked to collect all holding containers and place them in front of their property for collection. Residents are asked to call the department at 302-5198, 302-5202 or 302-5203 for collection.