The Tribune

YESTERDAY was a tragic day in the battle against COVID-19.

Two more deaths brought the total for the country so far to 11, while there were other worrying signs from the Ministry of Health briefing.

The headline might have been the latest deaths, but the biggest ongoing concern might be the capacity in the healthcare system to deal with further cases.

Readers will be well aware by now that each day a daily dashboard comes out with the latest information on new cases. Some new cases are listed as being in isolation at home, some are listed as being hospitalised. Yesterday’s two new cases, for example, are both said to be in isolation at home.

But for those who need to be hospitalised, capacity is a worry.

In yesterday’s briefing, Health Minister Dr Duane Sands detailed the expansion of capacity for coronavirus patients at the South Beach clinic. Between that and Doctors Hospital West, that will mean New Providence will have a total of 40 beds for COVID-19 treatment. Grand Bahama is on the verge of having six, with a total of 22 within a week.

But with 72 confirmed cases so far – and more expected, that’s already more cases than beds. Thankfully, many of those cases can be treated in isolation at home, but if the numbers keep going up, and more people need hospital treatment, what then?

Dr Sands talked of how construction was going on non-stop to upgrade the South Beach clinic with those extra ten beds to bring the number to 40, but will that be enough? If not, what is our next move?

Add to that more than 200 healthcare workers being in quarantine in the wake of exposure from a patient at Princess Margaret Hospital and you can see the jeopardy our healthcare system is in.

This is the point, of course, of social distancing. The idea is to reduce the number of cases so they don’t overwhelm the capacity of our medical system. But the signs of strain on that system are clear to see.

In the middle of this, to see the Bahamas Christian Council start to talk about reopening churches in May is to see the height of folly. Of course, it is important to reopen churches when the time is right, but this is a time to ensure the health of the body as well as the soul. Healthcare workers do not need extra pressure right now, and reopening churches could do just that.

But there is also hope. Dr Merceline Dahl-Regis, consultant to the Prime Minister’s office, said they hope to say when the epidemic will peak in the country this week.

She is very cautious, and cagey about the different models of prediction, but getting an idea of when the peak has passed will let us look forward more practically to a time of reopening the country.

There is very much a sense of living on a knife edge right now. The unspoken sentiment behind the hard work to expand the South Beach clinic is that more capacity is needed. Running out of that capacity would be deadly for the patients squeezed out.

If there is comfort, it is that the experts seem well aware of the urgency involved. As members of the public, everything we can do to stop increasing that pressure is vital. So do as they say. Stay home. Stay safe. And for the Christian Council, we suggest they stop seeking a date for when they will reopen churches and instead pray that the peak will soon pass.