The Tribune

HIS is the moment none of us wanted.

All through the fight against COVID-19, there has been the discussion of how to balance the needs of health and the needs of the economy – and all the while that has been a false choice.

The proof of that is today, with Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis shutting the entire nation down for two weeks from 10 o’clock tonight.

The truth is that surging COVID-19 cases will shut down the economy anyway. We have already seen in the past few days how businesses have needed to respond to isolated cases involving their establishments, shutting the doors, warning customers and instigating a deep cleanse. The more cases there were, the more those incidents were likely to happen.

Dr Minnis’ measure will be tough for all of us, but the soaring number of cases in The Bahamas has made it inevitable. Yesterday saw 22 more cases on Grand Bahama and nine on New Providence – we’re not seeing new cases by the ones and twos anymore but by the tens and twenties.

So tonight begins the lockdown. Bimini has been through it. Grand Bahama has been going through it. If they managed, then so can we.

We must. Dr Minnis warned last night that intensive care beds are near capacity – although only 22 remain hospitalised according to the daily dashboard. That raises concerns about what our present capacity for COVID-19 beds is and how we can expand it. He also said that health experts say the lockdown will allow the healthcare service to “reposition” itself to deal with the crisis better.

No one wants the lockdown. No one is secretly lobbying for a lockdown to make money. This hurts us all. The only reason to do it is to shut this virus down.

There will be questions we need to ask – such as what do we do about opening the country again after the lockdown and how we do it so that we don’t end up back here again.

But for now, we have to take our medicine.

Please, for all our sakes, follow the rules. Wear a mask. Wash your hands. Keep your distance. Don’t go out unless you need to.

Kill this virus to save our nation.

Good grief, BPL

For anyone familiar with the Peanuts cartoon, there is a recurring joke where the lead character, Charlie Brown, is asked by his friend Lucy to kick a football. Every time she promises not to pull the ball away at the last minute, and every time she does, leaving Charlie Brown missing his kick, soaring through the air and landing with a cry of “Aaugh!”

This weekend, the Bahamian public was Charlie Brown, Bahamas Power & Light was Lucy and a dependable power supply was the football.

Ahead of Hurricane Isaias arriving, BPL overpromised on its ability to keep the power supply up. There was confident talk about the state of the network, and the company said it would carry out controlled shutdowns in high-risk areas only.

More than 36 hours after the passing of the storm, a number of customers were still out of power, which looks anything but a controlled shutdown. People have had to throw away food from their refrigerators – just in time for a two-week lockdown that leaves them needing the food they’re throwing away.

So next time, BPL, don’t put the ball down in front of us and promise it won’t go away. Only promise what you can deliver.