The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

A BAHAMASAIR flight attendant tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday as health officials announced three new COVID-19 cases in New Providence yesterday, including two with a history of travel.

Since international flights resumed at the beginning of the month, the flight attendant worked flights on July 5 and July 6 that went into Fort Lauderdale, The Tribune understands.

Florida has emerged as the new epicentre of the coronavirus, recording more than 10,000 new cases yesterday and a record 15,000-plus cases on Sunday. In a press statement, Bahamasair Managing Director Tracy Cooper said that the flight attendant has not been to work since July 6. He said the airline has been in contact with the Ministry of Health and is following the established guidelines and protocols health officials have outlined. One airline official, who declined to speak on the record, said there is minimal contact among people on the planes, and cabin services are not provided. The planes undergo enhanced cleaning every time they land, the official said.

Meanwhile, the latest COVID-19 cases include a 51-year-old New Providence woman with no history of travel along with a 57-year-old woman and a 29-year-old woman, both from New Providence with histories of travel.

Asked if officials are considering recommending that travel to and from Florida be banned, Dr Mercleine Dahl-Regis, coordinator of the government’s COVID-19 task force, suggested on Tuesday that this is not being considered. She said officials are instead using a risk stratification system to determine which tourists can enter the country.

“We determine the risk category for each applicant for a travel visa rather than have a determination of state by state,” she said. “We use a list as published by the World Health Organization where it’s determined where there is community spread and (if it is) greater than ten percent in the population you get a score. This is a moving target. We’ve had to adjust the risk stratification seven times already. Because the experiences are changing constantly, we have to make the necessary adjustments. What we see at the present time is the spread originating from Bahamians who have travelled to (certain states in the US).”

Yesterday, the Ministry of Health also responded to a social media report that three Royal Bahamas Police Force officers on Grand Bahama tested positive yesterday. In a statement, the ministry said there were no new confirmed cases on Grand Bahama yesterday and the last confirmed case from that island was reported on Tuesday by health officials.

The ministry added that it does not identify names or workplaces of cases to protect their personal information.

“The public is advised that it is the policy of the Ministry of Health to protect the names of persons and businesses that have been impacted by COVID-19 and will not publish the same as this is information is considered strictly private and confidential,” the ministry said.