The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said 50 percent of COVID-19 patients who have required hospitalisation had one or more comorbidities. This contrasts with the 29 percent of patients without comorbidities who required hospitalisation.

His comment came during a virtual Commonwealth COVID-19 leaders meeting yesterday. “Seventy-one percent of the cases (44 cases) with no comorbidities did not require hospitalisation while 42.9 percent of the patients with one or more comorbidities who were hospitalised died, while zero patients hospitalised with no comorbidities died from COVID-19. All COVID-19 related deaths in the Bahamas occurred with patients having one or more comorbidities,” he said.

He continued: “Notwithstanding that we are still rebuilding after Hurricane Dorian, our response to COVID-19 has been quick, strategic and informed. We have had a total of 11 deaths, a limited number of hospitalisations, and adequate ICU beds over the course of 99 days.

“The Bahamas fully activated its Health Emergency Operating Centre on March 16, 2020. We solidified relationships; established evidenced-based protocols for case management; and strengthened our mechanisms for case identification and contact tracing, among other measures. We faced challenges with the supply chain of swabs chemical reagents needed of testing, and PPEs. We continuously revised protocols and adjusted guidelines to fit our resources notwithstanding that the limited appropriate supplies decreased our ability to scale-up community testing.

“Even in the face of these challenges, real-time PCR testing was enhanced in the accredited National Reference Laboratory. As we explore the characteristics of the epidemic within my country we see our epi-curve demonstrates our turning/bending of the curve. The age profile of the cases and deaths do not necessarily follow global or regional patterns.”