EASING THE PAIN: PM declares lockdown worked to halt second wave so eases controls

Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis speaks on Sunday.

As of Monday, November 9, 2020

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

A 50 percent decrease in new COVID-19 infections over the last four weeks coupled with a 68 percent drop in virus-related hospital cases since mid-October has prompted the relaxation of various restrictions in New Providence and Abaco.

Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced yesterday that the most recent data has put The Bahamas’ national COVID-19 positivity rate at 16 percent. This is a 44.8 percent reduction from the week just before the tougher measures were put in place.

These rates have continuously decreased and just yesterday the rate of positivity was 5.7 percent, Dr Minins said. Calling the marked decreases in both New Providence and Abaco “good progress”, Dr Minnis said the new revised measures will begin today.

The relaxed measures include the lifting of the weekend 24-hour curfew. Moving forward, the curfew on Saturdays and Sundays will now be from 6pm to 5am.

The weekday curfew, previously 8pm to 5am, will move to 9pm to 5am.

This curfew will also apply to Grand Bahama on weekdays and weekends.

Despite the news, Dr Minnis reminded Bahamians that restrictions would be loosened and tightened according to COVID-19 case trends, adding this was the time for cautious optimism.

He also lashed out at critics of the government’s COVID-19 protocols.

“As I have mentioned to you before, during the pandemic we will go through cycles of tightening and loosening restrictions,” Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said in a televised national address yesterday.

“When case numbers go up, we have to tighten the rules to save lives. When those numbers go down, we loosen restrictions so Bahamians may get back to work and resume more normal lives. The measures we put in place to combat the second wave have worked.

“Some criticised us for acting aggressively, but we knew we had to intervene to slow the spread of the virus and save Bahamian lives. We do not like putting in place restrictions. However, our main priorities are the health and safety of the Bahamian people.

“We are not afraid of making the tough decisions to protect you.”

He continued: “As we emerge out of this second wave, let us be cautiously optimistic and let us continue to be careful. We are opening up. But if we stop following the public health advice, virus cases will increase again and we may end up back under restrictions.”

In New Providence and Abaco, the retail sector, including pharmacies, may resume in-store services Monday to Saturday following the protocols prepared by the Bahamas Federation of Retailers and certified by the Ministry of Health.

On Saturdays, food stores may open to the public and can restock on Sundays.

Outdoor dining is also permitted to resume at restaurants and at fish fries, Monday to Saturday.

On Sundays, only drive-thru and take away food services are permitted.

However, hotels may conduct indoor dining, Dr Minnis said.

Beaches and parks will now be open on Saturdays and Sundays from 5am to 6 pm.

The new measures take effect today and do not apply to Spanish Wells and Harbour Island.

joeblow 4 years ago

Infections rates will decrease at some point after almost everyone has been infected, or if you reduce rates of testing. This reduction has nothing to do with locking people down on weekends!

We need a new PM.

whogothere 4 years ago

Exactly, 6 weeks ago I predicted that once cases got between 5 - 6k (equivalence of probably 50 and 60k once you include undetected cases.) Which is exactly between 20 and 30% of populations.... And Voila here we are....20-40% is the estimated HIT for those not buying into the scaremongers 80% threshold. We are witness the natural Phenomena of Herd Immunity (Which may not last for long) but we saw the same thing in grand Bahamas same thing. Cases dropped once 20-30% of Freeport population were infected. Bimini the same thing. It has nothing to do with lockdowns or masks or any government policy. There is no correlation. The only correlation is the level of infection. We see the exact same thing in countries of similar population size. - Maldives, Iceland, Malta...

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/covi…

Bobsyeruncle 4 years ago

So then, what good is herd immunity if it doesn't last long ? Or am I missing something here?

whogothere 4 years ago

Flu vaccines only last a year. Immunity is fleeting it’s the nature of the beast. Covid is here to stay it’s already mutated but each time less deadly.

Bobsyeruncle 4 years ago

Also, your model makes a huge assumption that 45K or 55K (i.e. 90%) of cases are undetected. I find this extremely hard to believe unless all 90% are asymptomatic (unlikely) or never contacted/visited a healthcare professional when they started developing even mild symptoms or insufficient test kits were not available to test all 90% (possible in The Bahamas but unlikely in Iceland or Malta).

whogothere 4 years ago

Nassau is highly dense population and there is a huge stigma to positive results and therefore no incentive to get tested even if you are symptomatic. Asymptotic rates are possible as high as 4/5, but cdc holds to 50%, the other percentage simply would not have got tested unless they feel really ill. Two weeks loss of wages, for you and anyone you ve come in contact with...your place of work shut down, even the cost of pcr test and discomfort of having someone jam a stick up your nose discourageS people get tests. Simple as that...

whogothere 4 years ago

@bob Immunity is always fleeting why else does the flu jab change each year? Asympyomatic are as high 70% but it’s stigma, price, discomfort and ultimately loss of income associated with testing which insures many cases go undetected.

proudloudandfnm 4 years ago

We are nowhere near herd immunity.

whogothere 4 years ago

Really @proud so lockdown magically started working - oh wait there hasn t been one since august..

KapunkleUp 4 years ago

True but what someone new gonna do different? Chicken Davis ain't got a clue what to do except flap his chicken lips.

mandela 4 years ago

With the border now open we will be heading into phase 3 of this virus, the U.S.A, in all states they are recording their highest infection since the beginning of this virus, yesterday they broke their record for a single day infections. At this rate, we will be locked down in the holiday season and the blame will be put on us. In my opinion, Lockdowns alone does nothing but stall the process and frustrates its citizens.

whogothere 4 years ago

Lockdown Unlikely- look how they are treating Harbour Island, Spanish well and eleuthera. Spanish wells had over 40 cases last week and no lockdown. Government is clueless they are using lockdowns as a punitive placebo selectively not hitting tourist destinations...Eleuthera basically has no hotels open so it's convenient to LD and send a message that they've doing something.. As soon as Bahamar opens there won't be a lockdown no matter how high cases get - not that they will - we're seeing the same curve collapse that we see in other global hotspots once infections get to a certain threshold - Chicago, NY, Stockholm, Madrid..to name a few.. 20-40% and we're done.. Everything else is driven by oversensitive PCR tests picking up viral remnants.

happyfly 4 years ago

Still makes him feel good to wave his fingers and have everyone do as he commands

John 4 years ago

Many are asking why Spanish Wells and Harbor Island were not locked with the rest of Eleuthera. Spanish Wells has as many cases and Harbor Island is the party capital of North Eleuthera,

John 4 years ago

Hint: The Spanish Wells fishermen have fish and lobster contracts to fill.

whogothere 4 years ago

Hint: hotels in harbour have reservations

tribanon 4 years ago

No need to worry about COVID-19 anymore. The Biden campaign team and CNN have all but promised COVID-19 would disappear if their man will be the next president. LOL

John 4 years ago

Trump also said the virus will disappear. And they may be right. Once these type viruses been around for a while they do disappear because the population builds up an immunity for them. And even though they mutate, the anti bodies in a person who hay been infected can still usually resist them. The danger is when there is rapid spread with no resistance.

whogothere 4 years ago

Glad to hear you changing your tune - that talk of a deadly mutated C19 Was a bit much ;)

John 4 years ago

OBVIOUSLY you are confusing me with someone else!

John 4 years ago

Or you intentionally being disingenuous

shonkai 4 years ago

Meanwhile on the COvid-19 webpage of the OPM the most recent dashboard is Sept 8th and the National address is May 10th. So hard for government (employees) to maintain even a little webpage with some consistency. No wonder their buildings are all crumbling and rotting.

tribanon 4 years ago

Forget their buildings....our entire country has crumbled and rotted under Minnis!

Topdude 4 years ago

Tribanon it is very clear you have bee in your bonnet for Prime Minister Minnis. And I am wondering why is this the case? I asked a colleague who is a psychiatrist and he hypothesizes, without the benefit of reviewing your medical records, that you are probably suffering from envy, jealousy, fear and greed because as a child your parents never gave you love and attention. He also went on to opine that you were not breastfed for a sufficient period of time which was the result of being rejected by your mother. Accordingly, the hate you demonstrate towards the Prime Minister is because you hate yourself. He recommends that you consult a psychiatrist as soon as possible. Your are a pathetic person.

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