PM intends to extend state of emergency till December 28th

Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis. (File photo)

As of Thursday, November 19, 2020

Reader poll

Do you agree with the PM's decision to extend the state of emergency until December 28th?

Yes 39%
No 61%

259 total votes.

By RASHAD ROLLE

 Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis gave notice in the House of Assembly yesterday evening of his intention to extend the country’s state of emergency until December 28.

The current emergency resolution ends on November 30.

The move came as a surprise last night as many expected the orders to end this month.

Last month, the prime minister said the discontinuation of COVID-19 Emergency Powers Orders would depend on an improvement of virus-related cases.

And the situation has made a turn for the better.

On Tuesday, Ministry of Health officials reported 11 new COVID-19 cases for a total of 7,323. Twenty-three people are currently hospitalised with the virus and there have been 163 deaths to date. On Monday, there were 56 newly confirmed cases, whereas on Sunday there were 30 new cases.

On Saturday there were 40 cases. The previous day, health officials said there were 23 new cases.

The two days prior saw a combination of 112 cases.

These numbers pale by comparison to the rise in cases – more than 400 in the immediate days ahead of the last extension of emergency orders.

The draft resolution for the impending extension says it “continues to be necessary and expedient for securing the public safety, the defence of the Bahamas, the maintenance of public order, the suppression of mutiny, rebellion and riot, and for maintaining supplies and services essential to the life and well-being of the community to continue in force, the second proclamation, the Emergency Powers (COVID-19 Pandemic) Regulations, 2020…”

Last month, 14 MPs voted in favour of extending the state of emergency resolution and zero voted against it. There were 24 parliamentarians absent from the vote. Many of them were absent because of COVID-19 curfew rules or because they had been exposed to the virus and could not attend parliamentary proceedings.

Former Health Minister Dr Duane Sands joined opposition MPs in saying he did not support extending the emergency orders.

Reacting last month to news of the emergency resolution’s extension, Progressive Liberal Party Leader Philip “Brave” Davis said the country has “proclamation fatigue.”

During a speech in Parliament yesterday, the prime minister implored Bahamians to continue following health protocols like wearing a mask, adhering to physical distancing, washing hands regularly and avoiding large gatherings and social events.

“As we have seen on other islands, and as domestic and international tourists begin to travel to more Family Islands, there is a greater likelihood of the spread of the virus,” he said.

Governor General CA Smith initially made a proclamation of emergency on March 17, 2020.

Amused 4 years ago

This man is just drunk with power at this point, and he doesn't want to let it go

TalRussell 4 years ago

What can a comrade say to a hooked on tourists arriving man's who has known he'll be back in less than 3 weeks announcing a complete lockdown of entire colony's 1200 Out Islands, Cays, and Rocks? Many more be hospitalised with even more than before dying in shortage beds and nurses ICU by when Christmas morning arrives.. Shakehead once for upyeahvote, twice for not?

John 4 years ago

Just knew you had to have a relationship with The Tribune to be posting your incomprehensible crap for so long and with such consistency and they allow it. Now I have affirmation

ThisIsOurs 4 years ago

He's just saying the obvious. Minnis intends to lock the country down for Christmas. But the tourists will be allowed to have a merry old time and sing auld Lang syne and everything. They'll probably have a junkanoo rush out too. The pics will be posted to social media, we'll all get up in arms. Then he'll extend the order to Jan 30 and we'll be locked down for Jan-10. Another year led by people without a plan who've never (planned anything) done "this" before.

John 4 years ago

The fact that he has/needs a personal interpreter makes it even more comical.

John 4 years ago

China has 324 cases of Corona and hardly any deaths. It flattened its curve since March and has hardly exceeded more than 20 daily cases since then. The United States is one of the few countries in the world that never flattened its Corona curve and both its numbers of new cases and deaths continue to skyrocket. Mercilessly.. And while The Bahamas has flattened its curve for the second time, data clearly shows its increases in new cases is directly linked to travel to the United States, which the PM has described as ‘a coliseum of Corona.. the fact is America lacked leadership when it came to battling the Corona virus . In fact it can be said, with little contradiction that the embattled and outgoing president is responsible for most of the new surge in Corona cases and deaths. Just match the areas of the greatest surges with his super spreader , non social distancing, no mask wearing political rallies. And if America had followed the actions of most of the rest of the world and locked down its population for just a short while and enforced other safety measures, not only would the world been much more successful in battling this virus, but the death rate would be much lower. But instead the US is now seeing a threefold increase in new cases snd a tragic unprecedented 40 percent increase in deaths. And now to try enforce lockdown s and curfews and closing of risky, non essential businesses will be even more painful as these businesses have already suffered and many are now shuttered and employees have exhausted all their savings and unemployment benefits. Can this country allow itself to become reinfected?

tribanon 4 years ago

You sound like a well paid troll who works for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Are you collecting your pay envelopes from the Communist China embassy in The Bahamas? Many of us have heard much sip sip about the secret deals Minnis has cut with local representatives of the Xi Jinping led communist regime. It's all too obvious the CCP are hell bent on transforming our nation into a police state that serves their own strategic interests as opposed to the interests of The Bahamian people. And they've fully bought Minnis as 'their' very own appointed dictator of their new satellite police state. Minnis's infatuation with and addiction to authoritarian power was the ace card the CCP could not resist playing.

John 4 years ago

The truth has no master. And so it has no price. So who is paying you to deny the truth and make false accusations against persons you don’t know? Of course you are the paid lackey The era of ‘this is the Chinese virus is as dead as Trump’s presidency .

whogothere 4 years ago

That is just hilarious John, you're really are full of it.

Every region in the US has had a surge...it's the Midwest turn. North East had it early, Sunbelt in the Summer and now it's hitting the Midwest. NY and NJ still hold the record for Corona death and that result is directly linked to the dire decision of NY governor to order COVID positive elderly back into their homes. Then again you must remember that 94% at last COVID deaths count were 2 or 3 dying of things. Oh and average age was 75 - same as life expectancy in the states. Aside from that, for the record I'm not a trump supporter but trying to pin Corona on his rallies is like trying saying it's Minnis's fault it's windy in the Bahamas today.
You say if US locked down like the rest of the world they'd be fine - well hmmmm I seem to remember several European countries locking down really hard and well guess what? Cases are going through the roof. And how do you explain Croatia, Sweden, Belarus, Japan, Nicaragua, Brazil? All with soft measures that have seen decreasing cases and death in spite of the absence of lockdowns and stiff restrictions. COVID cases and death are linked to age profile of the country, population density, cultural habits, the strength of the preceding flu season and the amount air pollution in the local. Lockdowns, Mask use and rallies have little to do with it.

John 4 years ago

Like Trump you are in denial. Check the states where Trump had rallies and correlate the rallies with the surging numbers. And Texas is now one of the leading states with Corona cases and South Dakota currently has the highest number of deaths currently. New York closed down its entire school system again and many other states are telling students that once they leave for the Thanksgiving Holidays, they are not to return. It will either be a shortened term or they have to complete it online. The point is there was never any unified effort under Trump to combat corona. And now with at least 20 states seeking lockdowns, curfews enforced wearing of masks, among other things, there will be a marked decline in Corona numbers. Even among people who travel to The US and return to their home country, unknowingly taking the virus with them.

tribanon 4 years ago

You're quite the Never Trumper suffering from full fledged Trump Derangement Syndrome. Watch less TV, exercise regularly and keep taking your meds.

whogothere 4 years ago

John if you Tribune user name is so important to you - no worries - that change that fact that you have your facts muddled, confused and well...wrong..

(A). You cite Texas has being one of trump's effect states and yet he did not hold one rally there in 2020. He didn't travel North Dakota (which leads cases per capita) and only went once to South Dakota.

(b). You cite Texas as being a leader in cases yet it is ranked 26th when adjusted for population size.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/110…

(c). The single worst state for death and accounting for 15% of all deaths that occurred in US happened under Gov. Coumo watch and likely because of the decision he made regarding the placement of covid patients in care homes.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/110…

(d). Of the 10 ten worse hit states - as in those that have the highest death toll per capita (see 3.) - trump did not hold a campaign rally in any of them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_p…

(e). Lockdowns/stay at home orders are the default position of politicians because they don't have anything else in there arsenal. Masks have not worked. Social distancing has not worked. The virus has done what the viruses do. Lockdowns is the only instrument they can control and hold but it doesn't work. And to contrary it has yielded the potentially more catastrophic effect of killing people and crippling the economy. Excess mortality is up by 360k in the US but only 240k are attributable to covid, and of that 240k 96% had 2-3 other things killing them and had an average age of 75 (at life expectancy). Roughly 120k more people have died for because lockdown policy and that number keeps growing. While covid replaces Flu death, more more people are dying because of un diagnosis heart conditions, cancer, suicide, drug overdose. etc. So not only do lockdown not help cases as evidence in pretty everywhere that has had a huge lockdown it kills people to. In the uk lockdowns may have saved 17k but caused 16k indirectly.

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101…

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-…

whogothere 4 years ago

Johnny boy please get your fact fully primed before uttering BS...was trump simultaneously hitting every region with equal force? Case are up everywhere not just were he campaigned.

https://covidtracking.com/data/charts/r…

Also when you adjust for population size the increase become glaring obvious. Midwest is popping because it hasn't a wave like the other regions yet.

https://covidtracking.com/data/charts/r…

Seasonal situational variance has played a role as a significant amount of the population in the midwest involved in farming over the summer - therefore outdoors and less inclined to transmit the disease. What is interesting is now that harvest is complete, people are spending more time indoors, cases are spiking in remarkably similarity to harvest production. Rural counties are being hit hardest right now and it's not trump rallies. Don't mistake correlation with causality.

https://dailyyonder.com/new-rural-covid… https://www.nass.usda.gov/Charts_and_Ma…

Finally see you have nothing to say about the efficacy of Lockdowns (or lack there of in other countries or mask use for that matter...

John 4 years ago

First off I ain’t no boy. But if it feeds your ego to address me as such, then may the platitudes of your emotions be insatiably satisfied. Yes cases are up every where in The United States and nowhere did I say it was All Trump’s fault. It may be MOSTLY his fault but not all. And it was Trump who said ‘. ‘People are traveling from all over the country to attend my rallies ( He knew because he was paying for their travel), ‘while (Joe) Biden was addressing empty parking lots.’As for the effectiveness of lockdowns, why are all the major populations, including parts of the US, rushing for lockdowns and curfews if they are not effective. The major drawback is their negative impact on economies, not their lack of effectiveness. The fact is the world is in the third wave of the virus and not the second, as many are touting. So this wave is more contagious and potentially more deadly. And if COVID-19 continues to behave as it has been doing, expect it to start disappearing soon. In a matter of weeks.

whogothere 4 years ago

John if you Tribune user name is so important to you - no worries - that don t change that fact that you have your facts muddled, confused and well...wrong..

(b). You cite Texas as being a leader in cases yet it is ranked 26th when adjusted for population size.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1...">https://www.statista.com/statistics/1...

(d). Of the 10 ten worse hit states - as in those that have the highest death toll per capita (see 3.) - trump did not hold a campaign rally in any of them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...

(e). Lockdowns/stay at home orders are the default position of politicians because they don't have anything else in their arsenal. Masks have not worked. Social distancing has not worked. The virus has done what the viruses do. Lockdowns is the only instrument they can control and hold but it doesn't work. And to the contrary it has yielded the potentially more catastrophic effect of killing people and crippling the economy. Excess mortality is up by 360k in the US but only 240k are attributable to covid, and of that 240k 96% had 2-3 other things killing them and had an average age of 75 (at life expectancy). Roughly 120k more people have died for because lockdown policy and that number keeps growing. While covid replaces Flu death, more more people are dying because of un diagnosis heart conditions, cancer, suicide, drug overdose. etc. So not only do lockdown not help cases as evidence in pretty everywhere that has had a huge lockdown it kills people to. In the uk lockdowns may have saved 17k but caused 16k indirectly.

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.11...">https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.11...

https://news.sky.com/story/coronaviru...">https://news.sky.com/story/coronaviru...

John 4 years ago

Personally I look at the two new vaccines that claim to have an effective rate beyond 85% with suspicion. As long as the common flu was around, there was no vaccine that effective and without side effects. Hope they are not, deceitfully trying to factor herd immunity into the effectiveness of these two ‘very rushed’ vaccines.

jamaicaproud 4 years ago

You have good, intelligent and rational arguments. I was telling my wife last night, I dont trust no miracle vaccine because one hallmark of good medicine is testing for long term effects. They claim 95 % but we dont know sample size, sample pool, diversity nothing. As for the United States, I am here at the moment. The spread is simple. Many people have been suckered into the political game. So they refuse to wear masks to prove a point. There is also one particular immigrant demographic that statistically refuse to wear masks and protection. No precaution is 100% but mitigation over recklessness is better. In other words its not about lockdowns, but the people using common sense as they go around.

Clamshell 4 years ago

Actually, The New York Times and other news outlets have reported detailed info about the sample size, diversity, age spread, etc. Read before you make inaccurate claims, respectfully.

jamaicaproud 4 years ago

Respectfully I want to read technical reports nit News press releases which are unscutinuzed and sanitized.

whogothere 4 years ago

What emergency are we under? There s 3 people in ICU Twenty in hospitals at this point. 11 new cases as of the 17th. This is a dictatorship. I generally don’t vote because I feel red/gold are really are as corrupt and incompetent as one another but this to much. This man has got to go...

happyfly 4 years ago

It's the cult of covid.

ohdrap4 4 years ago

Yep 3 people in the hospital ICU.

This one is for the merchants. It is really to destroy whatever hope they have left.

Go by Harbour Bay shopping center and note how many are closing.

truetruebahamian 4 years ago

Look at Bay street ghost town and he will probably expect property tax VAT business licences NIB and the insurance companies will expect to be paid ....with what?

tribanon 4 years ago

Expect to see new businesses popping up that will be operated and controlled by representatives of the Communist Chinese Party, including certain of their 'fronting' agents who are members of the Bahamian political elite.

bahamaslovenest 4 years ago

the PM is doing what needs to be done; if u think he is a dictator, then move to China, where this thing started & magnified , & live with a real dictatorship, or to the US , where due to slackness about the disease, has magnified here on our nation. The CCP has as much to lose here as everyone, since they own the British Colonial & Margaritaville. Minnis has diminished the Chinese role here; it was the former PM , who was in bed with the communists, & gave them anything that they wanted, selling our Bahamaland & himself to them.

whogothere 4 years ago

He could literally have done nothing and it would have been better. Shut down country for 4 months for nothing. Minnis thought he was great but there was no wide spread testing. Bahamas went through the first wave with it’s eyes closed. Lives saved? none as as soon as he opened - bam - virus does what it does...Cases spiked (this time we had tests)...Havoc has been sown through action and inaction - in undiagnosed cancer, suicide, hunger, crime, stifling of education, bankruptcies...all because of the ‘competent authority’

shonkai 4 years ago

He should also extend the contract for the persons who update his websites. https://covid19.gov.bs/category/covid-d… most recent dashboard Sept 8

TalRussell 4 years ago

Total visitors to entire Colony for the combined months of September and October 2020, did not exceed 2,355 warm bodies and there's no, zero, zill, none of value evidentiary that the ministry of health MOH, had a clue of their activities and whereabouts during the time spent in the Colony - so what makes anyone think MOH is any more prepared this November to protect the health being and lives the PopoulacesOrdinary at large POAL? Shakehead once for upyeahvote mistake #1 have believed a damn one words the same Hurricane Dorian dead counters has or will ever utter, twice for, not a single damn word?

John 4 years ago

So are y’all saying Minnis should abandon his emergency powers in the middle of the pandemic? Especially in light that the country continues to experience outbreaks of the virus and instances of persons violating the Emergency Orders. Especially the instances of large social gatherings that can be traced directly to outbreaks on several islands and even to other islands where persons may have traveled to after attending such events. So how do you propose the government or the country to continue to combat Corona in the absence of Emergency Orders.

whogothere 4 years ago

Yep sounds about right. We don't need emergency powers for the flu (CDC IFR of covid are now lower than the flu) and we don't need it for COVID 19. The restrictions and regulations are not based in science, often contradictory and well just impractical...Plus they may have caused a slue of knock on lockdown deaths because people have not been able to travel or complete vital screenings and other diagnostic tests. The impact on children's education and life path is immeasurable but likely highly damaging. And well no need to mention the economy or food security... So yes we need to move beyond this and fast because at the end of the day this 99.9% survive covid.

Topdude 4 years ago

Our Prime Minister is doing what is required and necessary to curb this pandemic. Idiots and provocateurs like Tribanon and TarRussell can yap all they want but in the final analysis history will show that our beloved Prime Minister prescribed the medicine that was necessary and effective.

Go ahead and call him an agent for China or a dictator. In the final analysis he is not doing anything different from what the leaders of Western Europe and Canada are doing To protect their citizens. Following the distorted logic Of Tribanon, these leaders are also paid agents of Communist China. The gentleman’s logic is convoluted.

We in the Bahamas really need a dictator to run this country for a little while so we can stop the slackness and nonsense that runs throughout our society. What do you think would happen to the BPL Lords of Doom , the Supervisors and the Executive Management Team if they worked in China and conducted themselves in the manner we have recently come to hear about?

Tribanon is a paid Provocateur. It is only a matter of time before we discover who this misbegotten son of a lop headed idiot is.

Prime Minister please proceed full speed ahead with leading our nation. Do not pay any attention to the naysayers and peddlers of stupidness. God Bless you and the Honorable members your Cabinet .

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