The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

AMID a decline of positive COVID-19 cases in the country, a local infectious disease expert said it appears The Bahamas has flattened the curve in the second COVID-19 wave, but warned residents must still not let their guards down as “things can still change”.

Dr Nikkiah Forbes, director of the National HIV/AIDS and Infectious Disease Programme at the Ministry of Health, told The Tribune yesterday that even though the country is seeing a downward trend of confirmed cases, Bahamians must still follow all the health protocols in place until the COVID-19 threat has been defeated.

The country recorded a total 187 cases – pushing the nation’s tally to 7,413 as of Saturday.

A week earlier, health officials recorded 259 new cases.

Grand Bahama accounted for the majority of last week’s infections at 72 and was followed by New Providence at 55.

Last night, another 18 cases were confirmed, with a further ten in New Providence, and three in both Grand Bahama and Exuma. Abaco and Andros each had a single case. No further deaths were reported, and only one person remained in intensive care.

Yesterday, Dr Forbes said: “So, it appears as if we have past the crest of the second wave. Cases reported confirm that cases are decreasing, but we have to remember that we haven’t eliminated COVID-19 so if you look at the daily count it’s variable.”

“But, there are still new cases being recorded in New Providence, Grand Bahama and other islands and so we have to remember, if we’re going to keep cases low. This is very dependent on what we do in terms of preventing new infections.”

She added: “So there’s no cure for COVID-19 at the moment and so when we think of strategies, prevention is a large strategy and we have to learn our lessons in terms of what we can do and need to do as individuals to stop the spread and ongoing transmission of COVID-19 if we want to see an end of this cycle of restrictions.”

“We really want to stress the importance of learning our lessons in terms of what we need to do to prevent new cases which I think we should’ve learnt in the first wave and second wave so that we could stop COVID-19.”

With new cases still being recorded daily in the country, Dr Forbes said it’s possible the country can experience another surge if people become relaxed in following the preventive measures.

“So, we’re still seeing cases per day sometimes in the double digits,” she said. “This is not better than triple digits and we have to be very cognizant of what we do because once there’s transmission, if there’s community transmission, cases will go up if we’re not following preventive measures, we can see a surge again.”

Asked if health officials are expecting to see a spike of new cases during the holidays, she replied: “It all depends on what we do and how well we follow the measures. It doesn’t have to happen. All of this is very dependent on individual and collective.”

She urged Bahamians not to attend large social gatherings and undertake unnecessary travel.

Her comments comes amid heightened concern over large social events which have been frequently happening in the country despite constant calls for adherence.

Just yesterday, police said over 20 people were cited on Saturday for attending a social gathering and being in breach of COVID-19 orders.

“When you gather, either at a holiday meal or to have a party, masks are not going to be on the whole time and that is what we know is necessary for COVID transmission that if people are in close contact and gathered together and have no masks on and if there’s a lot of people, say in a party that is going to increase risk of COVID transmission,” Dr Forbes stressed.

“The sad thing is if persons get COVID who were at the gathering, some of them are going to get very sick. Some might get very sick and so that’s the risk you take when we do things like gather.”

“So, I’m saying that we’re optimistic that next year could look better with a vaccine on horizon and so it could be wise to defer a large holiday gathering or a huge family reunion meal this year because it would be really sad if persons got COVID and/or spread COVID and then vulnerable ones catch it.”

Last week, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis gave notice in the House of Assembly of his intention to extend the country’s state of emergency to December 28.

The current COVID-19 Emergency Powers Orders ends on November 30.