The Tribune

• Ex-minister confirms governance group's approach

• ORG said proposal made 'months ago' not acted on

• Adds faster testing regime may have eased crisis

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A former Cabinet minister last night confirmed the Government showed "no interest" in a proposal made "months ago" to significantly ramp-up COVID-19 testing during the pandemic's early stages.

Dr Duane Sands, ex-minister of health, backed assertions by Robert Myers, the Organisation for Responsible Governance's (ORG) principal, that the group had offered a testing solution to the Government but received no encouragement to take it forward,.

"Robert and I have been talking about this for some time," the Elizabeth MP said of COVID-19 testing. "This has been evolving." Recalling ORG's earlier proposal, he added: "There was no interest. Now there's quite a bit of interest. I think it's much needed, but at the time there was no interest."

He spoke out after Mr Myers earlier this week disclosed that the ORG proposal, which is separate and distinct from the private sector-driven Living With COVID Coalition (LWCC) solution and testing regime being developed now, did not get the necessary support from the Minnis administration.

"Believe me, the Cabinet was presented with that proposal months ago and it didn't happen," Mr Myers said of the need to introduce widespread antigen testing for COVID-19 in The Bahamas. "Now we've presented it again [through LWCC] but it's still not a mandatory requirement.

"We're going on the good graces and sensibility of accepting businesses to do something. It should have been done months ago when we first talked about it. We couldn't get them to take it up. We don't know why. That should have been done months ago. The impetus just wasn't there. Now the impetus is there."

Mr Myers said that proposal, submitted in ORG's name, offered a "lower cost" RT-PCR rest to the Government with results produced in 24 hours, backed by the more rapid antigen test that would be used by employers to test their workers. "People would have had access to a more reasonable price," he added of the ORG offer.

Many observers believe lack of testing capacity has been a major contributor to COVID-19's so-called second wave spread in The Bahamas, with results from the PCR test taking too long to come back and determine who has the virus before they spread it to others.

Dr Sands' confirmation of Mr Myers' revelations indicates the Government was slow to react to the need for ramped-up testing, seemingly believing it had contained COVID-19 in The Bahamas via a series of lockdowns and other restrictions prior to the July 1 border re-opening.

"Had they employed a faster testing regime much earlier in this pandemic I don't think we'd be where we are," Mr Myers said. "The problem is that we've not been doing enough testing or rapid testing that gets people quarantined and out of the spreading environment."

The Prime Minister's inconsistent response to COVID-19 has caused increased frustration and anxiety among many Bahamians, having performed a rapid u-turn on his August lockdown and subsequently suggesting that no such measures would be needed again as the 'second wave' appeared to be easing, only to reverse course again this week.

"It's devastating for businesses, absolutely devastating," Mr Myers said of the restrictions unveiled this week. "They were only just getting some traction back, and now they've been shut down again. It's got to be devastating for restaurants, gyms and anything like that.

"We've got to do something to get this under control, but can't do it by hope. My position is that over the next two to three weeks until November 1 we've got an opportunity, but we have to get serious about the violators and get serious about rapid testing."

LWCC is developing a technology-based screening and testing regime that will allow government entities, businesses, non-governmental organisations and churches to better protect their staff and customers from the pandemic.

The structure, which LWCC hopes to launch by mid to end-October, is designed to give all Bahamas-based entities, whether in the private or public sector, affordable access to relatively cheap mass testing that would be able to provide results within 15 minutes.

Arguing that this will be "700-800 times' more efficient" and rapid than the present testing regime, Mr Myers said earlier this week that it was designed to minimise "workplace disruption" by enabling employers to instantly detect which staff were COVID-19 positive and remove them from their premises to quarantine.

Those who prove negative can immediately be dispatched back to work, he explained, improving company productivity while also allowing industries and firms to develop their own specific COVID-19 health and safety protocols and target which staff need to be tested more frequently.

While this regime will only be available to those signing-up with the Coalition, there are no fees for joining. Instead, companies have to sign-up with its electronic platform, state how many testing kits they will require and pay for those.

"This proposal is being acted upon completely independent of the Government," Mr Myers said of LWCC's initiative. "We said to hell with it, we've got to do something and have to do it ourselves. We have to do a better job of rapid testing and getting infected people out of the workforce and community. It's the only way of getting ahead of this. It's the only way it's going to happen."

Dr Sands, who backed LWCC's efforts, said it taken "the addition of 50 percent more testing capacity to reach where we are now and we're still not there". Acknowledging that the "pendulum is moving" in favour of increased COVID-19 testing, he urged the coalition to "flesh out" its plans.