Health Minister Renward Wells speaks on Friday.
By LEANDRA ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
lrolle@tribunemedia.net
HEALTH Minister Renward Wells has defended the government’s November 1 target for more relaxations in the tourism sector despite high COVID-19 figures and an overstretched healthcare system.
Some residents have expressed concern about the country’s readiness to reopen next month, fearful of a repeat of the July scenario where the decision to significantly relax travel restrictions resulted in a surge of new infections and deaths.
Asked if officials feel confident that the country is ready to move into the next phase of reopening, Mr Wells said on Friday: “The government of The Bahamas in seeking to be responsive to the needs of the Bahamian people are seeing how it can best manage the survival of our economic life as well as the physical life and livelihood of the Bahamian people.
“Whereas we are receiving advice as to what needs to take place within the health sphere, we’re also taking all of that into consideration in the decision-making process. Obviously, as a government we’re never going to do anything that is going to overtly endanger the lives of our people but we do believe that we are on to a model/formula that can work.”
The Bamboo Town MP said amid rising cases in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, many of those territories have reimposed restrictive measures such as curfews, weekend lockdowns, limiting social gatherings like The Bahamas has done.
He said: “Nations are seeking the best ways that they can [to] deal with this pandemic while also seeking to keep some sense of livelihood, some sense of viability of its economy, and the life of its people.
“And so, here in The Bahamas we are seeking to do the same thing.
“This ministry, the Ministry of Health is working along with tourism to be able to see how we can get that best fit.”
Comments
thps 4 years, 1 month ago
I'm trying to understand if this is a parody.
happyfly 4 years, 1 month ago
What part of the paradox.... I mean science... don't you understand? In March we all allowed Papa Doc to give himself unbridled power over every decision being made on behalf of all Bahamians personal health - and he decided that everyone in the entire country should stay in their homes for two weeks to flatten the curve. You know.....so that nobody got sick, nobody (at all) died and we saved our tourism sector (and wider economy) in the long run.
Let's see now.... October.... I think its October....after eight months of random, flip flop lockdowns, curfews and mandates, untold long-term damage done to the economy, people dying every day and several hundred more testing positive every week, a billion dollars in new government debt that your children's children will still be paying off, the tourism industry in tatters. Nobody now knows if quarantine is protecting us from them or them from us. Our health industry in worse shape to deal with a pandemic now than it was at the beginning but "they", some invisible health experts, are quite sure that everything is going to be just fine on 1st November
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